Overview

Family Recipe Book is a shared collection for your household. Everyone you invite can browse, add, and edit recipes together. Browse Recipes brings together recipes you own and recipes shared with you; use its scope controls to focus on your recipes or sharing activity.

Use the topics list on the left to navigate between sections. On a phone, tap Topics to open that list.

You can also open this guide from the menubar Help → Help Guide. Help → Contact Support starts a new support request.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is your home base — open it from the sidebar anytime to see what's going on with your recipe collection.

• Recipe counts — shows how many Family, Personal, and Draft recipes are in your collection. Click any count to jump straight to that view.
• Active Uploads — if you've started a Bulk Upload that's still being reviewed, it appears here with a quick link to continue.
• Add a Recipe — shortcuts to the most common tasks: Write a Recipe, Upload Recipe Card, and Bulk Upload.

Usage Statistics

The Usage Statistics panel shows two meters for your family account:

• Smart Scans — how many AI-powered image and PDF scans have been used this month out of your monthly allowance. Each image or PDF page processed through Upload Recipe Card or Bulk Upload counts as one scan. Word (.docx) uploads do not use scan credits. If you're running low, consider using URL Import or typing recipes manually until the allowance resets.
• Storage Used — how much space your uploaded images and files are using out of your account's total limit.

Owners and Admins can also see usage breakdowns per family member in the Family section.

Adding a Recipe

There are three ways to add a recipe:

• Create Recipe — type it in manually using the recipe editor.
• Upload Recipe Card — take a photo of a handwritten or printed card. Smart Scan reads the text and pre-fills the recipe form for you.
• Bulk Upload — upload multiple recipe card photos at once. Each one gets processed and queued for your review before being saved.

All new recipes start as a Draft (private to you) while you work. Click Save to put the recipe in your personal collection. To make it visible to the household, use Edit › Manage shares… from the menu bar (or the Manage shares button on the recipe page) to choose which families can see it.

Upload Recipe Card

Use Upload Recipe Card (in the Create Recipe menu or the Add a Recipe section on the dashboard) to add a recipe from an existing source. The app extracts the text and pre-fills the recipe form — you review and correct before saving. There are three ways to get a recipe in:

Upload a File

Drag and drop a file onto the upload area, or click Choose File(s) to browse. Supported formats:

• Images — JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP. Use this for photos of handwritten or printed recipe cards. You can upload multiple images at once (e.g. front and back of a card) and the app combines them before extracting.
• PDF — Works great for recipe pages saved or printed from a website, scanned cookbooks, or any document saved as PDF. If the PDF has selectable text (like a saved webpage), extraction is instant. Image-based PDFs (scanned pages) are processed page by page.
• Word (.docx) — Upload a Word document containing a recipe. Text is extracted from paragraphs and tables and sorted into the recipe fields automatically. No scan credit is used for Word files.

Scans and PDF pages that are mostly blank paper (such as a small recipe card on a full page) are cropped to the card automatically when they are uploaded.

After the file is processed, you'll see the extracted text alongside the original. Review and correct anything before saving. Each image or PDF page processed uses one Smart Scan credit from your monthly allowance — check Dashboard › Usage Statistics to see how many you have remaining.

Use Your Camera (mobile & tablet)

On a phone or tablet, tap 📸 Take Photo to open your camera. You can take as many photos as you need:

• Tap Add Another Photo after each shot to keep going — there's no need to fit front and back into one frame.
• When you've captured all the pages, tap Process Photos and the app stitches them together for extraction.

For best results:

• Use good, even lighting — avoid shadows across the text
• Hold the camera parallel to the card so the text isn't skewed
• Fill the frame with the card, leaving a small border

Don't see the camera button? It only appears on devices that have a camera. On a desktop or laptop, use Choose File(s) to upload a photo you've already taken.

Import from URL

Paste a recipe website URL into the box at the bottom of the Upload Recipe Card page and click Import Recipe. The app fetches the page and fills in the recipe fields automatically — no file needed.

For best results, use URLs from major recipe sites (AllRecipes, Food Network, Serious Eats, King Arthur Baking, and most food blogs). These import instantly and completely, including ingredients, instructions, times, servings, and nutrition.

If the import fails or gives incomplete results, one of these is usually why:

• The site blocks automated requests — you'll see an error or a near-empty result.
• The recipe data isn't machine-readable — the page looks fine in a browser but the text is embedded in images or loaded after the page opens.
• The site uses an unusual layout — the importer may miss some fields even when it can read the page.

Workaround: Open the recipe page in your browser and use Print → Save as PDF (Windows: Microsoft Print to PDF; Mac: click the PDF button in the print dialog). Then upload that PDF using Choose File(s) — it typically gives excellent results.

Bulk Upload

Bulk Upload lets you process a whole stack of recipe cards at once — ideal for digitizing a recipe box or cookbook.

• Select multiple images at once from your device
• The app groups related images (e.g. front/back of one card) automatically
• After processing, recipes are auto-validated: titles are Title Cased, ingredient quantity/unit/prep fields are repaired, and a category is guessed. High-confidence recipes go to Approved; others land in Ready to Approve, Needs Attention, or No Data.
• On an existing batch, click Validate this batch to run the same checks without re-scanning images.
• After processing, open the In Progress tab inside Bulk Upload to review each extracted recipe, correct leftovers, and save approved recipes
• Supported file types: JPG, PNG, GIF, and TIFF images only. For PDF or Word (.docx) files, use Upload Recipe Card instead — it supports those formats.

Bulk Upload — Review Editor

After a Bulk Upload is processed, open the In Progress tab and click Edit on any recipe card to review and correct the extracted text before saving. This opens the same full-page recipe editor as elsewhere, with a few batch-specific extras.

What's Different

• The image panel shows all images attached to this item and includes an Order field and Apply Order button — use these to control which image appears first if you have multiple photos. Apply Order saves the order immediately without needing to save the whole recipe.
• Each image has Delete and Move buttons. Use Re-run OCR next to Extracted Text to re-scan all cards at once.
• Move Image… in the left panel lets you send an image from this batch item to a different recipe or merge it into another batch item.

Saving from the editor

• Save Draft (header or File › Save Draft) — saves progress without committing the recipe anywhere. The item stays in your Bulk Upload queue for later.
• Save (header or File › Save) — saves the recipe to your personal collection. Sharing with family is done afterward via Edit › Manage shares… (or from the recipe page).

You can also approve multiple batch items at once from the In Progress list — use the checkboxes to select them and click Save Selected to Personal or Save Selected to Family.

Browsing & Searching

Browse Modes

Open Filters in Browse Recipes and choose a Collection. The collection choices are:

• All recipes — every recipe you can access, including your own and recipes shared with you.
• My recipes — your saved recipes, whether personal or shared with a family.
• Shared with me — recipes other family members have shared with you.
• Shared by me — recipes you have shared with a family. See Shared by Me.
• My drafts — recipes you haven't finished yet.

Categories and Subcategories

Browse opens at the Categories view — a grid of every category that has at least one recipe. Recipes with no category appear in Unknown. Click a category card to drill in and see its subcategories. Recipes that have a category but no subcategory appear in an Unknown card inside that category. Click a subcategory card to see the recipes it contains.

The breadcrumb at the top (e.g. All Categories › Appetizers › Cold Appetizers) shows where you are. Click any breadcrumb item to jump back up.

