FAQ

Simple! It is where you bring it all together.  Think of a Recipe Tree as a living recipe box where you can ask others to put recipes in and you can add your own.  

A Recipe Tree is like a real world tree as it grows and changes as recipes are updated or added.

Recipe books are a snapshot in time.  Recipe trees change as your collection and fellow collectors do!

Here is a quick view of the Recipe Tree steps.  The actual order will depend on how you got here and what you hope to accomplish.

Visit our Step-by-Step page for a detailed guide along with instructional videos on how to navigate each step.

Step 1:
Choose your Subscription level. We have everything from a FREE Contributor for those wanting just to add a few recipes to a Forest level with all the bells & whistles.

Step 2:
Sign up & sign in.  You are more than welcome to use a free account until you are ready to upgrade to one of our higher levels.

Step 3:
Edit your basic profile and share as much or as little information about yourself as you want with the world.

Step 4:
Add your recipes.

For Paid Subscriptions/Power Users

Step 5:
Create a Recipe Tree so that you can combine your recipes in a single location.

Step 7:
Add Tree Members to your Recipe Tree.

Step 8:
Use one of your Recipe Trees to create and/or print a Recipe eBook. This is an optional feature if you would like a basic electronic or you can choose to print a hardcopy of your recipes.

Step 9:
Respond to other Recipe Tree users who may ask to use either your User Profile and associated recipes, or a Tree Member that you have created on your Recipe Tree(s).  The choice is completely yours whether you want to share or not.

It is important to understand some of the terms associated with creating a Recipe Tree.

The first term is User Profile. This is the profile you setup when you create your OurRecipeTree.com account. Once signed in you can edit your profile from the top right corner and add your photos, information and backstory.

The second term is a Tree Member.  This represents an individual or a group who aren't able to, or choose not to create a User Profile.  An example of this might be an individual who has passed away, but you still want to include them on a Family Recipe Tree. You can add them manually to your Recipe Tree and add their recipes for them.

Regardless of whether we are talking about a User Profile or Tree Member, we have created a system which allows you to easily share Profiles and all the recipes contained within them from Tree to Tree.

Please feel free to contact us and we will find you an answer and also post it here if it may be useful to other users.

When you add a recipe there are two possible places to add photos. The first place is when you are asked if you want to upload photos of an existing recipe card. If you have a recipe card you want to upload a photo of instead of typing out a recipe, you would do that there. The second place to add photos is on the second page when adding a recipe where you add your photo gallery of up to 4 related photos. This area is meant for photos of the food, or step-by-step photos, or photos of family enjoying the recipe.

When you add a Tree Member you are adding a person that will appear on your Recipe Tree. When you add a contributor they will be invited to help add recipes to Tree Members but they will not appear on the tree.

You will receive an email telling you that your Tree Member has accepted your invitation and has shared their profile with you. If you haven't received that email it either means they haven't accepted your invitation yet or you might have accidentally asked them to be a contributor instead. You may want to follow up with your Tree Member to make sure they received the email and actually clicked on the green button. If you want to invite them again go ahead and edit your Recipe Tree and click the button to add a Tree Member and try it again.

So you are going to create a Recipe Tree…here are some important considerations and steps that will make the whole process a little easier.

First of all, you need to decide if your Recipe Tree will have one Tree Member or multiple Tree Members. 

Do you want to invite other people to help you add recipes?  You can use the invite contributors feature for this, located under the Recipes tab.

If you’d like to add someone to your Recipe Tree and you’re not sure if they have an account with us, we have a page that allows you to send multiple invitations so you can easily ask people to create an account and add their recipes. You will need their name and email address for this. Once they have created their account you can request permission to add their User Profile and BAM you’ve got a clone on your Recipe Tree. No need for anyone to retype anything!

It is best to send your invites BEFORE you set-up your Recipe Tree so that everyone does their own typing.

In some cases, you may have Tree Members who are unable to contribute, for example a deceased family member. If someone has already created this Tree Member you can ask permission to use their version of the Tree Member or you can create your own and ask others to help add recipes to this Tree Member.

We know this sounds a little complicated but just relax and remain calm.  We have automated everything for you.

Inviting others to join you on OurRecipeTree.com is easy and it’s free! Regardless of your Subscription level.

Simply visit our “Invite Others” page found under the “Recipe Trees” link and fill in the name and email address of anyone you would like to invite.

If a person’s email address already exists on our site, you will get an on-screen confirmation message. You will then have to contact that person directly to find out the username associated with that email address. 

Once you have that exact name you can add it to your Recipe Tree and we will take care of the permission process for you.

If permission is granted the information will automatically be added to your Recipe Tree including all the recipes associated with that User Profile or Tree Member.

Adding others to your tree is that easy!

Once you have decided on your Recipe Tree structure and sent out your invitations to Tree Members, you are ready to go!

First you look under the menu option “Recipe Trees” and select “My Recipe Trees”.

Select the button to “Add a New Recipe Tree”.

Put in the title of your Recipe Tree.

No need to worry you can change names etc after the fact if you come up with something better.

Then fill in the Recipe Tree Story/Background.

Time to choose a Recipe Tree template.  You can select from our templates or create your own using an image that you provide.

You now have the option to make your tree available to the public or keep it private.

Kablam, you have a recipe tree.

Now you need to add Tree Members.

If you only add one Tree Member, that will form the center of the Recipe Tree.

You will have one blank icon at the top which is the “Add” icon.  It will not appear on the finished product.

Depending on your Subscription Level, you will be able to add up to 15 Tree Members per Recipe Tree.

As you type in to add Tree Members, any User Profiles or Tree Members with that same name will show up below the Name field. You will have the opportunity to ask the creator for permission to use that User Profile or Tree Member on your Recipe Tree.

Please be patient while we contact the record owner for permission.  If they give permission the User Profile or Tree Member will automatically be added to your Recipe Tree.

You may receive an email(s) requesting permission to use your User Profile or to use a Tree Member that was manually created by you.

Please remember that if you share your User Profile, that will include ALL of your recipes and you will not be able to restrict them.  At this time, we do not have a way to revoke permission.  Please choose your permission granting or denial with this in mind.

You may receive a request to use a Tree Member that you have created.  The choice is completely yours whether to allow someone else permission to use that Tree Member or not.

Happy Sharing!

You betcha! Life changes and you may start with one tree and realize that now you want more. No problem. You can always change your mind. We will work it out.