Fractions in recipes - is it just my computer?

14 years ago

I don't know how to word this so that it makes sense, so I hope y'all understand what I'm asking. I've noticed that when I copy and paste a recipe with fractions in which people use some kind of font that has the fraction as one key stroke, (I'm guessing it's one key stroke, as I don't know how they do it) instead of typing out the fraction like 1/2, when I copy and paste the recipe into my word processing application (Appleworks) it shows up as a question mark. I have to go through the recipe and re-type the fractions. As an example, I just copied and pasted Beverlyal's Raw Apple Muffin recipe, and had to re-type the 1/2 cup of canola oil, as the 1/2 in her recipe showed up as a question mark. There's been times when I've been in a hurry I've copied and pasted a recipe from the internet, printed it, went to make the recipe, and only then noticed the recipe full of question marks instead of fractions, so I've had to go back to search for the recipe again so I can write in the correct fractions. I've learned to proof read the recipe now before saving a printing. Does anyone else have this problem?

Sally

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Comments (10)

canarybird01
14 years ago
Yes I've found that fractions in recipes must always be typed out rather than included as one keystroke.

I guess all keyboards or character encodings are not the same.

SharonCb
canarybird01
14 years ago
P.S. I forgot to mention that if you are using Windows, you can make fractions by holding down the ALT key and typing in:

For 1/4 = ALT 0188

For 1/2 = ALT 0189

For 3/4 = ALT 0190

I don't have one-stroke fraction keys on my keyboard either.

SharonCb
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clairdo2 and grandms Try this: MS Word> Insert > Symbols> Pick/highlight the fraction you will be using from the selections offered (for example: Â¼ )> click "AutoCorrect" button in lower left corner > check box "Replace text as you type" and fill in "1/4" in the blank space/box marked "replace"> click "Add"> click "ok" Now each time you type the fraction 1/4 your computer will automatically correct it to Â¼
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Many years ago, I wanted just what you want - someplace to put a lifetime of clippings from magazines, newspapers, and to also put recipes from my late mother's handwritten cookbook. I found a program called Mangia and asked for it for Christmas from my children. I then spent the next two winters in Maine putting all my recipes into this program that was not terribly user friendly. But it was very nice to have all these with me when I went back and forth to Maine. Then Mac did a major upgrade of their System software and Mangia would no longer work. If one Googles Mangia, there are still folks out there trying to figure out how to export all those recipes our of Mangia into something else. The designer of Mangia does not reply to emails/phone messages/letters. Finally, I had to do something - I was running this on an old computer that could bite the dust any day. I took screen shots of all of the recipes in Mangia, saved them as PDF files, and then stored them in Dropbox and made them accessible to both my adult children (Granny's Christmas cookie recipes were all there!). I will never again put recipes in a software app or program. They come and go, developers lose interest and don't want to bother to revise them to work with new operations systems, be they Windows or Mac. Type them up in Pages or Word and then do as I did, only you can just directly save them as PDF files and then put them in folders you have organized to make it easy for you to find them. No, a search function may or may not work, but you will have them in a format that won't become outdated and obsolete. After a hard drive died on one of my computers, and motherboard on the other at the same time, I paid a company to retrieve these recipes which I thought were gone forever. I then went "low tech" and printed them all out, put them in vinyl sleeves and in a notebook I keep in my kitchen. They are also backed up to a CD disk which is in my safe. I know - overkill - but we are talking about my beloved mother (1908-1993) and her wonderful recipes for pies/cakes/yeast rolls/biscuits and her famous Christmas cookies!
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OklaMoni
14 years ago
Thank you very much Sharon! I didn't know that before.

Praticing...

ÃÂ¼
ÃÂ½
ÃÂ¾

Way cool!

Thanks

Moni
sally2_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
I didn't know how it was done, just that it doesn't translate when I copy and paste. I just have to pay attention when I copy recipes.

Sally
maureen_me
14 years ago
Try this: Pull down the View menu on your browser (I think it's called Page on Explorer, but I use Firefox) and select Character Encoding. Click on Auto-Detect and then choose Universal. Or if you don't have that option, select Unicode under the main menu of Character Encoding. If it doesn't work, you can always go back to whatever the original setting was.

I was having the same problem recently, and this solved it for me. Sometimes I didn't even notice the weird characters until after I'd printed out the recipe and was ready to cook. Kind of a PITA, isn't it?
maureen_me
14 years ago
Well, Sally, I probably wouldn't have repeated EXACTLY what you said about not noticing the funny characters right away if I actually took the time to read the whole post before answering. At least it really is the same problem!

Anyway, I hope that fix works for you.
sally2_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
That's okay, Maureen. It shows that you understand what I was trying to describe.

Okay, I have a Mac, and use Safari. I went to view, pulled down and found Text Encoding, figured it was the same thing, but then didn't find anything that said Universal. The closest I found to that was Unicode. Would that be the same thing?

Sally
canarybird01
14 years ago
After clicking Auto-Detect you should get a drop-down menu where Universal could be the last on the list. At least I have it that way on Windows, using Firefox. My code is set at "Western" but sometimes I have also switched to Unicode.

SharonCb
lowspark
14 years ago
I knew what you were asking about before I even opened the thread! In fact, those fractions often appear as weird characters even within the post on my work computer.

example: In Oklamoni's post above my computer shows it like this:
Praticing...

ÃÂ¼
ÃÂ½
ÃÂ¾

Way cool!

Somehow my browser throws in the Ã character.

And, just to add more commentary, I use MS Word to store my recipes, and the 1/2 and 1/4 are automatically corrected to show them as one character as I type. Note that this only works on common fractions. It won't do the same on something such as 3/8 for example.

So, if I copy-paste a recipe from my word file to GW, the fractions are already 1 character.

I honestly don't have a good solution to this problem!
sally2_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, I tried the Unicode thing, and it changed things, but not necessarily for the better. That funny A symbol that shows up in front of Oklamoni's fractions on this thread went away, and her fractions looked just like they were supposed to look, but I went back to Beverlyal's Apple Muffin recipe, and the fraction in question showed up as a question mark inside a diamond box. So, I switched it back to default mode. Oh, well. I won't worry it to death. I'll just continue to try to pay attention when I copy and paste.

Sally

Fractions in recipes - is it just my computer?

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