I wrote these instructions, origonally, to be used with recipe
chats and message posting boards, but the method is the same for
any text.

These instructions are written for Windows 95 and Netscape
Navigator 3 but have helpful information no matter what
computer you're using.

You may already know how to do some of the things I'm
going to try to teach you, but for the sake of my writing these
instructions, I will start with some basics. I've found the
easiest way to copy and save recipes or any other text, is by the 'Copy
and Paste' method.
 

LESSON 1: COPY AND PASTE
 

Bring up a recipe or text. Highlight it with your mouse or cursor, by
scrolling it until it turns blue (this is what mine does). Press
'Control' and 'C' at the same time and that copies it. It will look like
you haven't done anything--as if you must have lost it. Go to the site
that you want to post it (in an e-mail or a recipe board) and press
'Control' and 'V' and voila, you see your recipe or text go into
place.

Test your skills by sending a recipe to yourself via e-mail.
Bring up a 'New Message' form, and address it to your own e-mail address.
Go to the upper right hand corner, and click on the minus sign.That
will move the form to the 'Task Bar' at the bottom, so it is out
of the way for the time being. Click on this URL:
http://www.kitchenlink.com/clippings/clippings.html You are able to click
on this URL and have it come up into 'Location' because I brought the
program up into 'Location' by the cut method. When the program came up, I
highlighted it to cut it, and then pasted it into this document. Select a
recipe from this site, any recipe, and highlight it by scrolling it until
it turns color. Press'Control' and 'C' at the same time to copy it. Click
on the e-mail message form addressed to me, which is resting in the 'Task
Bar' at the bottom of the screen. Type in a subject in the 'Subject Line',
and any message in the message area that you want to send. Then put
your cursor in the message area, and press 'Control' and 'V' at the same
time, and the recipe you selected will appear in your e-mail message.
When you receive the e-mail, you will know you are ready for the second
lesson.

I suggest you print out these instructions, and put them in a
notebook for safe keeping. Also, having these, the other lessons will
make more  sense to you. Another reason for saving them, and eventually
getting them transfered to a floppy, is so that you will have them to
share with someone else, possibly. I had my computer crash on a number of
occasions, and I've lost everything I had stored on it and had
to start over. I don't know why, but transfering files from the
computer to floppys was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn. I had
no formal computer lessons, but had instructions from friends, and by
trial and error, and lots of errors, I've finally learned enough that I can
enjoy using it, and making new friends on the net.
 

 
 
LESSON 2: SAVING RECIPES OR TEXT

Another way to save recipes or text is to go to 'File' in the upper left
hand corner and click on it. Move cursor down to 'Save As' and click on
it. A saving form will come up. I suggest you save everything in the
beginning on your 'C' drive, and be sure to save it as 'Text Document'
in the 'Save as type' area. In the 'File Name' area, give it the name of
the title of the document or recipe you are saving (something that you
will recognize when you go to 'C' drive to access it). Saving by this
method, you do not scroll it to make it change color. When you are ready
to view and edit the document you have saved, go to 'Start'and click on
it with your right mouse. Then click on 'Explore'. When 'Explore' is in
view, go to your 'C' drive, and scroll to find the name of your
document. Double click on it and it should come into view. To
edit the document, read through it and see if it is really something you                    want to keep. Your 'C' drive will soon get filled up, and you won't have                   the space you need for other documents or materials. Should you decide to
keep it, just close it or exit it and leave it alone for the time being.
Should you decide not to keep it, go to 'File' in the upper lefthand
corner, and move cursor down to 'Delete' and click on it. This method of
saving works very well if you have a number of recipes in a file that
you want to save.

Should you want to save only a few of the recipes, then the 'Copy and
Paste' method works best. Go to 'Start' and go up to 'Programs' and move
up to 'Accessories' and move cursor down to 'Notepad' and click on it. A
'Notepad' form will appear. Go to the upper right hand corner, and minus
this form into the 'Task Bar' below. Select the particular recipes you
want to save, one at a time, and scroll it, and press 'Control'and 'C'
at the same time to cut it. Bring the 'Notepad' up again by
clicking on it in the 'Task Bar' below. Place your cursor on the 'Notepad'
and press 'Control' and 'V' to paste it. Minus the 'Notepad' back to
'Task Bar'and continue with this process until you have saved only the
recipes you want. When you have finished, go to the upper left hand corner
to 'File' and click on it. Move down to 'Save As' and save the file as a
text document on 'C' drive for the time being. Give it the name of the
recipes and the date, or the group name for the recipes and the date.

This is the end of Lesson 2. Later, I will tell you how to make
a recipe file so that you can put these saved recipes into it, and
eventually get them moved off on to a floppy to keep some open space on
'C' drive. It does get filled up eventually, and won't take any more unless
you have a lot of drive space.

LESSON 3: POSTING TO CHAT OR THE MESSAGE BOARD

Submitting recipes or URLs to a chat board or other boards.

