Frequently Asked Questions About
Now You're Cooking! 

 

Recipe/Cookbook Handling - Troubleshooting

 

I have an invalid recipe that looks like an ingredient (e.g., “self-raising flour           oz”).  When I try to delete this invalid ‘recipe’, I get errors about “…could not find Tab4 in recipe”. 

 

Create a new cookbook and import all but the invalid recipe into it. This will fix it.  If you ever get another invalid ‘recipe’, let us know what you were doing when it first occurred.

 

When I edit and save a recipe, I get a message saying “The recipe name:  blah blah  is already in use.  Nothing saved.”  What is happening?

 

Most likely you have another recipe with the exact same name.  Search for the name and review both recipes, and if they are indeed the same, delete one.  Then you will be able to edit and save the remaining one.

 

I have Outlook as my default email client.  When I email a recipe using the Email/Edit button on the recipe selection window, I get the message “Error 32026 Not supported at loc10 trying to send MAPI email”.  How can I fix this? 

 

Try running the Repair feature in Microsoft Office setup.  Here is how one NYC user reported that he fixed the problem:

 

“I ran the “Repair” program on Microsoft Office Home & Business 2010 and the email function now works.  I can send recipes by email using NYC Generic or Mealmaster formats.”

 

I get errors related to my cookbook’s “.cdx” file when changing recipe categories.  How can I fix this? 

 

Try defragging your cookbook.

 

Ingredient quantities are truncated on the left in my list of ingredients in the recipe edit window.  Can you suggest a fix please? 

 

This can occur with certain combinations of screen font size and screen resolution.  What font size and DPI settings are you using? We recommend you stick with Small (sometimes called Normal or default).  Do not use Medium, Large, or Extra Large fonts.  If the font appears too small as a result of this choice, then try a lesser screen resolution with it.

 

When I delete recipes with images from a cookbook, the image archive (.ima file) does not reduce in size, making me think the images did not get deleted.

 

That is the way the image database works.  If you delete recipes, NYC only changes the index, and deletes nothing from the archive.  You have to defrag the image archive to make it smaller and remove the unused data in it (Tools… Data Mgt… Cookbooks tab… Defrag Image Archive).

 

Often when I try to save a recipe, I get the message :

“SaveRecipe: VB Error 6 Overflow at Location 2t: pathpri= C:\Users\Public\Documents\FFTS\nyc587\user\price.lst   Recipe may not have been saved.”. 

What is this?

 

That error will occur if your price list (price.lst) is corrupt and NYC tries to update it with new ingredients from the saved recipe.   You will need to delete your price.lst file and start another.  Please download this file to replace your corrupted one:  http://www.ffts.com/price.zip  (this is the price.lst file that NYC installs).  This file goes in your NYC user folder (see Tools… Options… User Folder tab for user folder location).

 

I started getting “error rewriting nyc.ini” using NYC in Win7 when trying to edit a recipe, and now I get “can’t find nyc.ini” when starting NYC.  What is happening?

 

This happens to some users who are using AVG virus software with Resident Shield turned on – Resident Shield can apparently block the modification of “nyc.ini” by NYC, which NYC needs to do.  So if you use AVG and are getting this error message, try turning off Resident Shield.

 

If AVG is not the problem, then you probably have a corrupt installation, which can occur if you have remnants from a previous installation of the same version on your computer.  You need to do a clean reinstall.

 

We will use NYC 5.88 as an example, but this applies to any version of NYC 5.80 or higher.  To get a clean re-install:

 

1.  Uninstall NYC 5.88 from your computer using the Uninstall selection in the startup group or using the Control Panel.

2.  Delete all of these folders that may remain on your computer (VERY IMPORTANT STEP):

     “c:\Program Files\FFTS\Nyc588”

     “c:\Users\Public\Documents\FFTS\Nyc588”

     “c:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\FFTS\Nyc588”

3.  Reboot your computer.

4.  With all other programs turned off, reinstall NYC 5.88 (or higher).

5.  Run NYC 5.88 for the first time after installation, and select “shared” (recommended) or “private” at the prompt to share or keep private cookbooks.

