TablefulGuide
How to save a handwritten family recipe
An index card in your grandmother’s handwriting is the recipe you would least like to lose and the one least likely to survive a move. It takes one photo to have it on your phone, in your meal plan and read out to you while you cook.
What you need
- Tableful on iPhone
- The card, and good light
- Ten minutes, because these are the ones worth checking properly
Step by step
1. Photograph the card flat
On a table, not in your hand. Handwriting is harder to read than print, and a slight curl costs you a line.
2. Shoot each side separately
Cards run onto the back constantly. Import the front, then add what is on the back by editing the recipe.
3. Use Photograph a page
On the Today tab, tap Photograph a page. The text your phone can make out and the picture itself are read together, which is what gets a faded pencil line across.
4. Expect the old abbreviations
T is a tablespoon and t is a teaspoon, and a card from 1962 may not say which. Tableful keeps what is written rather than deciding for you, so this is the moment to write it out properly.
5. Fill in what the card assumed
“Bake until done” and “a moderate oven” were fine for the person who wrote them. Add the temperature and the time you actually use. This is the version your children will cook from.
6. Save it, then put it in a collection
A collection called after the person who wrote the cards is the reason to do this at all.
When it does not work
- The handwriting is cursive and tight. Photograph it in two halves, closer in. Two clean reads beat one wide blur.
- The ink has faded. Side light raises the contrast of an indentation more than any filter will. Try turning the card towards a window.
- Two recipes share one card. Tableful takes one recipe at a time. Photograph the half you want by covering the other.
- Some steps came back missing. Nothing is invented to fill a gap, which is the right behaviour for a recipe you cannot check against a source. Type the missing lines in.
Questions people ask
Will it guess the parts it cannot read?
No. A blank is left blank. On a family recipe there is no original online to check against, so a plausible invention would be worse than an obvious gap.
Can I keep the photo of the card?
Keep the photo in your library, where it belongs. The recipe on your phone is the cookable version, not a replacement for the object.
Can I share the recipe with my family?
Yes. You can share a recipe you saved into Tableful’s Discover feed for other cooks, and take it back out again whenever you want.
Related guides
Scan a cookbook page: the printed version of the same route.
Scale a recipe: old cards feed a different-sized family.
Calculate the calories in a recipe: even for a recipe with no numbers on it.
Cook hands-free: so the card never goes near the flour again.
Tableful vs Paprika: for anyone weighing up a long-term recipe library.
Reviewed September 2026. Tableful can only read content it can reach: private, deleted, region-restricted or paywalled posts may not be readable. Nutrition figures are estimates for meal decisions, not medical advice.