The Toggle Buttons

Two buttons in the browse header let you switch between the category grid and a flat recipe list:

• Browse categories — shows the category grid. Always available; click it to navigate back up to categories at any level.
• Show recipe list — shows all recipes in the current scope as a flat, scrollable list. When you're inside a category the label changes (e.g. "All Appetizers") to show which category's recipes are listed. Inside a subcategory it shows that subcategory's recipes.

Sorting and Filtering

When viewing a flat recipe list, a toolbar appears below the toggle buttons. Click Filters to expand a panel with all filter and sort options:

• Collection — which recipes to browse (All recipes, My recipes, Shared with me, Shared by me, or My drafts).
• Sort — A–Z, Z–A, Newest First, Oldest First, Recently Modified, Oldest Modified.
• Source — filter to a specific source (appears when multiple sources exist).
• Added by — filter by contributor (appears in family mode with multiple members).
• Duplicates — show only possible duplicate names, exclude them, or show all recipes.
• Apply filters / Clear filters — confirm or reset your choices. The Filters button also closes the panel.

⊞ / ☰ — grid or list view toggle, separate from the Filters panel. Your preference is remembered per collection.

Searching Within Browse

A search box sits just above the toggle buttons. It searches only within the current browse context — it does not mix in results from other categories or browse modes.

• At root: category cards with no matching recipes dim out; cards with matches update to show the match count. This lets you quickly spot which categories have what you're looking for.
• Inside a category: subcategory cards update the same way (dimmed if no matches, match count shown if there are). A flat "Matching Recipes" section also appears below the subcategory grid so you can open any match directly without drilling in.
• In a flat list or subcategory: recipe cards filter live as you type. Sort and filter still apply on top of the search.

The search box searches recipe names, sources, descriptions, ingredients, and tags — the same fields as the main search bar. Click × to clear the search and return to the full view.

The main search bar at the top of the sidebar searches across your entire recipe collection regardless of where you are. Use it when you don't know which category a recipe is in.

Shared by Me

Choose Filters › Collection › Shared by me in Browse Recipes to see every recipe you have shared with a family.

• Each row shows the recipe name, category, source, dates, image count, and a Manage button on the right. In grid view, a Manage button appears at the bottom of each card.
• Manage opens a dialog listing every family you belong to, with checkboxes reflecting the current shares. Check to share, uncheck to unshare, then Save. Clearing all families returns the recipe to your personal collection and removes it from this list.
• Use search and the Added by filter to narrow the list.
• Select several recipes and use Edit › Manage shares… to set family access for all of them at once. See Select, Bulk Edit & Compare.

The Shared with me collection (in Filters › Collection) shows incoming shares — recipes others have shared with you. Shared by me shows outgoing shares — the place to review and adjust your own sharing.

Select, Bulk Edit & Compare

On recipe lists (browse, My Recipes, Shared by me, and similar), each editable recipe can show a Select checkbox on the left. Selection is remembered as you move around the app until you clear it or sign out. There is no separate Plan checkbox on cards — planning uses the same Select list plus the Plan menu.

When you open a single recipe, the selection strip is hidden and File / Edit / Plan / View act on that recipe only. Your previous selection is kept in the background and reappears when you leave the recipe. On All Recipes / All Personal / All Drafts (and other sorted recipe lists), selected recipes appear at the top, then the rest follow your chosen sort (A–Z, newest, and so on).

Selection strip

When one or more recipes are selected (and you are not on a single recipe page), a slim strip under the top menu shows how many are selected and quick Compare / Clear controls.

File menu

With one or more recipes selected (or while viewing a recipe), File › Print… opens the print preview. Multiple selected recipes print together, each starting on a new page. While the recipe editor is open, File › Save saves the recipe (to your personal collection, or in place for an already-saved recipe), and File › Save Draft appears for new or draft recipes.

On a plan detail page, File › Save saves the plan, File › Save As… creates a Recipe Group from the plan’s current recipes (you name the group), and File › Print… opens the same print options as the on-page Print button. On a group detail page, File › Save saves the group. Edit › Delete… deletes the open plan or group.

Edit menu

Use the Edit menu in the top bar with a selection or an open recipe:

• Edit recipe… — open the editor for the focused or single selected recipe.
• Manage shares… — same family checklist as Shared by me Manage. Save applies that exact set to every targeted recipe (share what’s checked, unshare what’s not). If the recipes already share the same families, those boxes start checked; if they differ, boxes start empty and Save replaces each recipe’s shares. With multiple selected recipes, you will be asked to confirm first.
• Move category / subcategory… — move targeted recipes to a category/subcategory (confirm when more than one). Family owners and admins can also add a new subcategory from that dialog when the existing list doesn’t fit; Apply will save a typed subcategory name even if you skip the checkmark.
• Clone to My Recipes… — copy targeted recipes into your personal collection (requires family sharing).
• Delete… — permanently delete targeted recipes (confirm when more than one).
• Compare selected… — open a side-by-side compare view when 2–4 recipes are selected (not available while viewing a single recipe).
• Clear selection — deselect everything on list views.

Plan menu

The Plan menu (between Edit and View) is always available — you do not need a recipe selection first:

• Create Plan… — start a dated plan. If recipes are selected, they are included; otherwise you name an empty plan and add recipes or groups afterward.
• Update Plan… — choose a plan, then open its editor. With recipes selected, you can add them, remove them, or open the editor.
• Create Group… — create a reusable Recipe Group (date-less recipe set). Selected recipes are included when present.
• Update Group… — choose a group to open or, with a selection, add/remove those recipes.

A Plan is scheduled for a date (or meal schedule). A Recipe Group is a reusable menu you can copy into any plan later — editing the group does not change plans that already used it.

When you are picking recipes for a plan or group (pick mode), Select adds or removes recipes from that draft — the footer shows your progress.

View menu

With one recipe selected (or while viewing a recipe):

• History… — browse saved versions of that recipe.
• Adjust servings… — scale ingredient quantities without changing the saved recipe.
• Show duplicate names… — list other recipes with the same name.

Show Planned Events and Show Saved Groups are always available and open Event Planner (calendar/list of dated plans, or reusable recipe groups).

Compare

Compare highlights differences across the selected recipes so you can spot near-duplicates or decide what to keep. Each column may show compact Edit, Shares… (same Manage shares checklist), and Delete — only on recipes you created (and can edit). Click a recipe title to open it. While comparing, the selection strip shows Clear Compare, which returns you to the previous page with your selection intact.

Viewing a Recipe

Open any recipe from Browse or search results to see its full details. Most commands live in the top File, Edit, Plan, and View menus and apply to the open recipe. A slim action row on the page keeps the most common shortcuts handy.

On-page shortcuts

• Print — opens a print preview. Also available under File › Print…. See Printing a Recipe.
• History — browse every previously saved version. Also under View › History….
• Adjust servings — scale ingredient quantities without modifying the saved recipe. Also under View › Adjust servings…. See Adjust Servings.
• Edit — opens the recipe editor. Also under Edit › Edit recipe…. Available when you can edit the recipe.
• Delete — permanently removes the recipe. Also under Edit › Delete….

Menus on a recipe page

• Edit › Manage shares… — set which families can see this recipe (replaces the old Share / Unshare buttons).
• Edit › Clone to My Recipes… — save a personal copy you can edit independently (when you have family sharing).
• Plan — create or update a plan or recipe group for this recipe.
• View › Show duplicate names… — list other recipes with the same name.

