Limits and best practices

Importing recipes saves you from typing, but it doesn't replace your judgment. Knowing its limits helps you get the most out of it and know where to pay attention.

What it does well

• Reads recipe text in good-quality photos, scans, and PDFs.
• Structures the recipe: it separates the name, ingredients with their quantities, and steps.
• Maps ingredients to the catalog whenever it recognizes the name.
• Processes several files at once and leaves you an editable sheet for each one.

What you shouldn't expect

• It doesn't make up what isn't there. If the photo doesn't show a quantity, it won't invent one: it leaves it for you to fill in.
• It doesn't fix the original recipe. If the document has an error, it carries it over as-is; fixing it is up to you in the editor.
• It doesn't guarantee 100% accuracy with difficult handwriting, blurry photos, glare, or multi-column documents.
• It isn't for documents that aren't recipes. Invoices, delivery notes, or shopping lists don't turn into recipes; check the type first with Verify the document type.

Always review before producing

Treat the imported recipe as a draft. Before signing off on it, check in the editor:

• That all quantities are present and make sense.
• That the units are correct (especially if you saw the "Ambiguous unit" warning).
• That each ingredient was mapped to the catalog (watch for the "Ingredients not found" warning).
• That no step of the method is missing.

Best practices

• Take the photo sharp and well lit, with the full recipe in frame.
• If you're not sure what the document is, verify the type before spending credits.
• Check the History tab so you don't lose track of imports with warnings still to resolve.
• If an import gets stuck or fails, you can cancel it (credits are refunded) and retry with a better image.