 

If you do not get the “shared” or “private” prompt on first execution of NYC after re-installation, then you definitely did not get a clean installation, which is essential.  In such a case, you need to redo steps 1-5 above, paying close attention to step 2.

 

I am trying publish a cookbook to Word, but it fails with ActiveX Error 429.  I have Word 2010 Starter on this computer.

 

NYC’s publishing will not work with Word “Starter” or “Home and Student” versions, because these do not support OLE automation from another software.

 

When I use open cookbook, I cannot see my network drives in the file dialog, so I cannot open cookbooks that reside on other drives.

 

You will need to map the drive you need so it shows up with a letter in the open cookbook file dialog.  This is done in Windows File Explorer.  In XP’s Explorer, use Tools… Map Network Drive… .  Use the equivalent capability in Vista or Win7 File Explorer.

 

I have no categories listed in my recipes.  The checkmarks are there, but no category labels show.  This happened after I upgraded my machine to Windows 7, 64-bit.

 

Here is a relevant excerpt from a user who had the same problem:

 

“With Windows 7 - 64 bit, under Basic & High Contrast Themes, the categories only show when you use Windows 7, Windows Classic and High Contrast White.  Then no problems,  NYC works great with 64 bit.”

 

When I toggle from recipe view mode to edit mode, the edit window appears with its panels missing or shifted to the left and squashed.  What is happening?

 

There is a bug in NYC v5.84 and earlier that causes this behavior.  The workaround is to use Tools… Options… Interface… and uncheck “remember window positions”.  This bug has been fixed in v5.85 (when it releases) and later versions.

 

When I try to edit a specific recipe, I get error 75.  What is happening?

 

The recipe is probably corrupt.  Try deleting the recipe and re-entering it.  This fixed the problem for another user.

 

When I use File… Publish Cookbook… , select a Word template, and press Publish, I get the error “At location #1  Error 430 Class does not support Automation or does not support expected interface… trying to publish cookbook to MS Word”.  I am using Office 2002 on Windows Vista.

You need to uninstall then reinstall your Office software. 

 

When I edit a recipe and change the directions, then press the “X” button to close the recipe edit window, the directions get deleted (all but a few characters).

 

This problem is fixed in v5.82 and higher.  The workaround in earlier versions is to use the Cancel button to close the recipe, and not the X button.

 

When I edit a recipe and use the Clear, Add, Replace buttons, sometimes the recipe name gets truncated.

 

This problem is fixed in v5.81 and higher.

 

When I use File… Unzip Cookbook… , my zip file does not get unzipped so the cookbook does not show in my list of cookbooks.

 

There are several reasons why this might occur:

 

1.      Zip file is corrupt (try recreating the zip file).

2.      Another user sent you the zip file and it was created with a version of NYC’s zip engine that is not compatible with the version you are using (make sure both of you are using the same NYC version).

3.      Zip file does not contain a cookbook (NYC will unzip the file anyway, but you won’t see a new cookbook in your list).

 

When I use anything that accesses a zipped file, like File… Zip Cookbook… or Unzip Cookbook…, I get “Error 449 Argument not optional”.  What is happening?

 

This can occur if the version of the internal zip engine that NYC requires is not consistent with the installed version.  The zip engine NYC uses is “activezip.ocx” – it is a shared file in your windows \system (or \system32) folder.  If you use other applications that require “activezip.ocx”, either NYC or the other application may fail due to need for a different version of “activezip.ocx” to be installed as the shared file.  Usually this problem can be fixed by downloading and installing the latest version of NYC, which will install the latest “activezip.ocx” file.

 

When I open a certain cookbook, I get the message “For this cookbook:    NAME.GCF    the category index file (.cdx) is longer than it should be.  It may be corrupt.”  What is happening?

 

You will get this message using NYC 5.69 or earlier on a cookbook that has previously been opened by NYC 5.70 or later.  NYC 5.70 or later rebuilds the category index for a maximum of 500 categories rather than the previous 200, which was the limit for versions prior to v5.70.  Note that this could have occurred using NYC 5.70 to import or search a cookbook in your NYC 5.69 user folder.  You should discontinue use of v5.69 or earlier after you start using v5.70.  If you want to use 5.69 again on your cookbook, you can rebuild the cookbook’s index using v5.69 and Tools… Data Management… Cookbooks tab… Rebuild Indexes. 

