Recipe Management Scripts

A collection of Python scripts for extracting, converting, and managing recipes from various sources into the CookBook app YAML format.

Overview

This toolkit handles the complete workflow of recipe management:

• Extract recipes from PDF cookbooks (including OCR for scanned PDFs)
• Convert recipes from various formats (text, CSV, web scraping)
• Import recipes into CookBook app
• Export and manage CookBook recipe collections

Repository Structure

.
├── scripts/
│   ├── pdf_processing/          # PDF recipe extraction
│   ├── import_export/           # Format conversion & import
│   └── utilities/               # Helper tools
├── samples/
│   ├── reference/               # Format examples
│   ├── yaml_examples/           # Sample recipe outputs
│   └── image_examples/          # Sample extracted images
└── README.md

Scripts

PDF Processing

recipe_parse_export_v3_13_forceocr.py

• Main PDF parser with forced OCR capability
• Extracts recipes from PDF cookbooks (tested extensively with "The Woks of Life" cookbook)
• Outputs: YAML files, CSV export, extracted images
• Handles both text-based and scanned PDFs

Diagnostic Tools:

• check_page_extraction.py - Verify PDF text extraction quality
• check_pdf_text_layer.py - Check if PDF has embedded text layer
• find_pdf_page_width.py - Get PDF page dimensions for layout analysis

Import/Export

recipe_import_universal_v1.1.py

• Universal recipe importer supporting multiple input formats
• Converts various recipe formats to CookBook YAML
• Handles text files, CSV, and structured data

cookbook_auto_import v2.py

• Automated bulk import into CookBook app via plugin
• Processes multiple recipes in batch
• Requires CookBook app with Python plugin enabled

cookbook_yaml_to_excel.py

• Export CookBook YAML recipes to CSV/Excel format
• Useful for analysis, backup, or migration

Utilities

cookbook_diff.py

• Compare recipes already in CookBook vs recipe files
• Identifies which recipes still need to be imported
• Prevents duplicate imports

clean_recipe_urls.py

• Clean and standardize recipe source URLs
• Removes tracking parameters and normalizes formats

scrape_anylist.py + config.py

• Web scraper for AnyList recipe format
• Requires configuration in config.py

Requirements

# Core dependencies
pip install PyPDF2 pytesseract Pillow pandas pyyaml --break-system-packages

# For OCR functionality
brew install tesseract  # macOS
# or
apt-get install tesseract-ocr  # Linux

Usage Examples

Extract recipes from PDF cookbook

python recipe_parse_export_v3_13_forceocr.py cookbook.pdf

Outputs:

• Individual YAML files per recipe
• Combined CSV export
• Extracted recipe images

Import recipes into CookBook app

python cookbook_auto_import\ v2.py /path/to/yaml/files

Check what's not yet imported

python cookbook_diff.py

Convert CookBook recipes to Excel

python cookbook_yaml_to_excel.py

Sample Files

The samples/ directory contains:

• BulkImportExampleCSVFormat.csv - Reference format for bulk imports
• yaml_examples/ - Sample recipes showing simple, medium, and complex structures
• image_examples/ - Examples of images extracted from PDFs

CookBook YAML Format

Recipes are stored in YAML format compatible with the CookBook app:

title: Recipe Name
source: Source URL or Book
servings: 4
ingredients:
  - 2 cups flour
  - 1 tsp salt
instructions:
  - Mix dry ingredients
  - Add wet ingredients
  - Bake at 350°F
notes: Optional cooking notes
tags:
  - dinner
  - vegetarian

Notes

• PDF processing works best with well-formatted recipe books
• OCR is slower but handles scanned PDFs
• CookBook import scripts require the CookBook app installed
• All scripts tested on macOS; should work on Linux with minor adjustments

Development

Originally developed through iterative testing with ChatGPT (PDF processing) and Claude (organization/utilities). The messy iterations and abandoned attempts have been cleaned up - this repo contains only the working, tested scripts.

License

Personal use scripts - use at your own risk. No warranty provided.