eChefeChef - A recipe evolution!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Downloading & Purchasing

Is the trial download limited in functionality?

No, the trial version of eChef is fully functional.

Will I lose the recipes I’ve entered during my trial period after I buy the software?

No. Any recipes added during your trial period will still be present in your library after you enter your purchased license key.

What is your return policy?

All eChef sales are final. Our 30-day free trial allows users to determine if the software works on their PC and if they are satisfied with the product prior to purchasing.

My license key doesn’t work.

Make sure that you are entering your key properly. We suggest that you copy (Ctrl-C) and paste (Ctrl-V) your key into the box, and then verify that the entire key has pasted in properly.

I did not receive my receipt via email.

Check your Spam folder to make sure that your spam filter has not filtered the email out. If you still cannot find it or if you need another copy, you can email us at [email protected].

Can I buy one key and install eChef on multiple computers?

No. You need to purchase a license key for each computer that will be using eChef. You may move your copy from one computer to another, but the first copy will need to be removed prior to running the new copy.

If I buy eChef now and get a new computer, will I have to buy another key?

No. If you discontinue use of the software on the old machine by uninstalling, you can use the same key on your new computer and need not purchase a new one.

I lost my software—how can I replace it?

Simply visit our website and download the most recent version of the software. If you have lost your license key since your purchase, email us at [email protected] and we can locate it for you.

Are upgrades free?

Yes. You can visit our website anytime to download the most recent version.

How do I upgrade from eChef 1.0?

The latest version of eChef cannot update recipe libraries created with eChef 1.0. To upgrade from eChef 1.0 and keep your existing recipe library, you must first upgrade to eChef 1.1.

  1. First, if you have already installed eChef 1.2 or later, uninstall it using the “Add or Remove Programs” control pane.
  2. Download the eChef 1.1.4 installer from this link, and run it.
  3. Run eChef 1.1.4 once. It will update your recipe library upon its first launch.
  4. When eChef 1.1.4 has finished updating your library, the main window showing your recipe library will appear. You may now quit eChef 1.1.4.
  5. If you have not done so already, download the latest eChef installer from the Download page.
  6. Run the installer.
  7. That’s it; eChef will now run with your existing recipe library.

Notes:

When the 1.1 library update has completed successfully, the previous library file will be deleted. If eChef cannot delete the file, you will be notified that you may manually delete the “eChef Library.mdf” and “eChef Library_log.ldf” files located in your eChef Recipes folder. While this action is not necessary, these files are no longer used in eChef 1.1 or later, and deleting them will save disk space.

After running eChef 1.1 once to update your recipe library, you may wish to uninstall Microsoft SQL Server in order to free system resources. To do this, use the “Add or Remove Programs” control panel in Windows. Don’t uninstall SQL Server if you have other programs that also use it. If you are not sure, it’s perfectly safe to leave it as-is.

Importing Recipes

How can I get recipes from websites into eChef?

If the website offers eChef file downloads, then you simply need to save that file to your computer and import it using the Import function.

Otherwise, you can save yourself some typing by using keyboard shortcuts to copy-and-paste the recipe text into a Compose New Recipe window. Highlight the recipe text, hold down the Ctrl key, and press C to copy. Place your cursor in the Directions section of a Compose New Recipe window, hold down the Ctrl key, and press V to paste. You will then want to re-type the ingredients into the Ingredients grid and fill out a few other sections in order to take full advantage of eChef’s searching functionality.

We at eChef are working to convince major recipe-providing businesses to include file downloads on their websites. We look forward to sharing these websites with you in the future.

Can I scan in my recipes?

Recipes cannot be scanned directly into the eChef software. We require that the ingredient data and other classifications are specified in order to properly search your recipe library and calculate Shopping Lists. A scanner simply is not intelligent enough to interpret the data in that way.

However, if you have a scanner that has OCR (Optical Character Recognition) functionality, you can use your scanner to capture the text. You will then need to copy-and-paste the recipe text into a Compose New Recipe window. To do this, highlight the recipe text, hold down the Ctrl key, and press C to copy. Place your cursor in the Directions section of a Compose New Recipe window, hold down the Ctrl key, and press V to paste. You will then want to re-type the ingredients into the Ingredients grid and fill out a few other sections in order to take full advantage of eChef’s searching functionality.

When I click on Import, I can't see my files.

The Import function will only recognize files in the eChef format (files with a .eat extension) or MasterCook .mx2 files.

Do you import Word documents?

No. eChef cannot directly import Word files. The Import feature is used to import other eChef files (files with a .eat extension).

To add text-based recipes (i.e. recipes that are in Word) into eChef, copy-and-paste the recipe text into a Compose New Recipe window. Highlight the recipe text, hold down the Ctrl key, and press C to copy. Place your cursor in the Directions section of a Compose New Recipe window, hold down the Ctrl key, and press V to paste. You will then want to re-type the ingredients into the Ingredients grid and fill out a few other sections in order to take full advantage of eChef’s searching functionality.

Do you import from MasterCook?

Yes. Since version 1.2, eChef imports MasterCook .mx2 files.

Operating Systems

Does your software run on Windows Vista? What about Windows 7?

Yes and yes. For more information see the system requirements listed on the Download page.

Does your software run on a Mac?

No. Unfortunately, we do not have a version of eChef that runs on Mac OS X—but we really want one! Keep an eye on the News section for updates in regard to this.

Printing

Can I print to a 3×5 or 4×6 recipe card?

eChef only prints recipes in 8.5×11 format, since most recipes do not fit on a single recipe card. Though, if you export a recipe to an RTF file and open it inside of program like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works, you could reformat the page to that size and print from there. This way, you can also specify custom font sizes, margins, etc.

Other

Do you automatically compute nutritional information?

No. eChef does not compute nutritional information automatically, though we do provide a place for such information to be stored. Calculating nutritional information takes careful analysis, and is rarely accurate when done automatically. We prefer to keep eChef simple for our users instead of adding what would be an inaccurate and complicated feature.

Can your software generate cookbooks?

eChef can export recipes to RTF (Rich Text Format) files, which can be opened using a word processor like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works. Upon export, you can choose to organize your recipes into Chapters. This new file could easily be printed from your text-editing program and bound into a cookbook if you so desired.

Do you scale recipes?

eChef does not scale recipes automatically, because such a feature would be prone to errors and confusion. Although we could easily scale the amounts in the Ingredients table, we can't account for any amounts written in recipe Directions. We don’t want to cause any cooking disasters by showing differing amounts in the Ingredients list and the Directions!

eChef does scale quantities within Shopping Lists. In other words, you can ensure that your Shopping List will reflect the appropriate amounts if you wish to make a double batch of one of your recipes.

My question is not listed here.

If you have a support issue that is not addressed in one of the above answers, please contact us at [email protected].