Recipe Status

A badge next to the recipe title shows its current status:

• Draft — private to you and not visible to other family members.
• Personal — saved to your personal collection; still only visible to you unless shared.
• Family — shared with one or more households; visible to members of those families.

Manage Images

If a recipe has source images attached and you have edit access, an expandable Manage images panel appears below the image. Click it to see each image with two actions:

• Re-run OCR — re-extracts text from that image using AI. Useful when the original scan was incomplete or you want a fresh read. After re-extraction, the recipe editor opens with the new OCR text pre-loaded so you can review and apply any changes. Each image can be re-run twice; if the text still isn’t right after that, please send a support ticket.
• Move to recipe — transfers the image to a different recipe. Use this to fix images that were attached to the wrong recipe during a bulk scan. A search box lets you find the destination recipe by name.

Editing a Recipe

To edit an existing recipe, open it and click Edit on the page (or Edit › Edit recipe…). To start from scratch, use Create Recipe › Write a Recipe in the sidebar. The recipe editor opens as a full page (like viewing a recipe) — the sidebar and top menu bar stay available.

Leaving the editor

• ← Back — returns to where you came from. If you have unsaved changes, you can Save, Discard, or Keep editing.
• Save (header or File › Save) — for a draft or new recipe, moves it into your personal collection; for an already-saved recipe, saves changes in place. Leaves the editor (typically to the recipe page).
• Save Draft (header or File › Save Draft) — available for new or draft recipes; saves progress as a draft and leaves the editor.
• Discard — throws away unsaved changes after you confirm (no save option on this path).
• Choosing another page in the sidebar, or using the browser back button, uses the same unsaved-changes prompt as Back.
• View › History… — opens version history without leaving your edit session; Back from History returns you to the editor.

Left Panel — Source Images & OCR Text

The left panel shows the original scanned images and the text extracted from them (OCR). Use them as a reference while filling in the fields on the right.

• Use the ◂ / ▸ arrow to collapse or expand the panel if you need more room to edit.
• If the recipe has no source images, the panel shows a placeholder and can still be collapsed.
• Re-run OCR (next to Extracted Text) re-extracts text from every source image. You can update the extracted text only, or also refill the recipe fields from the new scan. Each image can be re-run twice; after that, please send a support ticket.
• Trim blank margins (under each source image) crops the empty white space around a scan, for example a recipe card that was scanned onto a full page. Use it on images you uploaded earlier; new uploads are trimmed automatically.
• Crop… (next to Trim blank margins) lets you choose exactly which part of an image to keep: drag the box or its round handles, then click Apply crop. The image is replaced, but the original is kept.
• Restore original appears once an image has been trimmed or cropped (including the automatic trim on upload). It puts the image back exactly as it was uploaded, so you never need to delete and re-upload a scan.

Recipe Fields

• Title — required.
• Category / Subcategory — controls where the recipe appears in Browse.
• Source — person, book, or website. Type freely or pick from suggestions (tree people and account members). A unique name is linked automatically on save; a URL stays text-only and clears any person link. Go to Website ↗ appears for URLs. Linking does not require Enable Family Tree (viewing the tree still does).
• Prep / Cook time — in minutes; optional.
• Servings — used as the base amount for Adjust Servings.
• Description — a short intro shown at the top of the recipe view.
• Ingredients — one ingredient per row. Click + Add Ingredient to add a row.
• Instructions — one step per row. Click + Add Step to add a row.
• Tags — freeform labels used for filtering in Browse.
• Nutrition — optional summary line (e.g., Calories: 224kcal | Protein: 7g).
• Equipment — optional; list any special pans, tools, or appliances the recipe requires, one per line (e.g., 9×13 baking pan, stand mixer). These appear in their own section on the recipe view.
• Notes — tips, variations, substitutions, or anything else worth remembering.

Ingredient & Instruction Sections

For complex recipes, you can organize ingredients and instructions into named groups. Click + Add Section (next to the + Add Ingredient or + Add Step button) to insert a labeled divider. Examples:

• Ingredient sections: Dough, Filling, Glaze
• Instruction sections: Prep, Assembly, Baking

Section headers appear in the recipe view and in printed output.

Saving

Use the header buttons or the top File menu while editing:

• Save (header or File › Save) — for a draft or new recipe, moves it into your personal collection. For a personal or family-shared recipe, saves changes in place without changing who it is shared with. After a successful save you leave the editor (typically back to the recipe page).
• Save Draft (header or File › Save Draft) — available for new or draft recipes; saves progress as a draft and leaves the editor. Hidden when the recipe is already saved.

Sharing is not part of Save. Use Edit › Manage shares… (or Manage shares on the recipe page) to choose families. Edit › Clone to My Recipes… copies an existing recipe when you have family sharing. Auto-save still keeps an in-progress draft if you step away.

Adjust Servings

Each recipe can be scaled up or down from its original serving size. Click Adjust servings on the recipe page, or use View › Adjust servings…, to open the scaling tool.

• The Original servings field is pre-filled if the recipe has a serving size. If not, type one in to scale to a specific target count — or skip it and use the quick buttons.
• Enter a Target servings amount, or use the ×2 ×3 ×4 quick buttons under that field to double, triple, or quadruple the ingredients. Those buttons work even when the recipe has no serving size. The tool shows original and scaled quantities side by side so you can compare before applying.
• Click Apply to recipe to update the displayed ingredient quantities. This is a visual-only change — it does not modify the saved recipe.
• A banner appears under the Ingredients heading to remind you the view is scaled. Click reset to original in that banner (or use the button in the modal) to restore the original amounts.

Scaling also applies to event shopping lists when a servings target is set — see Event Planner › Shopping List for details.

Printing a Recipe

Open any recipe and click Print on the page, or select one or more recipes on a list and use File › Print…. A preview opens first so you can confirm the layout before sending it to your printer or saving a PDF.

• The printout always includes the title, servings, ingredients, and instructions.
• If you print several selected recipes at once, each recipe starts on a new page (same Printer Options apply to all).
• If you have adjusted servings on the recipe view, the scaled ingredient amounts are what print for that recipe — not the original saved quantities. Multi-select print from a list uses each recipe’s saved servings.
• Use Printer Options in the preview (or in Settings) to control images, one- vs two-column layout, and optional extras like notes, source, times, tags, or nutrition.
• Defaults are ink-saving: no images, ingredients above instructions, optional fields off.
• After you confirm, your browser or phone print sheet appears — choose a physical printer or Save as PDF / Microsoft Print to PDF.

If you open Printer Options from the preview, use Back to preview at the top of that Settings panel to return. The preview refreshes with your updated options.

Event Planner

The Event Planner helps you arrange recipes for a meal, party, or cooking day. Use a Plan when you have a date (or multi-day meal schedule) and need a shopping list. Use a Recipe Group when you want a reusable set of recipes you can copy into plans later.

Open Event Planner in the sidebar, or use View › Show Planned Events / View › Show Saved Groups.

• Planned Events — dated plans on a calendar (default) or list. Switch with the Calendar / List toggle.
• Saved Groups — reusable recipe groups (name, recipe count, category mix, last scheduled).
• Create plans and groups from the top Plan menu (Create Plan… / Create Group…).

On a plan, switch between One-day plan (flat recipe list) and Meal schedule (recipes assigned to days and meal slots).

