Cookbook Wizard Reviewer's Comments

Cookbook Wizard is another cookbook and recipe organizing program based on an Excel worksheet. Adequate for organizing recipes, browsing recipes and generating shopping lists, Cookbook Wizard is a straightforward, no frills program. 

Ease of Use:  

This program is user-friendly and it's easy to navigate the different work areas. Tabs highlight tasks: New Recipe, View/Change/Delete, Recipe List, Cuisine Search, Category Search, Spice Rack, Photo, ShopList, and Glossary. Some functions are duplicated like flag and mark, and many of the processes are manual, which gives Cookbook Wizard a lower Ease of Use ranking. 

Recipe Manager:  

Sort and search recipes in a variety of ways. Cookbook Wizard earns points for search flexibility. Try categories, cuisines and occasions; ingredients on hand, main ingredient, and preparation method.Rank and search by difficulty level: easy, average and difficult. However, this program doesn't have auto-complete for the typing fields or a spell checker. The steps to add a photo to a recipe are outdated: you will have to manually type the path to the photo. A browse button is such a common feature, the lack of one was a surprise. 

Menu Planner:  

No meal planner in Cookbook Wizard. You can create a shopping list. Be prepared to do this manually, few tasks are automated in this program. 

Feature Set:  

Cookbook Wizard comes with more than 500 recipes from shrimp and artichoke pizza to Grand Marnier Souffle. No photographs. There are many categories to search, but no dessert category! Be sure to add one under Manage Categories.

Import several recipe formats into the program including Meal Master, Master Cook and Micro Cook.Use the glossary to look up cooking terms and ingredients.

The Help section says nutrition information is listed if available. None of the recipes we browsed included this information, nor would you be able to click for a nutritional analysis if it was available.

Bonus Feature

A spice rack that offers food and spice pairings. 

Ease of Installation:  

Installation is slow. 

Help/Support:  

Cookbook Wizard has an online email form and an FAQ section. The software comes with a help manual and the manufacturer will provide phone support to customers that have purchased the product. 

Summary:  

Cookbook Wizard offers no benefits over other cookbook and recipe organizing programs. Look to TopTenREVIEWS’ side-by-side comparison chart for alternatives that include many automated features.