The four steps
Step | What you do | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
1. Shoot | Photograph each card flat, in daylight, filling the frame | A sharp picture is most of the work |
2. Convert | Turn the photo into text with your phone or a recipe app | Text can be searched, scaled and shared |
3. Proofread | Read the result against the card, numbers first | Handwriting is where mistakes hide |
4. File | Give it a clear name and keep the photo with it | So you find it, and still see the handwriting |
How to photograph a recipe card
Lay the card flat on a plain surface near a window. Daylight from the side is better than a ceiling lamp, which throws your shadow on the card.
Turn the flash off. It bounces off glossy cards and plastic sleeves.
Hold the phone parallel to the card and fill the frame with it.
One card per photo. For a recipe that runs over two sides, take two photos in order.
How to turn the photo into text on an iPhone
There are three ways, from the most manual to the least.
Photos. Open the picture, press and hold on the writing and choose Copy, then paste it into a note. The iPhone reads text in pictures from iOS 15 on. It does well with print and neat handwriting.
Notes. In a new note, tap the camera and choose Scan Documents. You get a clean scan of the card inside the note, and you can type the recipe under it.
A recipe app. In ReciDeck, choose Scan a page and photograph the card, or pick up to 8 photos for one recipe. It reads printed and handwritten recipes and turns them into a recipe card with ingredients and steps, which you can edit.
What gets misread
Check these first, because a wrong one changes the dish:
1 and 7, and 3 and 8, in old handwriting.
t and T. A lowercase t is a teaspoon and a capital T a tablespoon, three times as much.
Fractions. A half written small next to a 1 can come out as 11/2.
Words that are no longer used. Oleo is margarine. A moderate oven is about 350°F, or 180°C.
Notes in the margin, which a scan may drop or mix into the steps.
Read the amounts out loud against the card once. It takes a minute and catches most errors.
Keep the story with the recipe
A family recipe is more than its ingredients. Write down whose it was and when they made it, and keep the photo of the card next to the typed version, so the handwriting is not lost. Then share it: a recipe that lives on one phone is one lost phone away from gone. With ReciDeck, family and friends can save a recipe you send them on the free plan.
Keep the paper too, away from the steam and splashes of the kitchen.
Sources and method
The iPhone steps use Live Text in Photos and the document scanner in Notes, both part of iOS. What ReciDeck reads from a photo is described from the app. No recognition is perfect on handwriting, which is why the proofreading step is not optional.