Adding Recipes to a Plan

From a plan’s detail page, click Add recipes to browse and select recipes, or Add group to copy an entire Recipe Group into the plan (as a snapshot — later edits to the group do not change this plan).

• You can also select recipes in Browse, then use Plan › Create Plan… or Plan › Update Plan….
• Each recipe row shows an Adjusted servings field alongside ×2 ×3 ×4 shortcut buttons.
• In Meal schedule mode, each recipe is assigned to a day and meal slot.
• To remove a recipe, click × on its row, or use Plan › Update Plan… with a selection and choose Remove.

Click Save Plan (or File › Save) to persist the plan. Use File › Save As… (or Save as Group… on the page) to create a new Recipe Group from the plan’s current recipes without changing the plan.

Recipe Groups

A Recipe Group is a reusable menu — for example “Christmas Cookie Baking” — with a name, description, and recipes (including servings overrides). Groups have no dates and no shopping list.

• Open View › Show Saved Groups (or Event Planner, then that View command).
• Create or update groups from the Plan menu.
• Add a group to a plan with Add group on the plan, or include groups when creating a plan. Recipes are copied into the plan so you can adjust that occasion independently.
• The list shows each group’s category breakdown and when it was last scheduled into a plan.

Event Shopping List

The shopping list combines all ingredients across every recipe in a plan into a single consolidated list. Recipe Groups do not have shopping lists — generate the list on the plan after you schedule recipes.

• Click Generate Shopping List on the plan detail page. Any adjusted servings you've set will automatically scale ingredient quantities before combining.
• Duplicate ingredients are merged — for example, two recipes each needing 2 cups of flour produce a single "4 cups flour" line.
• The list suggests retail package sizes (e.g. "buy 1 dozen eggs") to make shopping easier. These suggestions are saved so future lists for the same ingredient generate instantly.
• Toggle Include pantry staples to show or hide common items like salt, pepper, and oil that you likely already have on hand.
• You can edit any line manually after generation, and check items off as you shop.

Tip: If you're doubling or tripling a recipe for a crowd, use the ×2, ×3, or ×4 buttons on each recipe row — the shopping list will scale ingredients accordingly. For a precise target (e.g. going from 4 to 6 servings), type the target number directly into the Adjusted servings field.

Printing an Event

On an event plan detail page, use Print on the page or File › Print…. A dialog asks what to include — you can select one or more options:

• Menu only — recipe names with dates, meal slots, and servings. On a schedule plan, recipes are grouped by day (same as the on-screen list). The menu stays together across as many pages as needed.
• Shopping list — quantities, packages, and checkboxes matching the list in the app (including your edits and checkmarks). Starts on its own page when other sections are included.
• Full recipes — each recipe on its own page(s), scaled to the plan's adjusted servings, with plan date and meal type when available.

Your last choices are remembered for next time, but the options dialog always opens so you can change them. After you continue, the same print preview used for recipes appears — review, adjust Printer Options if needed, then print or save as PDF.

Managing Your Family

Go to Family in the sidebar to manage your household. The Family page shows every member, their role, and their recipe activity.

Roles

• Owner — full control of the family account, including settings and billing. The owner role cannot be transferred or removed.
• Admin — can invite and remove members (except the owner and other admins) and update account settings.
• Member — can add, edit, and share recipes. The default role for new invites.
• Viewer — can browse and search family recipes but cannot add or edit anything.

Multiple Families

You can belong to more than one family at a time — for example, your own household and an extended family group. Family Recipes shows all of them together, with filter chips to narrow by family. Your home family is where new personal recipes and usage quotas are tracked. You can change your home family in Settings › General or directly on the Family page by clicking Set as home next to any family.

Usage

The Usage panel on the Family page shows how much storage and how many Smart Scans your household has used for the current month. Owners and Admins can also see a per-member breakdown to see who is using what.

Family relations

Each member can have a kinship or friend relation (sister, nephew, friend, etc.). The Members list and the Household summary show how each person relates to you. Tap a member to set or change that relation from your perspective. Owners and admins can turn on Enable Family Tree under Settings › Account Settings to unlock the sidebar Family Tree tools (View, Edit, Import, Export) for everyone in the account.

Via appears for some relations to avoid ambiguity:

• Niece / nephew — Via asks whose child? (for example, pick your brother if this is his son).
• Grandmother / grandfather (and similar) — Via asks which parent’s side? (pick your mother or father for maternal vs paternal). Only choose Grandmother if they are your grandmother; otherwise use the label that fits your perspective (Sister, Friend, and so on).
• Aunt / uncle / cousin — Via also marks which parent’s side connects you.

Inviting Members

Owners and Admins can invite new members from the Family page. Click Invite Member and enter one or more email addresses along with the role to assign. Optionally choose a Relation (how they relate to you).

Some relations also ask for Via:

• Niece or nephew — choose Via as the parent/sibling who connects you (whose child they are).
• Grandmother or grandfather — choose Via as your mother or father to mark maternal vs paternal side. Relation stays from your point of view: invite someone as Grandmother only if they are your grandmother.

If the right kinship label is missing, leave Relation blank or choose Other and ask an owner/admin to add a catalog type, then edit the member later.

How Invites Work

• Each invite generates a unique link sent by email. The link is valid for 7 days.
• Existing users — if the email belongs to an existing account, the recipient signs in (or is already signed in) and sees a Join family? prompt. They confirm, and they're added immediately — no second account needed.
• New users — if the email has no account yet, the recipient creates one when they click the link, then lands directly in the family after signing up.
• An invite can only be used once. If you need to add the same person again, send a new invite.
• Viewers do not count toward the family's member limit. Friend viewers stay private to the person who invited them unless that person opens visibility.

Managing Pending Invites

Sent invites appear in the Pending Invites section on the Family page until they are accepted or cancelled. From there you can:

• Resend — sends the invite email again and resets the expiry to 7 days from now. Use this if the original email was missed or expired.
• Cancel — deactivates the invite link so it can no longer be used.

Once an invite is accepted, the person appears in the Members list and the pending invite is cleared automatically.

Passwords and email addresses

Anyone can change their own password under Settings › General. Click Change Password and a short guide walks you through it: enter your current password, then type the 6-digit code we email to your address (use Resend code if it doesn’t arrive), then choose and confirm the new password. Afterwards we send a “password changed” notice, so you will know if it wasn’t you. If you were asked to choose a new password when you signed in, the same guide opens automatically.

Owners and Admins can set a temporary password for a member, or fix a member’s email address when their mailbox no longer works. Open the member from the Members list and use Sign-in details. We email you a code first to confirm it is really you; for an email change, a second code goes to the new address, which the member reads out to you. Both the old and new addresses get a notice.

If a person belongs to more than one family, only the owners and admins of their home family can change their password or email. Admins of their other families can remove them from that family, but nothing else. If no one can help, contact support.

Removing a Member

Owners and Admins can remove a member by clicking the trash icon next to their name on the Family page. A few rules apply:

• You cannot remove yourself.
• The account Owner cannot be removed.
• Admins cannot remove other Admins — only the Owner can do that.

The Removal Dialog

Before the removal is finalized, a confirmation dialog appears showing a summary of what will happen to the member's recipes. Read it carefully before confirming.

• Personal recipes — recipes the member created but never shared with the family. These always move with them to their other family (or a new free account) as personal recipes.
• Shared recipes — recipes they contributed to the family collection. You decide whether this family keeps a copy; the original and its history always go with the member.

