Image to Directory · Your App Cloud
Turn a photo of a list into a directory
Photograph a community bulletin board, a lobby tenant board or a pile of business cards. The photos show how entries are grouped. You type the numbers people will call and confirm each listing with whoever it names.
From a photo of the board to listings checked one by one.
Shoot the whole and then the parts, write down the details people depend on, and confirm each listing before anyone relies on it.
01
One wide shot, then close-ups
Take one photo of the whole board or sheet, so the sections and their order are clear. Then take a close-up of each section and each card, straight on, with the flash off where there's glass in front. Attach the wide shot and the section close-ups with the upload button above, and say which part of the board each one shows.
02
Type what people will call or email
In the prompt, below your request, type each entry on a line of its own: name, category, phone number, email, and any suite or booth number. Mark the entries you couldn't make out in full. The photos show grouping and layout, and your typed lines carry the details a caller depends on.
03
Check against the cards, then with people
Hold each listing up against its close-up and compare the phone number digit by digit, starting with the handwritten cards. Then contact the people and businesses listed, tell them what their entry shows, and keep only those who agree.
What each thing in the picture becomes.
Read across each row: something a photo or screenshot shows, where it can go in the directory, and the check that settles it. Every business, name and number is made up for illustration, from a community board at a public library in Tucson, Arizona to a medical building's lobby board.
| In the picture | Where it goes | Check before publishing |
|---|---|---|
| A business card pinned to the board: 'Rivera Handyman · Sam Rivera · (520) 555-0147' | A listing with a business name, a contact name, a service and a phone number | Card print is tiny in a photo taken from a step back. Type the number from a close-up or from the card itself, then read the listing's number back against the card, digit by digit. |
| A flyer with tear-off phone tabs along its bottom edge, three of them already taken | One listing carrying the number the tabs repeat | Type the number once, from a tab still hanging or from the flyer itself. If every tab is gone and the flyer shows no number, leave it out until someone reaches the person who posted it. |
| Cards pinned over each other, the top one hiding a phone number or a last name underneath | Only listings whose details you could see in full or confirm | Lift the top card, photograph the one beneath and pin it back as it was. A listing built from half a name or six digits of a number is worse than no listing. |
| Section labels across the top of the board: Home services, Lessons, Pets, Child care | A category filter, with a count beside each option | Cards drift between sections. A guitar teacher pinned under Home services belongs under Lessons, so read down each category in the preview and move any listing that sits under the wrong heading. |
| A handwritten index card: 'Dog walking, weekday afternoons. Call Priya', with the number in pencil | A listing in words you typed and the person approved | Handwriting is where a 1 turns into a 7 and Priya turns into Pria. Ask the person to spell their name and read their number back to you before the card becomes a listing. |
| A lobby board behind glass: 'Patel Family Dentistry . . . 204' and 'Atlas Tech . . . 310', grouped by floor | A listing per tenant with floor and suite fields, and a floor filter | Glass throws glare across some letters, so shoot at a slight angle. Letters can also stay up after a tenant leaves. Compare the board with the property manager's current tenant list, and where they disagree, go with the list. |
| A business card photographed front and back, with the services printed on the back | One listing that holds both sides of the card | Type the services from the back on the same line as the name from the front. Then open three listings and check each one's services against both sides of its own card, not the card beside it in the pile. |
| Screenshots taken while scrolling an old online directory, each repeating a few entries from the one before | One listing per business, however many screenshots show it | Search for the last name visible in each screenshot. It should come up once. A business typed twice usually sits where one screenshot ends and the next begins. |
| Text cut short in a screenshot: 'info@riverahandym…', a description ending in 'Read more', a Website button | The full email address, description and link, as you typed them | The rest of a cut-off address was never on screen, and a picture of a button holds no link. Add the full address and each link to your typed list, then open every link from the preview. |
| Logos on the cards and small profile photos in the screenshots | A picture on each listing, from a file the business or person sends you | A logo cropped out of a board photo comes out small and blurred, and the logo belongs to the business. Ask each business for its logo file and permission, then check every listing shows its own. |
A picture of listings is not yet a list.