 

When I open my cookbook, all the recipe images are mixed up and no longer coincide with the right recipes.

 

We have had reports of this happening on rare occasion during either the File… Upgrade… operation or during File… Import Recipes… and we are investigating.  In the interim, rebuilding the image index (see Tools… Data Management… Cookbook tab…) seems to fix the problem.

 

I changed a recipe and saved changes and now the recipe has disappeared from my cookbook.  What gives?

 

Your recipe is still there.  The # of recipes in your cookbook probably exceeds your list buffer setting in Tools… Options… Cookbooks….  In such a case, the recipe will no longer appear in the batch of recipes you have listed, but it will now appear on the last batch of 2000 (or whatever your list buffer is set to). 

 

Here is a little more detailed explanation about what goes on when you save a recipe:

 

When you change and save a recipe, your old recipes is actually deleted and then a new one is added with your changes in it.  Where its name appears in a recipe list depends on the list buffer setting in Tools… Options… Cookbooks… . 

 

If the list buffer exceeds the # recipes in your cookbook, then there is only one recipe list to scroll through (it’s not buffered into groups of 1000, or whatever your buffer setting is).  Since there is only one recipe list, the saved recipe will appear alphabetically in the list you have open, right where you would expect it.

 

If the # recipes in your cookbooks exceeds the buffer setting, then in each recipe list you will be shown the recipes in batches of 1000 (or whatever the buffer setting is).  Press the little “+” button above the recipe list to scroll through the batches of recipes.  Your saved recipe will appear on the last batch of recipes.

 

A low buffer setting opens the recipe list quickly, but does not show them all to you (you need to press the “+” button to see each batch).  A saved recipe will appear on the very last batch, because it was deleted and added back to the database at the very end.  It has been saved in your cookbook but you probably expected to see it on the batch of recipes that is currently listed, not on the last batch.

 

A high buffer setting with lots of recipes will take some time to display the list of recipes, since there are so many.  But once they are listed, you see them all and saved recipes appear in the single list where you expect them.

 

The list buffer setting gives you control over whether you want recipe list speed (low buffer setting) or recipe list all-in-one simplicity (high buffer setting).  Users with faster computers can use a higher setting; those with slower computers should use a lower setting.

 

Even though I have “enable entry guessing” and “add items to droplists” checked in Tools… Options… I cannot get certain items to automatically add to my ingredient droplist so that entry-guessing works for them.  For example, NYC will auto-add “chocolate mint vodka” but not “half and half” or “half & half".  Why won’t it auto-add certain items like this?

 

The auto-add feature has a very strong filter on it to avoid adding “junk items” that clutter your ingredient droplist.  The special character “&” and the word “and” are both rejected by the filter, precluding “half and half” or “half & half” from being stored in your droplist.

 

Temporarily uncheck “add items to droplists” in Tools… Options…, then save the recipe with “half and half” or “half & half” and it should auto-store as a new item in your ingredient droplist. 

 

I cannot save a recipe I created because the Save button is disabled in the recipe edit window.  What to do?

 

Buttons are disabled (“grayed out”) when their use could potentially conflict with operations you might do in another window.  Make sure other windows are closed before opening the recipe edit window and then the Save button should appear enabled.

 

Using File... Open Cookbook... , I see no indication which cookbooks are empty and which ones are not.  I only get a list of the *.gcf files.  How can I see the number of recipes like the Help indicates should be there?

 

If you are not seeing the # recipes, you need to turn on "annotation" in Tools... Options... Cookbooks... so you get the normal NYC Open Cookbook dialog window instead of the Explorer type Open Cookbook window.  With “annotation”, when you use File… Open Cookbook… you will see the # recipes in the list beside each cookbook name to determine emptiness.

 

Here is what “annotation” does:

 

checked – user annotations can be added to cookbooks and displayed in NYC’s default Open Cookbook window.

 

unchecked – no user annotations to cookbooks, Explorer-type file dialog for File… Open Cookbook… .

 

When I try to open a recipe in edit mode, I get "VB Error 339  - Could not load recipe". 