Shared Recipe Options

If the member has shared recipes, a checkbox appears:

• Checked — "Keep [name]'s shared recipe(s) in the family book": a copy of each shared recipe stays in the family collection (credited to you as the person who performed the removal). The member's original and its edit history move with them.
• Unchecked: the shared recipes leave this family collection entirely. The original and its history still move with the member. The family loses access.

Where Recipes Go

If the member already belongs to another family, their recipes move there as personal recipes (not automatically shared). They can reshare with that family if they want. If they don't already belong to another family or personal account, a free personal account is created for them automatically. The member receives an email when a free account is created, letting them know what happened and where to find their recipes.

After Removal

Once removed, the member loses access to the family recipe collection immediately. If they were signed in at the time, they'll see the updated view the next time the page refreshes. Recipes they left behind (if you chose to keep copies) continue to appear in the family collection under the new owner.

Family History & Genealogy

The genealogy features let you build a record of your family — including people who have no app account, like grandparents or great-grandparents — and link them to the recipes they wrote, collected, or inspired. Over time this creates a family story behind your recipe collection, not just a list of dishes.

These features are available on Family and Family Pro plans. Owners and admins enable them under Settings › Account Settings (Enable Family Tree). When the tree is on, open the sidebar Family Tree entry — a Tree tools rail offers View, Edit, Import, and Export. The same tools remain available from the Family menu in the menu bar.

• People & Tree — add family members, import or export a GEDCOM file, and link people to recipes via the Source field.
• Recipe Sources — credit a person, book, or website on each recipe (works with or without the tree).

Once a person is in your tree and linked to a recipe, attribution labels show from your perspective — a recipe attributed to Jane will appear as "Mom" to you and "Wife" to someone else in the same tree, based on how each person is related to her.

Handwriting Attribution (Family Pro) is a separate feature: it groups scanned cards by how the writing looks and sets Style / Source without requiring a tree. Optional link-to-person can connect a Style to someone in the tree when you want both. See the Handwriting Attribution Help group.

View Family Tree

Owners and admins turn on Enable Family Tree under Settings › Account Settings. When it is on, every member of the account can open the sidebar Family Tree (defaults to the chart) or use View Family Tree, Import Family Tree, Edit Family Tree, and Export Family Tree from the Family menu. Switch panes with the Tree tools rail: View, Edit, Import, Export.

The first time you open the tree, the app tries to find you in the genealogy list (or asks you to pick which person you are). You can claim “This is me” or browse without claiming. After that, the app remembers where you left off on this device.

The chart shows your closest family around the focus person. Click a name to see details in the side panel — notes, photo, and handwriting samples when available (handwriting requires Family Pro), plus recipes attributed to them and recipes they created and shared with this family (you still see your own unshared recipes on your card). Empty media blocks stay hidden. The recipe list scrolls in a short peek; when someone has many recipes, use Browse (or Browse owned / Browse source when both apply) to open All Recipes with a clearable person filter — Back returns you to the tree with that person still selected. Double-click a name (or use Make focus) to re-center the tree on that person. If you aren’t in a household yet, a short prompt points you to the toolbar Household list — changing the selection updates the chart immediately (pick a previous household anytime to go back). When the focus person has more than one partner household, the Household list chooses which partner family the chart shows — the other spouse is hidden until you select their household. Use the toolbar for horizontal / vertical layout, generations, back / forward, or Jump to me. Use the full screen control on the chart to fill the main workspace (Tree tools rail is hidden; the focus/filters toolbar stays on top and the person panel floats on the right) — click again, press Escape, or leave View (Edit, Import, Export, or another page) to restore the normal layout. Check Emphasize recipes to highlight people who have recipes (others stay at normal opacity — they are not faded). Check Show Social Circles to show association links (friend, neighbor, godparent, witness, and other) for the focus person only, parked to their left (ancestor side) and shifted up or down from the parent line so children’s links stay clear. One connection draws as a single dashed spoke to that person; two or three appear inside a Social Circle group box with one line from the focus person; four or more collapse to counts by type — click a type to open a second list further behind (even for a count of one), then click a name for the side panel. Use Make focus or double-click a name to re-center. Drag to pan and use the mouse wheel to zoom.

On a recipe whose Source is linked to a tree person (and Family Tree is enabled), use View on family tree to open the same chart in a lightweight modal focused on that person. Exploring there does not change where the full View Family Tree left off. You can open the full tree from the modal, or click a recipe in the panel to leave the modal and open that recipe.

If you can edit the family tree (members and above — not viewers), the side panel also offers Edit person, which opens the same editor as Edit Family Tree (including households). Back returns you to View Family Tree focused on that person. From the recipe modal, the modal closes first, then the editor opens.

People & Family Tree

Open Family Tree › Edit from the sidebar rail, or Family › Edit Family Tree from the menu bar, to manage your family members.

On the Family Members list, use Search by name to filter the list, and Sort to order by last name or first name. The same search also narrows the Households list to units that include a matching partner or child. When households are narrowed, use View All Households to clear the search and show everyone again.

Creating Your Profile

The first time you open the tree, you'll see a Start your family tree card. Enter your display name and click Create My Profile. This anchors the tree to you — all relationships you add from here are described from your point of view.

Adding a Person

Click + Add Person to open a short wizard:

1. Who — display name (required), first name, Last name (birth surname), Gender (Male / Female / Non-binary / Unknown), birth year, and optional This person is my… (how you relate — kinship or Social Circle types like Friend). Open More fields… for Nickname (a casual name — not a married or maiden name), Alternate names (Maiden / Married / Also known as via + Add Alternate Name; list rows support edit and remove), exact dates, death year/date, a Deceased checkbox (when they have died but you do not know the year), and notes.
2. Social Circle (optional) — link the new person to someone already in the tree (for example Friend of Mom). You can add several links or skip. Pick existing people only.
3. Add a household now? — shown when the self-relation is kinship or not set. Yes continues into the household wizard; No saves and returns to the people list. If you marked them as your Friend (or similar Social Circle type), household is skipped after Social Circle.

Perspective & Relationships

Relationships are stored as objective facts in the tree (John is Mary's father), but labels are always resolved from the viewer's perspective. If Jane is your mother and your father's wife, she appears as "Mom" when you're viewing and "Wife" when your father is viewing — without any manual adjustment. The tree is one shared structure; the perspective is personal.

Linking a Recipe

Credit someone by setting the Source field on a recipe — a person in your tree, an account member, a book title, or a website URL. When Source is linked to a tree person, the recipe page shows their relationship label from your point of view (“Mom”, “Grandma”) when a relationship is set, or their display name otherwise. Website URLs display as the domain only (e.g. allrecipes.com). See Recipe Sources & Attribution for linking, aliases, and autocomplete details.

Editing a Person

Click the ✎ pencil button on any person row in Family Tree › Edit (or Family › Edit Family Tree) to open that person's detail panel.