My suggestion is that you go to 'Start' to 'Programs' to 'Accessories'
and to 'Notepad'. Click on 'Notepad' to bring it into view. Go to upper
right hand corner, and minus it to the 'Task Bar' below. If you have to
type in recipes, now is the time to type them onto 'Notepad'. If you
already have recipes in a file or from another recipe archive, then you
can 'cut and paste' them to your 'Notepad'. Be sure to leave about three
or four spaces between each recipe, for you are going to highlight them
individually, and you don't want one recipe running over into another.
When you log on to Chat, you are ready then to post your recipes or
URLs. It may be a little more trouble and take longer, but I find that
if you go to your 'Bookmarks', and bring up each site into 'Location',
and then highlight it by scrolling across it until it turns blue, and
press 'Control' and 'C' at the same time, thus cutting it, and then
pasting it to your 'Notepad' by pressing 'Control' and 'V' at the same
time that you are less likely to have typographical errors in your URLs.
I'm sure you realize by now, that every little 'jot & tittle' has
to be correct. Now that you have everything ready to go, so that you can
post to the board, it is very easy. You just 'cut' from notepad, and
placing your cursor in the message space in Chat and paste it. If it is
a recipe, then click on 'Recipe' so that it will go to the right side of
the board, and the same with URLs. It is so much nicer if you put the
whole URL including http://www. etc. That way you can cut the URL from
the Chat site, and paste it into 'Location' and then press 'Enter' to
have the program appear. You can use the same process to post a recipe
into a Recipe Request Board. If you have a recipe to contribute to a
request, just cut it from your files, and paste it onto the message board.

NOTE: I have found it is very important to save your 'Notepad' to 'C'
drive until you are ready to use it. I've spent lots of time typing
material in, only to have it disappear into thin air. If, when you are
finished with it, and it is saved on your hard drive, you may delete
notepad.

LESSON 4: SAVING AND ORGANIZING FILES ON YOUR DRIVE

I have the 'Drag and Drop' option on my machine which makes it so easy.
Perhaps I can tell you the basics I use.
I have software for MasterCook which I purchased, and it is
very good for giving nutritional value, even for recipes you type in
yourself. However, I didn't need more recipes, and I installed it hoping
it would let me import and export recipes easily. I didn't find it to be
very useful in this respect. Later I'm going to type family favorites into
it, and print a cookbook for my family. I've set up my recipe file in
this way.

I made a new file called 'Recipes', and then made folders for each recipe
classification. For instance:

RECIPES

Appetizers & Snacks
Beverages
Breads
Casseroles
Desserts & Sweets--can be broken down to candy, cakes,
cookies, etc
Diabetic--I am diabetic
Meats & Entrees
Misc.-- this to include craft recipes, camping recipes, and
anything that doesn't fit elsewhere
My Favorites--whatever they might be which can be broken down
into sub-folders, too.
Salads & Dressings
Vegetables & Side Dishes

You acquire these folders by going up to 'File', clicking on it,and
then click on 'New' and then 'Folder' which will ask you to give it                            a name. So give it a name like folders above--you can have as many as                   you like if you want a more composit idea of what you have in
these folders. You can also have sub-folders from each of these, and                       giving them a separate name, also.

Now for the easy part for me, and it might be harder for you, and I
don't know how to help you in that respect. As I said before, when you
download a file or recipe, and you save it to your 'C' drive, ALWAYS
give it a name you will recognize, so you will know how to access it,
and to be able to move it into one of your folders. I've saved a recipe
on to 'C' drive called Banana Split Cake. I go to 'Start' and click on
it with my right mouse button. Then I click on 'Explore' which should
show a record of everything I have stored in 'C' drive. This is where I
use the easy 'Drag & Drop'. I put my cursor on the recipe (Banana Split
Cake) which I want to move into my 'Sweets' folder, but I don't click
on it. Instead I hold on to it, and at the same time, drag it directly
above the folder I want it to go into (Sweets} and let up on the drag
and drop it into the proper folder. It is automatically alphabetized
when it is dropped there. From there, when I want to access a recipe, I
go to 'Start' and click on it with my right mouse button. Click on
'Explore' and click on the 'Recipes Folder' which will open to
expose all the recipes I have in that folder. I choose the recipe I want
to use at that time, and double click on it to open that specific recipe.                      If Iwant to prepare it right away, I usually print it out, using the
back side of some paper that I'm going to dispose of anyway. If I
want to 'Cut & Paste' it so I can post it directly to a recipe board, I
highlight it, and 'Cut & Paste' it directly to that board. If, on the
other hand, I have more than one recipe I want to post, I do a 'Cut &
Paste' on to my 'Notepad', and do a 'Copy & Paste' from that
on to the recipe board, or e-mail if that is the way I'm sending it.

Now for moving a document or file to a floppy. First I put a preformated
floppy which I have labeled into the 'A' drive slot. I go to 'Start' and
click on it with my right mouse button, and then click on 'Explore'. I
open up 'C' drive by clicking on it. It should show everything I have
saved on there. Do the 'Drag & Drop' as above. Pick up the document or
file with your mouse, and drag it over on to 'A' drive. That transposes
it from 'C' drive to a floppy on 'A' drive. This method is so easy if
you have the "Drag & Drop' option. Floppys are fairly expensive, and if
you have labeled it with a particular recipe folder, like 'Sweets' keep
using the same one until it is filled up. You might want to mark the
date of each entry on your label if you have space. By all means, move
all recipe folders to a floppy fairly frequently. If your
computer crashes, you will have lost everything that hasn't already been
moved to a floppy.

Velma McMahan
vmcintn@bellsouth,net
 

PLEASE NOTE: I wrote these instructions, and they are copyrighted. You are welcome to use them for your personal use, print them out, or pass them along
to friends, but PLEASE DO NOT upload them to your personal web page.

Thank you, Velma