Photograph a recipe card, a cookbook page, or a handwritten note.
Photograph a recipe card, a cookbook page, or a handwritten recipe and Stokd reads the ingredients and steps into an editable recipe. The recipes worth keeping are often the ones that were never online.
FROM PAPER
Point the camera at it.
The recipe box on top of the fridge, the splattered page in a book that falls open at it, the index card in someone else’s handwriting. None of that has a URL, and none of it survives being lost. This route reads the paper directly.
- Step 1
Open Import
Tap Import on the Stokd home screen. You will be offered two routes: a link, or a photo.
- Step 2
Choose Recipe Picture
The second option reads a photo of a physical recipe rather than a web page.
- Step 3
Take or upload the photo
Point the camera at the recipe, or pick a photo you have already taken. Tap Use this photo, or Retake if the framing is off.
- Step 4
Let it read
Stokd shows “Extracting recipe” while the AI reads your photo. It takes a few seconds.
- Step 5
Review the draft
The recipe opens ready to edit. Check the quantities and the order of the steps against the paper in front of you, then save.
WHAT TO EXPECT
How photo import works.
- What it reads
- Printed recipe cards, cookbook and magazine pages, and handwritten recipes. Anything where the recipe exists on paper rather than at a URL.
- What you get
- An editable draft with the ingredients, quantities and steps pulled out. Stokd always opens the draft for review rather than saving silently.
- Counts as
- One AI scan, from the same weekly allowance as receipt and ingredient-photo scans. This is not the same pool as your URL and social imports. Stokd Free includes 5 AI scans a week, and chef ranks raise that at no cost.
- Needs an account
- Scanning is tied to your account, so you will be asked to sign in first.
GETTING A CLEAN READ
Four things that decide the result.
Extraction is only as good as the photograph. None of this needs a tripod, and all of it is the difference between a recipe you can cook from and one you have to retype.
- Flatten the page
- A curved cookbook page distorts the text nearest the spine, which is usually where the quantities are. Press it flat, or photograph one page at a time.
- Light from the side
- Shooting straight down under a ceiling light puts your own shadow across the card. Turn so the light comes across the page instead.
- Fill the frame
- Get close enough that the recipe fills most of the photo. Detail beats context here, and the tablecloth adds nothing.
- One recipe at a time
- If a page holds two recipes, photograph them separately. A single photo of both gives the reader no way to know where one ends.
QUESTIONS
Scanning paper recipes.
Does this use one of my weekly imports?
No. Photographing a recipe spends an AI scan, from the same weekly allowance as receipt and ingredient-photo scans. Your URL and social imports are a separate allowance, so scanning paper recipes does not use them up.
Can it actually read handwriting?
Yes, that is what this route is for. Clear handwriting on a flat card reads best. Faded ink, heavy cursive and decades of splatter are harder, and are worth checking line by line before you save.
Can I use a photo I already took?
Yes. You can take a new photo or pick an existing one from your library. A photograph of a cookbook page taken months ago works the same as one taken now.
What happens if it cannot read the photo?
Stokd says it could not extract a recipe and offers to try again. Usually a second photo with better light and the page flatter is enough. Nothing is saved and the scan can be retaken.
Do I have to be signed in?
Yes. Scanning is tied to your account so the recipe lands in your collection and your weekly allowance is tracked.
OTHER SOURCES
Save from somewhere else.
ONCE IT IS IN
A card on paper cannot tell you what you are missing.
Once the recipe is in Stokd it can be checked against your pantry, turned into a shopping list of only what you lack, and cooked from step by step, which is more than the index card ever did. See the other ways in.