Name & Details

All fields are editable directly — no separate edit mode. Fill in what you know and click the sticky Save. The Display name is required and is what appears on recipe attribution labels. Last name is the birth surname. Set Gender so household child lists can say son/daughter when appropriate. Use Birth year on the main form; open More fields… for Nickname (a casual name — not a married or maiden name), Alternate names (Maiden / Married / Also known as via + Add Alternate Name; list rows support edit and remove), exact birth/death dates, a Deceased checkbox (when they have died but you do not know the year), and notes. Filling death year or date also marks them deceased. This person is my… sets how you relate to them for recipe labels — kinship (for example Cousin) or Social Circle types (Friend, Neighbor, and similar); leave Not specified if you prefer to rely on the tree alone. To link this person to other people as friends, neighbors, and the like, use Social Circle below.

If you change Name & Details and then open + Add household, Link parents, or Edit on a household, those person fields are saved automatically before the household wizard opens so you don’t lose them.

Parents

Shows every household where this person is a child. Use Link parents (or + Link parents when one already exists) to choose Parent 1 / Parent 2 and optional parent labels (for example Mom / Dad). That person is saved as a child of the household — never as a partner. Edit opens the same parents-focused flow so you can change parents or labels without going through the full household children editor. Add another parental unit when you need a step-parent or second parent household.

Households (as partner)

Lists every household where this person appears as a partner — one row per household. Each row shows the other partner, their role label when set (Husband, Friend, …), or the relationship type, plus child count and dissolution year if the relationship ended. Click Edit to open that household, or + Add household to create a new one with this person as the fixed partner. If they already have a partner household, the wizard notes that Saving will create an additional one.

Siblings

Shown automatically when parents are recorded — derived from the other children in the same parent household. Read-only.

Social Circle

On Edit Person, use Social Circle to link this person to other people as Friend, Neighbor, Godparent, Witness, and similar — not a household; one person may have many links. The same optional step appears in the Add Person wizard before household, and when you edit a child from Edit Household. These appear on View Family Tree when Show Social Circles is checked — one dashed spoke for a single link, or a Social Circle group box (names for up to three links, type counts at four or more). Friend and neighbor links are stored both ways so focusing either person shows the connection. Use This person is my… only for how you relate to them for recipe labels. Removing a Social Circle link deletes only the association, not either person.

Households

A household links partners and their children together — this is the data structure that makes the family tree traversable. Open Family Tree › Edit (or Family › Edit Family Tree) and use the Households card, or start from a person with + Add household.

Creating a Household (wizard)

1. Choose a partner (search existing people or create a new one). You can choose None and continue — Next does not require a partner.
2. Set Relationship type on this step (Married, Partner, Civil union, and so on). Optionally open Partner labels and Dates & notes for union/dissolution dates and household notes.
3. Answer whether there are children. If Yes, use + Add Child to search or create a child and set their relation to each partner. After each child, the wizard asks Add another child? — Yes repeats; No continues to a short review of dates and notes if needed.
4. If there are no children, a short Dates & notes step covers the same optional fields (also available on the Partner step).
5. Click sticky Save & Close once to create the household and attach all staged children.

If there is no partner and no children, Save is blocked with a message to add at least one. From a person record, that person is fixed as a household member and is not editable as a free Partner dropdown.

When you create a new person from a partner or child search, a Create Person screen opens with the same name, gender, date, notes, and “This person is my…” fields as Edit Person (plus More fields…). Household linking is disabled there so you return to the household wizard after Save.

Staged children show a subtitle such as Biological son of John and Kelly Saari. If relation types differ per parent, you see a split line (e.g. biological to one, adopted by the other). Unknown or non-binary gender uses “child” instead of son/daughter.

Dissolution means the relationship ended while both were living; a partner’s death belongs on their person record, not as dissolution.

Link parents

From Edit Person → Parents, Link parents or + Link parents opens a parents-focused flow. Choose Parent 1 and/or Parent 2; if both are set, you can say whether they are partners with each other. Optionally set Parent labels (Mom, Dad, Mother, Father — separate from couple labels like Husband/Wife). The person you were editing is saved as a child of that household — never as Partner 1. An optional Notes step follows (no union/dissolution dates — those belong on partner households).

Edit on a Parents row opens that same parents flow for the existing parental unit (not the full household children wizard). Household notes for that parental unit appear under Parents and on the household row in Edit Family Tree — they are not copied to the child’s person Notes field.

Editing a Household

Click ✎ on any household row in Edit Family Tree, or Edit under Households on a person, to open the household wizard on the Partner step (partners, relationship type, optional labels, and optional union/dissolution dates and notes). If the household already has children, Next opens the children list directly (no Yes/No question). Use + Add Child to open the add form (search/create plus relation to each partner); Cancel closes it. Click a child (or ✎) to edit characteristics, parent relation types, and Social Circle; Done applies those edits to the household draft without writing the database yet. Sticky Save & Close commits partners, children membership, and any child person edits from Done, then returns to Edit Family Tree (your people search and sort stay as you left them). Toolbar Back with unsaved work offers Save / Discard / Keep editing — Save writes the household then leaves. Social Circle links still save when added or removed.

Deleting a Household

A Delete this household link at the bottom of the edit view removes the household and its child memberships. The individual person records are not deleted.

Importing a Family Tree

If you already have a family tree in most common genealogy apps, you can export it as a GEDCOM file (.ged) and import it here — no re-entering names and dates by hand.

Exporting from Your Genealogy App

In your genealogy app, look for Export or Download in the tree or settings menu, and choose GEDCOM (.ged) format when offered.

Importing the File

1. Open Family Tree › Import from the sidebar rail, or Family › Import Family Tree from the menu bar.
2. Click Choose .ged file… and select your export.
3. Click Preview… to see what will be created before committing.
4. Optional: check Automatically link Recipe Sources… before Import to attribute recipes whose Source exactly matches an imported person. Preview does not link Sources. After Import, the on-screen summary includes how many people/recipes were linked when the option was used.
5. Click Import to bring in all the people and relationships.

Association links from the file (ASSO / Friend, Neighbor, Godparent, Witness, and similar) are imported into the Social Circle. Labels that only repeat kinship already covered by family households (Father, Mother, Brother, and so on) are skipped.

After Import — Claiming Your Identity

Once the tree is imported, an Which person in the tree is you? card appears. Select yourself from the list and click This is me. This links your account to your person record so the app knows the tree from your perspective. All relationship labels cascade from this one step.

Other family members who join the app can claim their own identity after they create an account — each person sets their own anchor independently.

Exporting a Family Tree

Download your genealogy as a GEDCOM 5.5.1 file (.ged) to open in most common genealogy apps. Any account member who can see the family tree can export.

1. Open Family Tree › Export from the sidebar rail, or Family › Export Family Tree from the menu bar.
2. Review the short description of what is included (people, households, and Social Circle associations — not photos, recipes, or account membership).
3. Click Download GEDCOM. The file saves with your family name; open it in your genealogy app or a text editor to confirm the people are there.

If the tree has no people yet, Export shows a message and the download button stays unavailable until someone is added (manually or via Import).

Handwriting Attribution

Family Pro plan plus the account setting Enable Handwriting Attribution under Settings › Account Settings (owners/admins). Identify whose handwriting appears on scanned recipe cards and build Styles linked to Recipe Sources. Works without a family tree; linking a Style to a tree person is optional.

Open Family › Handwriting Attribution when the setting is on. Manage all Sources under Family › Recipe Sources even when handwriting is off.

Sources vs Styles

Sources are the hub: a display name, aliases (e.g. Jane → Jane Smith), and optional person/member links. Manage them under Family › Recipe Sources. Saving a recipe ensures a Source row. Styles are handwriting buckets linked to one Source and created when handwritten images exist (or via the New Style wizard).