 

Probably one of the shared files that NYC needs was trampled on when you installed another program after NYC.  You will need to reinstall NYC in this case.  Reinstalling over your previous version won’t damage any cookbooks or your reg info (for v5.x and higher), but you may overwrite some droplists or other info you have customized.  If this concerns you, you can rename your old folder to from \NYC5xx to \NYC5xxOLD (where xx is rest of version number), then reinstall.

 

However, it may just be a temporary resource problem, fixable with a simple reboot of your PC, so you might try that first.

 

NYC’s File… Unzip Cookbook… gives Error 20005 “Can’t open file!” whenever I try to unzip a file not zipped by NYC.  I am using NYC 5.56 with Windows 2000.  What gives?

 

We fixed this problem in NYC v5.57 and higher by updating NYC’s internal zip engine (activezip.ocx) from v3.3.0.0 to v3.3.7.0.  We suggest you download and install v5.57 or higher if you are using Windows 2000.  This problem is specific to use of v5.54 - 5.56 in Windows 2000 only - it does not occur in Windows XP, Me, 98, 95, or NT4.  Until v5.57 releases, you can obtain a pre-release copy of 5.57 (with the fix) by contacting tech support .

 

When closing a cookbook, I get:  ‘Dir Only: VB Error 5...Probably no directory found in path. DP,X=///’  last error: ‘VB error 75 reading cookbook in Path’.  I never seen this before.

 

Error 75 is "attempting to write to a file marked read-only".  Did you restore that cookbook from a CD backup?  CD backups will cause files to be marked read-only.  Also, use of a cookbook over a network when you do not have write access authorization over the network will cause it.  This could also happen if you are using XP or another NT product and you don't have write access to the NYC folder or to another folder where you are storing cookbooks.

 

In Windows Explorer, rt-click the cookbook file and its indexes (*.gcf, *.cdx, *.cli, *.idx, *.ima, *.imx, *.rdx, *.rli, *.tag), select Properties, and see if any of these files have ‘read-only’ checked and uncheck it on each.

 

When I try to add ingredients to a new recipe, I get “Run-time Error 30009 – Invalid Row Number”.   What gives?

 

This problem only happens if you inadvertently click on the empty ingredient list after creating a new recipe.  You should be clicking on the ingredient entry text boxes to enter ingredients, not on the list itself.  But at any rate we have fixed this problem in NYC 5.47 and higher. 

 

Recipes that I change seem to "disappear", i.e., the recipes do not show up when the All Recipes button is  checked.  If I go to Tagged Recipes, they are there, but not in the All Recipes list.   I have 2,126 recipes in the cookbook.

 

When you modify a recipe, NYC actually removes it from the database and replaces it with the modified version.  When it is replaced, it goes to the last set of 2000 in the list of recipes (if you have over 2000, which you do).  So you will find it there – use the + button to scroll the list 2000 recipe at a time until you get to the last set. 

 

If you want to see all your recipes at once in a single sorted list, you must download and install v5.46 or higher, where we added an option where you specify the size of the sorted list (Tools... Options... Cookbooks... max # recipes in sort buffer).  Set this buffer size higher than the number of recipes in the cookbook and you will see altered recipes back in the sort list right where you expect them. 

 

NOTE:  Using a high sort buffer size on a slow computer can cause NYC to perform slowly as it fills the recipe list, because the list must be resorted every time you make a change in any recipe, when you import, or as you open and close certain windows.  This is why we made it a user option.  With the sort buffer set at 2000 (default), the recipe lists open fast on any computer.

 

I am using the German dictionary for NYC’s spell checker.  The spell check does not seem to recognize the German word for sugar, lemon, and others, because they were without a first capital letter.

 

Try unchecking "case sensitive" in the spell check options (Tools... Options... Spell Check... Configure...).

 

When I try to move a recipe from one cookbook to another I get the message “Filemerge form load: Error opening cookbook c:\program files\Nyc537\user\name...”  I open cookbook, recipes, highlight recipe to be moved, select move, select destination cookbook and try to move; that is  when the message appears.  It doesn’t happen in all cookbooks but does seem to happen to all recipes in the affected cookbook.             

