Warning

This guide is for Paprika 4, which is currently in beta. Switch to the Paprika 3 guide.

Scanning Recipes

Scanning a handwritten recipe card on the Mac: the photo in the middle, the Scan button over it, and the recipe fields filling in on the right.
  1. Scan button Scanning a Recipe
  2. Add photo Scanning a Recipe
  3. Recipe fields Editing a Scanned Recipe
  4. Save button Editing a Scanned Recipe
Scanning a recipe in Paprika for Mac.

Paprika can turn photos of recipes into structured recipes in your collection. Snap a photo of a cookbook page, a magazine clipping, or a handwritten recipe card, and Paprika will read the text and sort it into the appropriate recipe fields for you.

Scanning a Recipe Premium

From the recipes list, press the button to add a new recipe, then select Scan Recipe to choose one or more images from your Mac. (You can also go to File -> New Recipe -> From Photos in the menu bar.)

A recipe can span multiple photos — for example, a page of ingredients and a page of directions. Add all of the photos to a single scan and Paprika will combine them into one recipe. You can also import a PDF of a recipe.

Crop each photo so that only the recipe text is included. To crop or rotate a photo before scanning, open the … (More) menu and choose Edit. Use the rotate and crop buttons, then press Done. When you're ready, press Scan. Paprika will process the photos and present the recognized recipe for review.

Editing a Scanned Recipe

After scanning, the recognized text is sorted into the recipe's fields — name, ingredients, directions, and so on — and displayed alongside the original photo. Compare the result against the photo, correct anything the scan missed, and press to add the recipe to your collection.

Shortcut To copy text straight from the photo, choose Select Text from the … menu, then select the text and copy it into a recipe field. This is handy for fixing up any sections the scan placed incorrectly. Select Text needs macOS 26 or later.

To remove a photo from the scan, right-click its thumbnail and choose Delete. To start over, choose Reset from the … menu. This clears the recipe's text and details, but your photos stay.

Scanning Tips

  • For best scan quality, pick a high-resolution image with clear, readable text.
  • Make sure the page is evenly lit and the text isn't distorted by the curve of the page.
  • Crop out surrounding text (like other recipes on the same page) so only one recipe is scanned at a time.

Note

Scanning sends your photos to Paprika's servers for text recognition. When Paprika can't read a photo the usual way, for example when you're offline, it reads the text with a simpler method instead. A notice then asks you to check fractions, quantities, and multi-column layouts, and Scan Again tries the photo once more.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
    1. Table of Contents
  2. What's New
    1. Highlights
    2. Other Changes
  3. Beta Testing
    1. Before You Start
    2. What to Test
      1. Adding Recipes
      2. Organizing
      3. Nutrition
      4. Sharing
      5. Pantry
      6. Meals
      7. Integrations
    3. Sending Feedback
  4. Overview
  5. Adding Recipes
    1. Adding a Recipe
    2. Adding a Recipe from the Clipboard
  6. Scanning Recipes
    1. Scanning a Recipe
    2. Editing a Scanned Recipe
    3. Scanning Tips
  7. Browsing Recipes
    1. Browsing by Category
    2. Browsing Subcategories
    3. Searching Recipes
    4. Advanced Search
    5. Saved Searches
    6. Sorting Recipes
  8. Editing Recipes
    1. Editing a Recipe
    2. Deleting Recipes
    3. Recipe Fields
    4. Inserting Recipe Text
    5. Adding Recipe Photos
  9. Viewing Recipes
    1. Recipe Actions
    2. Printing Recipes
    3. Timers
    4. Scaling & Converting Ingredients
    5. Crossing off Ingredients
    6. Marking Directions
    7. Ingredient Substitutions
    8. Pinning Recipes
    9. Recipes Sidebar
    10. Photo Gallery
    11. Gestures & Keyboard Shortcuts
  10. Nutrition
    1. Entering Nutrition Facts
    2. Analyzing Ingredients
    3. Viewing Nutrition
  11. Categories
    1. Assign a Recipe to a Category
    2. Suggesting Categories
    3. Adding a Category
    4. Editing Categories
    5. Built-In Categories
  12. Cookbooks
    1. Switching Cookbooks
    2. Adding a Cookbook
    3. Managing Cookbooks
    4. Moving Recipes between Cookbooks
    5. Sharing a Cookbook
  13. Browser
    1. Using the Browser
    2. Clipping Recipes Online
    3. Clipping Recipes from Social Media
    4. Manually Saving Recipes Using the Clipboard Tools
      1. Tips
  14. Groceries
    1. Adding Ingredients
      1. Adding a Recipe to the Grocery List
      2. Adding a Custom Item to the Grocery List
    2. Editing the Grocery List
      1. Editing Grocery List Items
      2. Removing Items from the Grocery List
    3. Using the Grocery List
      1. Marking Items as Purchased
      2. Filtering Grocery List Items
      3. Searching the Grocery List
      4. Sorting the Grocery List
    4. Managing Multiple Grocery Lists
      1. Viewing your Grocery Lists
      2. Adding a New Grocery List
      3. Renaming a Grocery List
    5. Grocery List Actions
  15. Pantry
    1. Adding Items to the Pantry
    2. Editing Pantry Items
    3. Pantry Locations
    4. Sorting the Pantry
    5. Searching the Pantry
    6. Pantry Actions
  16. Meals
    1. Viewing the Meal Planner
      1. Switching Views
      2. Monthly View
      3. Weekly View
      4. Daily View
    2. Adding a Meal
      1. From the Meal Planner
      2. Drag and Drop from the Recipes Sidebar
      3. From the Recipe Screen
    3. Editing Meals
      1. Changing a Meal's Date or Type
      2. Deleting Meals
      3. Moving or Copying Meals
      4. Scaling Meals
      5. Viewing Recipes from the Meal Planner
    4. Meal Planner Actions
    5. Calendar Feed
  17. Menus
    1. Adding a Menu
    2. Adding Menu Items
    3. Drag and Drop
    4. Adding a Menu to the Meal Planner
    5. Menu Actions
  18. Sharing
    1. Family Sharing
      1. Inviting Family Members
      2. Managing Family Members
    2. Messages
      1. Sending Recipes & Cookbooks
      2. Receiving & Importing Recipes
      3. Push Notifications
  19. Settings
    1. Accessing the Settings Panel
    2. List of Settings
    3. Account
      1. Paprika Cloud Sync
      2. Accessing your Account
      3. Creating an Account
      4. Logging In
      5. Managing your Account
      6. Quick Sync
      7. Deleting your Account
    4. Import Recipes
      1. YAML Format
    5. Export Recipes
      1. How to export your recipes
    6. Find Duplicates
  20. Extensions
    1. Saving Recipes from Safari
    2. Shortcuts
  21. Resources
    1. Technical Support
    2. Frequently Asked Questions
    3. Changelog