Handwritten card on Edit Recipe

In the recipe editor, each source image has a Handwritten card checkbox. Check it when the card is handwriting, then save with a Source — if Handwriting Attribution is enabled, a Style is created or updated automatically.

Styles = handwriting buckets

Each Style is one distinct handwriting (or a printed “look” you decided to keep). It has one Source — the credit on recipes (prefer a clear name such as a family-tree display name over nicknames like “Mom”). Alternate spellings live as aliases on the Source. See Recipe Sources & Attribution.

When you create a Style (New Style, or Assign → Create new style), the Source field uses the same suggestions as Edit Recipe: known sources, family-tree people when the tree is available, and free text. Picking a tree person links the Style to that person.

The summary line shows how many styles you have, how many need Source cleanup, and how many cards are still unattributed.

Suggested workflow

1. Confirm a few handwritten cards for a person — save a recipe with Source and Handwritten card checked, or assign cards from Unattributed.
2. The app analyzes those cards automatically and looks for similar unattributed recipes.
3. Strong matches with a blank Source are updated for you (toast with Undo). Medium matches or Source conflicts open a short review carousel after Assign — or wait on the Suggestions tab if you choose Review later.
4. Anything that does not match stays on Unattributed until you confirm more handwriting or accept a suggestion.

Details: Unattributed groups · Scenarios

When one style has multiple Sources

If nicknames and a full name both appear on cards with the same handwriting, the style shows a cleanup hint. Use Fix Source (or Edit → Set / fix Source…). The Source field is the same suggestions list as Edit Recipe — pick or type how Source should appear; other names become aliases, and linked recipes can update (including blanks).

Family tree (optional)

You do not need the tree enabled. When it is on, you can pick a person while creating a Style (same Source suggestions as Edit Recipe), or use Link to person on the styles list or on Manage Style (Change / Unlink there when already linked). Applying Source then uses that person’s display name.

How matching works

Each handwritten card gets a handwriting fingerprint when it is marked handwritten — computed locally from the ink on the card (no cloud AI required for strong matches). A Style is the set of cards you have confirmed for one Source. Matching compares new cards to those confirmed cards. Confirming more cards improves later matches. On Manage Style, click a thumbnail to enlarge it.

Signed / OCR Sources are the best anchors: when a card shows “from the kitchen of…” or a signed name and that value is the recipe Source, use it to seed a Style. Unsigned cards cluster with similar ink or attach to the nearest Style.

Same hand, two Styles? If you assign a card to Person B but the ink already matches Person A’s Style, the app warns you and offers to merge the Styles (or assign anyway).

Comparing samples

Manage Style can compare cards already on the same Style (one card per recipe). Matching pairs are summarized as “look like the same hand.” Uncertain or different pairs list as mismatches — open Review mismatches for a full-page side-by-side view (use Previous / Next, or click one row to jump to that pair). Enlarge for a closer look. Actions always apply to the whole recipe (every handwritten card on that recipe stays together): confirm the same hand, Move to another style, or Send to Unattributed (images are kept; the recipe Source is cleared so this Style cannot auto-claim them again). Sending to Unattributed also remembers that rejection until you assign by hand. When a match is uncertain, the app may optionally use a cloud vision check to raise or lower confidence — strong local matches skip that step.

Manage Style & Source Dictionary

Open a style for Back, Save, Merge, and Delete. Aliases use a short “Add alias…” field (chips appear under the input). The collapsible Source Dictionary on the Styles tab lists Sources for autocomplete; full management is under Family › Recipe Sources. Use Edit → Find matching recipes… to re-run a search against Unattributed cards.

Unattributed groups

Family Pro. Part of Handwriting Attribution.

What you see

Cards marked handwritten that are not linked to a Style yet. The tab clusters them into groups of cards the system thinks look similar (handwriting or printed layouts). Singles stay under Ungrouped.

Multi-image recipes appear once — the card with the most OCR text (or the most ink if OCR is missing). A +N badge means more handwritten pages on that recipe. Assign and Not handwritten still apply to every handwritten image on the recipe.

Groups are suggestions. The system compares coarse handwriting traits (slant, weight, print vs cursive, and similar), not a human eye. Large groups often mix different people — open the group and clean it up.

The first time you open this tab, or when new handwritten cards still need analysis, a status banner may appear while the system analyzes those cards for grouping. That runs automatically — wait for the banner to finish, then review groups. Regroup rebuilds on-screen groups from saved analysis plus your same-hand / different-hand feedback; it does not re-analyze every card.

Working a group

1. Open the group — large preview, prev/next, click image to enlarge.
2. Use checkboxes for multi-select; Remove from group sends cards to Ungrouped; Move to… sends them to another group. Move teaches same hand with the destination and different hand from the group you left; Remove teaches different hand from that group’s other cards — by recipe, not by group number. Group labels stay temporary suggestions.
3. Check exactly two cards, then Compare side by side — same large two-up layout as Style mismatch review. Enlarge either card, or remove one from the group if it does not match.
4. Assign to style — loading shell, handwriting preview, style picker, confidence suggestions. Assigns the whole group (or your selection). Links to still-unattributed partners stay so later matching can use them.
5. Or Not handwritten for printed / photo cards that should leave this queue — that also clears any same-hand / different-hand links for those recipes.
6. On a multi-card group, use Review handwriting when you want to mark certainty (see below). After a Move that leaves a group with three or more recipes, you may also be prompted to review right away — choose Review or Skip for now (skip keeps the soft links from that move).

Regroup rebuilds clusters from stored analysis and your Move / Remove / Review feedback. It does not throw away those corrections — they bias the next clustering. Groups remain temporary labels; only the recipe-to-recipe handwriting links persist.

Same-hand links between an unattributed card and a recipe already on a Style act as bridges: they raise confidence toward that Style on Suggestions and Style matching. Different-hand links against a Style’s cards can lower or block a bad suggest.

Review handwriting

Use Review handwriting on a multi-card group (or accept the post-Move prompt) to strengthen or correct how cards relate. Pick one reference card — the others are judged against it. Default reference is a card that was already in the destination group before a Move, when that applies. Use Compare on any non-reference card for a large side-by-side view against the reference before you choose Same / Likely / Different / Skip.

For each other card, choose one of:

• Same — you are sure it is the same hand as the reference (strong preference to stay together on Regroup).
• Likely — probably the same hand, but not certain (gentle preference; embeddings can still pull it apart).
• Different — not the same hand; the card is removed from this group toward Ungrouped, and Regroup will avoid merging that pair.
• Skip — leave any existing soft Move / Remove link as-is for that card.

Example: four cards in a group — mark three Same and one Likely versus the reference. After Save and Regroup, the three Same cards tend to stick tightly together; the Likely card is preferred with them but is not hard-locked if the stored analysis pushes back.

Sticky selection bar

When cards are checked (in a group or Ungrouped), use the bar for bulk Not handwritten or Assign to style.

Handwriting scenarios

Family Pro. Common situations and what to do.

Two cards in one group look nothing alike

Expected sometimes. Remove the odd card (or move it to another group), then assign the cleaned group. Your eye is the final judge.

I moved cards then clicked Regroup

Cards you moved together should tend to stay related after Regroup — the app remembers soft same-hand / different-hand feedback by recipe. If they split apart again, the stored handwriting analysis strongly disagreed with a soft move. Open the group and use Review handwriting to mark Same or Likely (or Different) so Regroup can weight those pairs more strongly next time.

