Build a menu from photos
Build a menu from photos
If you already have a printed menu, you do not need to retype it. Azcarte can read photos of it and build the digital menu for you.
Open it from Home → Menu actions → Import from photo, or from the Already have a printed menu? card during onboarding.
Choose the menu to import into
Pick an existing menu, or create a new one on the spot.
Upload your photos
Tap Add photo under Menu photos. Upload each page as a separate photo — JPG, PNG or WebP.
Build my menu
Tap Build my menu. Reading the photos takes a few minutes, and longer the more pages you send. You can leave the page — Azcarte tells you on the Home screen when it is ready.
Review before importing
You get a preview of the sections and products that were found, with each product tagged new or update so you can see what would change.
Import
Tap Looks good, import it. You will see how many products were added and how many were updated, and a Go to menu editor button to carry on.
Getting a clean read
The quality of the photo decides the quality of the result:
- One page per photo. Do not photograph a spread.
- Good, even light. Avoid shadows falling across the text.
- Hold the camera square to the page rather than at an angle.
- Wipe smudges off laminated menus — glare hides whole lines.
If nothing is found you will see "We couldn't find any menu items in these photos". That is almost always a photo problem, not a menu problem — retake it brighter and squarer.
After the import
The import is a starting point, not a finished menu. Expect to:
- fix prices that were misread,
- merge or rename sections that came out differently from how you think of them,
- add photos, which the printed menu obviously cannot supply.