Frequently Asked Questions

You can import from most public recipe websites by pasting a full page URL into the import screen. RecipBee works best with pages that publish structured recipe data (such as schema.org JSON-LD), which is common on major cooking sites.

Good examples include sites like NYT Cooking, Bon Appetit, Serious Eats, Smitten Kitchen, Food52, Allrecipes, Epicurious, BBC Good Food, and many similar recipe publishers.

If a specific page does not import cleanly, it usually means that site blocks automated extraction or does not expose standard recipe metadata. In that case, you can still add the recipe manually and continue editing it in your library.

Today, RecipBee supports URL-based import from recipe webpages. The most reliable imports come from pages that use common web recipe formats like schema.org Recipe metadata, especially JSON-LD.

At this time, RecipBee does not directly import PDFs, Word docs, plain text files, or images as recipe files. If your source is not a webpage URL, copy it into a manual recipe entry.

After import, you can always review and edit the title, ingredients, and steps before saving.

Generally, a simple list of ingredients and factual cooking steps is often treated as not copyrightable by itself. However, expressive writing, photos, and distinctive editorial content can still be protected.

That means you should only publish material you wrote yourself or have permission to use. If you include images or text from another source, make sure you have the rights or license to republish that content.

RecipBee expects publishers to keep attribution accurate and follow applicable copyright rules. If you are unsure about a specific use, do not publish until you have received proper legal advice.

Publishing and cookbook visibility are related but not always instant. A recipe can be public while still waiting to appear broadly in the cookbook browse experience.

Some recipes require moderation or approval checks before they are listed to everyone. Depending on queue volume and review needs, this can take a few days.

If your recipe still does not appear after a reasonable wait, verify that it is set to be listed in the cookbook (not link-only), then contact support with the recipe URL.

Not until you replace that imported image with one you own rights to. Imported images are intended for private use during drafting and review.

Before publishing, upload your own image or use an image you have explicit permission to publish.

Use manual import so you can keep cooking right away. You can still build and save the recipe in your library even when automatic import does not work for that source.

If you want to help improve RecipBee, please submit the failed URL through the contact form and let us know that the import did not work. Those reports help us prioritize parser fixes and support more sites over time.

No. Edits in your private library do not automatically update the already published public version.

After making changes, review the recipe and publish again to push updated details to the public page. This gives you control over what gets shared and when.