Three look certain, one is maybe

Open the group → Review handwriting. Pick a clear reference, mark the three you trust as Same, and the unsure card as Likely (or Skip if you do not want to change its soft link). Save, then Regroup if you want to see the updated clusters — the three Same cards should stick; the maybe card stays preferred with them without being forced.

Two pages of one recipe showed up in different groups

That should not happen anymore — each recipe is one unit, scored by the text-rich page. Use Regroup if an older session still shows a split.

I see a name on the card (e.g. “kitchen of Jane”) but Source is blank

OCR often misses that line. Edit the recipe, set Source to Jane Smith, and check Handwritten card on the image if needed. With Handwriting Attribution enabled, saving links a Style automatically. You can also use Handwriting Attribution to assign groups of similar cards.

A whole group is magazine / printed photos

Mark the group Not handwritten. That clears them from Unattributed without creating a Style, and clears any same-hand / different-hand links involving those recipes.

I set Source on a Style — which recipes update?

Recipes that have an image attributed to that Style (from assign, Source save, or an accepted match). Blank Sources can fill when you choose that option on assign, or when a strong handwriting match auto-applies. Editing Source on one recipe alone does not attribute every similar-looking card until the match pass runs.

Why did other recipes update after I assigned two cards?

By design. Confirming cards for a Style triggers a search of unattributed handwriting. Strong matches with a blank Source update automatically (you can Undo). Weaker matches or recipes that already have a different Source open in a review carousel after Assign, and also stay on the Suggestions tab (grouped by Style) until you Accept or Dismiss. If you earlier linked an unattributed card as the same hand as one you just assigned, that bridge also helps Suggestions lean toward the same Style.

Why only a few samples on Manage Style after assigning 30 cards?

Manage Style now lists all confirmed cards for that Style (not a capped dictionary of eight). Matching uses every confirmed card that has a handwriting analysis.

Preparing groups took forever / stuck

The first paint uses stored handwriting data only. Extra AI analysis (if needed) runs in the background afterward. Use Regroup after a refresh if the list looks stale.

Recipe Sources & Attribution

Manage shared Source names under Family › Recipe Sources: set a display name, optional aliases (nicknames or alternate spellings), and when Handwriting Attribution is on you can continue into Style setup after saving. Click a row to edit.

The Source field on a recipe can be free text, a website URL, or a link to someone in your family tree. Autocomplete suggests tree people and account members. You can also type kinship from your point of view — Mom, Mother, Grandma, Aunt — optionally with a name fragment (grandma jane). Matches use your family tree (when enabled and you have a self person) and account relations; if several people fit, you get choices; if nothing is set up, Source stays free text. PDF vs website vs photo does not matter — only what you put in Source does.

• Link to family person — when Source text matches someone in your tree (exact or close, e.g. Pete/Peter), saving asks whether to link them. Confirming sets the Source to their tree display name and attributes the recipe so it appears on their card. Decline keeps free text with no person link. If several people match, you pick from a list (name plus first/last when needed).
• When you save a person — if their name exactly matches Recipe Sources that are not linked yet, the app asks whether to link those recipes to the person. Confirming attributes all remaining matches (so View on family tree appears without editing each recipe). Decline leaves them as typed text.
• Recipe Sources — under Family › Recipe Sources open a Source and use Link to person… to search your family tree (name matches appear first) or Add new person… to create someone (including Social Circle relations like Friend) and return to editing the Source. Unlink removes the tree link without clearing the display name. Suggested family links on the Sources list still offer one-click links when an unlinked Source uniquely matches a tree person.
• Kinship phrases — type Mom, Mother, Grandma, Aunt (optionally with a name fragment) from your point of view; unique kinship matches still link on save.
• Account members — choosing a member from suggestions reuses their claimed tree person, or creates a stub linked to their user account, then attributes the recipe. Free-typed text never invents a new person.
• Website source — paste a URL; it displays as the domain name (e.g., allrecipes.com). URLs clear any person attribution.
• Plain text source — shown exactly as entered (e.g., Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, 1965). Clear the Source field and save to remove a person link.

Attributions are written whenever you save a recipe — they do not require Enable Family Tree. You still need Enable Family Tree to open View Family Tree and see recipes on person cards. When Source is linked to a person and Family Tree is enabled, the recipe page shows View on family tree to explore that person in a modal.

Settings & Profile

Go to Settings in the sidebar to manage your account.

• General — update your display name, email address, password (at least 10 characters with a letter and a number or symbol, or a longer passphrase), and (if you belong to more than one family) which family is home
• Appearance Theme — choose how the app looks. Four themes are available: Aurora (the default Northern Lights palette), Light, Dark, and Dark High Contrast. Your choice is saved per user and applies only to your account. Select from the dropdown or click a color swatch to preview instantly.
• Categories — create and organize recipe categories and subcategories; tap a row to open the editor
• Tags — manage tags for finding recipes quickly
• User Management — invite members and manage roles; tap a row for details (Owner/Admin only)
• Account Settings — update your family collection name, and (Owner/Admin only) turn on Enable Family Tree and Enable Handwriting Attribution
• Shopping List — manage the retail package library used for event shopping lists; tap a row to edit, or use Add Ingredient to open the editor
• Printer Options — defaults for recipe and event printouts (see below)

Printer Options

Open Settings › Printer Options to set your personal print defaults. These are saved to your user account and apply everywhere you print.

• Images — No images (least ink, the default), main/prepared photos only, original recipe cards only, or all images.
• Layout — one column (ingredients above instructions) or two columns (ingredients | instructions).
• Optional content — turn on description, source, prep/cook times, tags, nutrition, or notes. Title, servings, ingredients, and instructions always print.

Paper size, orientation, color vs black-and-white, and duplex are controlled by your browser or phone print dialog — not by the app.

If you reach Printer Options from a print preview, a Back to preview button appears at the top so you can return and see your changes before printing.

Submitting a Support Request

Open Support in the sidebar, or use the menubar Help → Contact Support, to get help, report a problem, or suggest a feature. The menubar path opens a new request directly.

1. Click New Request.
2. Choose a category:
   • Help — you have a question about how something works.
   • Bug — something isn't working as expected.
   • Enhancement — you have an idea for a new feature or improvement.
3. For Help requests, a reminder appears to check this Help guide first — you can still submit if you didn't find an answer.
4. Fill in a Subject and Description. The more detail the better: what you were trying to do, what happened, and any steps that reproduce the problem.
5. Optionally attach a recipe using the recipe picker (search or browse) — you can attach more than one.
6. Optionally attach a photo or file (image or PDF, up to 5 MB each). A screenshot of the problem is often the fastest way to explain it.
7. Click Send request. Your account information is included automatically so support has context.

Who can see requests? Owners and Admins can see all requests from their family. Members see only their own.

Tracking & Replying

Open Support in the sidebar to see your requests. Use the status filter dropdown to narrow the list.

Each request shows a live status:

• Pending review — your request was received and is waiting to be picked up.
• In progress — support is actively working on it.
• Waiting on you — support needs more information. Open the ticket and reply to continue.
• Closed — the request is resolved. The reason for closing is shown. Any linked development work stays visible in the ticket even after it closes.

Click any ticket to open the conversation thread and add a reply. Support will be notified of your response.