Scan to calendar

Schedules arrive as paper, pictures and PDFs. A practice roster on a flyer, a term calendar as a photo of a noticeboard, a spreadsheet from a coach, a PDF letter from school. Scan to calendar reads one and proposes the events it found, so you check them instead of typing them.

Nothing is added until you say so. What comes back is a draft in the ordinary event editor, and it is saved the ordinary way.

How to use it

1. Open the Calendar.
2. Open the add menu: the arrow beside + Add event on a computer, the + on a phone.
3. Choose Import events.
4. Choose a photo or file. On a computer you can also drag one onto the box.
5. Check what it found, and save the ones you want.

You can take the photo on your phone at the noticeboard. It does not need to be a neat scan.

Share it from another app

On your phone you can send a photo or a PDF straight to Coparia from the app it is in: Photos, Mail, Files, Messages or your browser.

1. Open the photo or PDF.
2. Tap the share button (on an iPhone, the square with an arrow coming out of the top).
3. Choose Coparia. If you do not see it, scroll the row of apps or tap More.

On an iPhone, Coparia first asks whether to Add an expense or Add to the calendar. Choose Add to the calendar. (A bill or a receipt goes the other way: see keep track of expenses.)

Coparia opens Import events with it already chosen. You can share up to four photos of one letter at once, front and back for example, or one PDF.

What reads best. Taken straight down, in decent light, with the whole page in frame. It does not have to be perfect, but a blurred photo at an angle gives it less to work with.

What it can read

Pictures. JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP.

PDFs. Up to 10 pages. Coparia reads the whole document, tables included.

Files. Plain text (.txt), Word documents (.docx) and spreadsheets (.xlsx).

Up to 10 MB. A photo straight from a phone is usually far larger than that, so Coparia shrinks it before sending; you do not have to do anything.

What it cannot read

A PDF longer than 10 pages. Coparia says so. Save or share just the pages with the dates on them, or take a screenshot of the page you need. A large PDF whose pages Coparia cannot count is treated the same way.

A PDF with a password. Open it, save a copy without the password, and use that. Or take a screenshot of the page.

HEIC photos, which is what an iPhone shoots unless you have changed the setting. Coparia says so rather than failing halfway. To get a readable copy: open the photo, take a screenshot of it, and use that. Or set Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible on the phone, which makes new photos JPEG.

What it costs

Reading one photo or file is one import, and your plan includes a set number each billing period. Your plan and what is left are under Settings, then Plans.

⚠️ The import is spent when the file is read, not when you save the events. If the drafts come back wrong and you throw them away, that reading still counted. It is worth a moment to check the photo is straight and readable before sending it.

Imports are counted separately from the assistant. Reading a schedule does not use up your questions for Copie, and asking Copie a question does not use up your imports.

When it does not work

It found nothing. The picture may be too dark, too angled, or the text too small. Retake it closer, or in better light.

It got the year wrong. A roster that says “Tuesday 14th” and nothing else has no year in it, and neither has the photograph. Check the dates before saving.

It found the right days but the wrong children. It reads what is on the page. If the page uses initials or nicknames Coparia does not know, set the children on each draft before saving.

It got some of them right. Keep those and add the rest by hand. See add something to the calendar.

It says you have run out of imports. Your plan’s allowance for the period is used up. See Settings, then Plans.

Nothing happens when you choose a file. Check it is one of the types above. A HEIC photo or a shortcut to a file rather than the file itself are the two usual causes.