Here is some code the first part of which (part of the UserForm_Initialize()
sub)adds the items to a combobox called comboDocGroup and the second then
loads a listbox - ListDocbyTitle, (or it could be a combobox) with the
documents belonging to the document group selected in the comboDocGroup.

For this to work, the items for the document groups are stored one to a row
in a two column table in a document that in this case has the filename RNM
Documents.doc and the documents that belong to each document group are
stored in separate paragraphs in the cell in the column to the right of the
cell that contains the document group to which they belong.

In your case that table would be set up as

Recipe Type    Recipes
Barbecue    Barbecue Recipe 1
                   Barbecue Recipe 2
                   etc
___________________________
Desserts    Desert Recipe 1
                   Desert Recipe 2
                   etc
___________________________
etc                etc
                   etc
___________________________

   Set sourcedoc = Documents.Open(PathofSystemFiles & "\RNM Documents.doc",
, , False)
   For i = 2 To sourcedoc.Tables(1).Rows.Count
       Set myitem = sourcedoc.Tables(1).Cell(i, 1).Range
       myitem.End = myitem.End - 1
       'MsgBox myitem
       comboDocGroup.AddItem myitem.Text
   Next i
   sourcedoc.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges

Private Sub comboDocGroup_Change()
'  Procedure to populate the list box with the documents included in the
selected group
Dim sourcedoc As Document, i As Integer, j As Integer, myitem As Range, m As
Long, n As Long
'Clear existing data that may be displayed
   txtDateReleased = ""
   txtDocReviewerBy = ""
   txtDocApprovedBy = ""
   listDocByTitle.Clear
   Application.ScreenUpdating = False
   Set sourcedoc = Documents.Open(PathofSystemFiles & "\RNM Documents.doc",
, , False)
   'Get the number or Documents for the Group selected = number of
paragraphs in
   'the cell in column 2 of the table for that row that corresponds to the
chosen Doc Group
   'less one
   i = sourcedoc.Tables(1).Cell(comboDocGroup.ListIndex + 2,
2).Range.Paragraphs.Count
   ' Define an array to be loaded with the Document data
   Dim MyArray() As Variant
   'Load client data into MyArray
   ReDim MyArray(i, 2)
   For n = 0 To 1
       For m = 0 To i - 1
           Set myitem = sourcedoc.Tables(1).Cell(comboDocGroup.ListIndex +
2, n + 2).Range.Paragraphs(m + 1).Range
           myitem.End = myitem.End - 1
           MyArray(m, n) = myitem.Text
       Next m
   Next n
   sourcedoc.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges
   Application.ScreenUpdating = True
' Load data into ListDocByTitle
   listDocByTitle.List() = MyArray
'   Disable the cmdUpdateSelectedDoc button until the user opens a document
   cmdUpdateSelectedDoc.Enabled = False
   CmdViewDocument.Enabled = False
   cmdCloseDocument.Enabled = False
   FrameRevisionDetails.Visible = False
   cmdRevisionHistory.Visible = False
   ListRevisionHistory.Visible = False
End Sub

Hi Magnus,

apart from Doug's impressive code,
here comes a demo, tested in forms design,
for filtering the contents of list (2)
depending on what was selected in list (1),
which is a functionality every database engine has or should have
built in. It is, only in principle, as simple as this:
Built a list (1), here containing the characters A ... Z.
Built a list (2), here it is AA ... ZZ.
If in list(1) "A" is selected, get all entries in list(2),
which start with "A" and display them.
Not quite simple, though.

Option Explicit
' 26 by 26 characters
Dim sFilter(676) As String

Private Sub ComboBox1_Click()
Dim i As Integer
Dim s As String
ComboBox2.Clear
s = ""
' filter list 2
For i = 1 To 676
  If Left(sFilter(i), 1) = ComboBox1.Text Then
     ComboBox2.AddItem sFilter(i)
     If s = "" Then s = sFilter(i)
  End If
Next
ComboBox2.Text = s
End Sub

Sub Test()
' to get it all going
Dim i As Integer
Dim j As Integer
Dim k As Integer
k = 0
ComboBox1.Clear
' fill list 1 with A ... Z
For i = 65 To 90
  ComboBox1.AddItem Chr(i)
Next
ComboBox1.Text = Chr(65)
' fill list 2 with AA ... ZZ
For i = 65 To 90
  For j = 65 To 90
  k = k + 1
  sFilter(k) = Chr(i) & Chr(j)
  Next
Next
End Sub

Greetings from Bavaria, Germany
Helmut Weber, MVP
"red.sys" & chr(64) & "t-online.de"
Word XP, Win 98
http://word.mvps.org/