Digitize handwritten recipes
Keep the recipe. Remember the cook.
Turn handwritten recipe cards into searchable, editable recipes. Keep the original photo beside the ingredients and steps, then share the dishes and stories in your family cookbook.
Family covers up to 20 members. $79.00/year after the 14-day trial. Card required; cancel before the trial ends to avoid a charge.
Or start with the Free planWondering if AI can read your family’s handwriting?
Try it on one of your own recipe cards. It takes a few seconds, and you do not need an account.
How to digitize handwritten recipes in three steps
Photograph the card
Lay the card flat by a window and fill the frame. Handwritten cards, printed clippings and cookbook pages all work.
Check what AI typed
The title, ingredients and steps arrive as an editable recipe. Fix any line it misread before you save.
Keep it with the original
Save it with the card photo beside it, credit the cook, and share it in your family cookbook.
Made for the cards in a real recipe box
Family recipes were written for the person who wrote them: abbreviations, fractions, a temperature with no units, a note squeezed into the margin. The AI reads them the way a cook would, and the photo keeps everything it cannot type.
- Cursive and printed handwriting
- Fractions and shorthand: c., T., tsp., oz., pt.
- Oven temperatures, times and pan sizes
- Both sides of a card, in the iPhone app
- Printed clippings, cookbook pages and printouts
- Margin notes, kept in the original photo
How to photograph a recipe card so it reads well
- Use daylight
- Window light reads faded pencil better than a flash, which washes out the ink and adds glare.
- Lay it flat
- A card on the table reads better than one in your hand. Take it out of a plastic sleeve first.
- Fill the frame
- Get close enough that the card fills the photo, with all four edges in view.
- One card per photo
- Photograph each card on its own, so every recipe gets its own page and its own original.
- Shoot the back too
- Many cards continue on the back. The iPhone app reads both sides into one recipe.
- Keep the notes
- Leave the stains and margin notes in the shot. They are part of the card worth keeping.
Pass down more than the ingredients
A photo in your camera roll keeps the card but not the recipe. A typed copy keeps the recipe but loses the hand that wrote it. A family cookbook keeps both, and puts them where everyone can cook from them.
- The original card photo stays beside the editable recipe.
- Search by name or ingredient instead of scrolling through photos.
- Credit the cook, and add the story or the tip that makes it yours.
- Invite relatives to add their cards, each with their own login.
Helpful next steps
See your own card typed up in seconds, with no account.
The step-by-step guideEvery way to digitize a recipe box, and how to keep the handwriting.
Scan recipe cards with your phoneGetting clean photos of every card before you start.
The family cookbook appWhat your family can do once the recipes are in.
Digitizing FAQ
Questions about digitizing handwritten recipes
What the AI reads, what happens to the original card, and what it costs.
What is the easiest way to digitize handwritten recipes?
Photograph each card with your phone and let AI type it up. You check the ingredients and steps, fix anything it misread, and save the recipe with the original photo beside it, so the handwriting is never lost.
Can AI read cursive and old handwriting?
Usually, yes. Cursive, fractions and shorthand like "c." for cup, "T." for tablespoon and "pt." for pint read well when the photo is sharp and evenly lit. You can try one of your own cards free before you make an account.
Can I digitize old recipe cards that are stained or faded?
Yes. Photograph faded cards in daylight without a flash, and keep the stain or the margin note in the photo: the original image stays with the recipe, so the history of the card is kept even where the ink is hard to read.
Do I need a scanner to digitize family recipes?
No. A phone camera is enough for recipe cards, binders and cookbook pages. In the iPhone app you can photograph both sides of a card and keep going one card after another.
How accurate is it, and do I have to check it?
AI does the typing, and you have the final word. Every scan opens as an editable draft, so you can correct a quantity or a step before it is saved, with the photo of the card right there to compare.
Can my relatives add their recipe cards too?
Yes. Invite them to your family cookbook and each person signs in with their own login to scan or type their recipes. One subscription covers everyone in the cookbook, up to your plan's member limit.
How much does it cost to digitize recipes?
The Free plan includes AI recipe reading for up to 20 recipes and 3 family members. Paid plans hold larger collections, from 150 recipes on Starter to 500 on Legacy.