 

You probably have a corrupted recipe or cookbook index in the affected cookbook.  Try defragging and reindexing (in that order) the affected cookbook using the defrag and reindex options in Tools… Options… Cookbooks tab.

When I go to close a cookbook, I get an VB Err 75 saying that if I'm using the software over a network, I must have read AND write access.  I also get VB Err 62 when I am searching for a recipe across the cookbooks.  What is happening?

Re: Error 75 -
When you close a cookbook, NYC needs to write to the cookbook file and it is being stopped from doing this, meaning that you have read-only access to the file.  For the cookbook in question, you should make sure the cookbook (.gcf) and its indexes (.cdx, .idx, .cli, .tag, .ima, .imx) are not marked read-only.  Changes to 'read-only' can happen during a backup operation because some backup software (especially if you are backing up to CD) defaults to read-only copies of your software.  Check for read-only by right-clicking the files in File Explorer to make sure the read-only box is not checked.  If so, uncheck it.

Re: Error 62 -
This error can be generated as a result of problems created by the above 'read-only' access problem.  Also, if you restored your cookbooks from a backup, your cookbooks may need to be upgraded to work properly with a later version of NYC, depending on your previous version.  You should copy your old installation onto your computer,  then install and run the latest NYC version (from www.ffts.com/nyc32dl.htm ).  Run the latest version nd use File... Upgrade... to bring over/upgrade user files from your old installation, rather than simply copying files from your backup to your new NYC \user folder.

In NYC Light 4.28, I was adding recipes to one of my cookbooks and didn't realize the size of the file I was adding.  The import aborted and said I exceeded the maximum file size of 30,000 recipes.  I tried to sign back into the program and got the message that "file size is greater than 30000 recipes, please reduce file size now".  When I answer "OK" it begins reading the index of the cookbook and then comes up with the message "overflow".  When I answer "OK' to this message I get kicked out of the program. How can I reduce the size of the file when I can't access any of the program features?  Is there anything I can do without losing all the recipes I have loaded?

This is handled much more gracefully in the full version of NYC (latest is v5.17).  I suggest you download the full version from our website at http://www.ffts.com/nyc32dl.htm .  You will be able to use it for 60 days before it shuts off.  In that time you can use it to open your large cookbook and break it into pieces (export recipes to other cookbooks, then delete them from the big cookbook).

NYC opens a cookbook, but it crashes with a message about ATI2DRAB.DRV when I try to open recipes.  What gives?

We have only seen this once with a WinBook running Windows 98.  The problem was a conflict with the WinBook video driver, and the solution was to quit using the WinBook XL3 video driver and use the WinBook XL2 video driver.

When I add a new recipe and save it, I do not see it in the list of recipes. Why not?

You probably have over 2000 recipes in your cookbook (500 in v4).  In this case you will not see the new recipe in the 2000 recipes showing in the list; rather it will appear in the last set of 2000.  Press the + button at the top of the recipe list, scroll to the last set of 2000 recipes, and you should see the new recipe there.

You can increase the default buffer size of 2000 using Tools… Options… Cookbooks…

When I try to save a recipe, I get "type mismatch". What should I do?

That problem has been fixed in versions after v4.52. You should download the latest version from our website.

I must have a corrupt recipe in my cookbook, because I get "bad record number" and "pointer" errors. What is the best procedure to fix this?

Try these things in the order listed, checking after each to see if the problem is corrected (if so, try no more):

1. Try to delete the recipe using Recipes... Recipes... select the recipe, then press Delete button.

2. Open a new cookbook (File... New Cookbook...), and import all recipes from the cookbook (File... Import Recipes...), or if you know which one is corrupt, import all but that one.

3. Defrag the cookbook with the corrupt recipe (Options... Tools... Defrag Cookbook...).

Last resort if all else fails (this will uncategorize all your recipes in the cookbook):

4. Rebuild the cookbook index (Options... Tools... Rebuild Cookbook Index...).

What does the Error 62 "Input past end of file" mean?.

This error occurred in previous versions when a user embedded a double-quote in a text string for some data entry. Quotes are used to delimit fields in NYC so they are illegal input characters. NYC now flags and disallows illegal characters so this error should no longer occur.

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Last Updated:  11/17/2023

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