A photo records where each card hung and what could be seen from where you stood. It can't say which cards are still current, whose number was meant for a small circle or who agreed to be found online. Settle those before you upload.
Pinned up is not signed up
A card on a library or coffee shop board was left for the people who walk past it. A directory page can be opened by anyone with the address. Contact each business or person, say where the listing will appear, and publish only those who say yes. Note the date each one agreed.
Cards handed to you are contacts
Business cards collected at a trade show were given to you, for a follow-up. If only you and your staff will look them up, keep the directory behind sign-in. A public listing needs each person's yes, just like a card on a board.
Keep other people out of the frame
A wide shot catches cards you won't list, notes with home numbers and whoever walked by. Crop each photo to the parts you need before you upload, and cover any card whose owner hasn't agreed. Keep the uncropped originals among your own files.
A board changes every week
Cards go up and come down with nobody keeping track, so your photo is the board on one day. Put that date in the prompt, and read every date printed on the notices. A room already rented or a camp whose sign-ups have closed shouldn't start life as a listing.
Capture a closing site while it still loads
If the directory you're replacing is a website that is about to go offline, screenshot every category page now and copy full links and email addresses while the pages still load. A screenshot of a signed-in page shows only what your account could see, so capture it signed out as well.
An illustrative starting point
The board, searchable from anywhere.
A listing for each card you confirmed from your photos, the bulletin board's sections as filters, suite or booth numbers where the source had them, and a form in place of the pushpin.
A listing for each confirmed card
Ask for a page per listing with name, service, phone and a short description, plus a browse page sorted A to Z. Count the listings against the cards whose owners said yes, not against every card on the board.
The board's sections as filters
The labels someone once wrote above the pushpins can become category filters, with a search box across names and services. Search for a word that appears on only one card, such as 'gutters', and check that its listing comes up.
Floors, suites and booths
A lobby or fair directory can sort by floor, suite or booth as well as by name. The published app opens in a browser, including on phones, so put its address on a sign by the elevators or the fair entrance and try it there from your own phone.
A form in place of the pushpin
Instead of pinning up a new card, people can send a listing through a form that saves it for you to approve, logo attached. Saved submissions and File storage need a backend. Send one yourself and follow it through to the published listing.
Together in your app cloud
The pieces behind the possibility.
Choose the models and services that support the experience you want to create.
Database
Keep data and context for apps and agents
File storage
A home for your documents and media
Email
Keep conversations moving
Authentication
Give the right people access
A little more context
Good questions.
Can I build a directory from a photo of a bulletin board?
Yes, with the photo in a supporting role. It shows the sections, the order of the cards and what each card carries. Type the names, services and numbers into the prompt yourself, attach the close-ups, and publish a listing only once the person or business it names has agreed.
Will the names and phone numbers match what's in my photos?
Check rather than assume. Small print, glare and pencil make digits easy to misread. Type the numbers and email addresses from a close-up or from the card itself, compare every listing with its card, then call the three numbers you were least sure of.
What about handwritten cards and sign-up sheets?
Treat every handwritten entry as unconfirmed. Type what you believe it says and mark the words you're unsure of. Then ask each person to confirm the spelling of their name and their number. If a craft fair's sign-up sheet asked for each vendor's email, that is the quickest route.
Do I need permission to list the businesses on our board?
Ask first, and treat businesses and private people differently. A plumber's card is advertising aimed at whoever passes the board. A babysitter's handwritten card with a home number is personal. Tell each one what the listing will show and leave out anyone who doesn't answer. For a members-only board, keep the directory behind sign-in, with the access you describe for each collection.
Can I upload several photos for one directory?
Yes. Attach the wide shot and a close-up of each section, and number them in the prompt in the order they sit on the board, left to right. Card-by-card close-ups can stay on your phone for checking, since your typed list carries their details. For a crowded board, build one section first, check it, then add the rest.
Is a photo the best place to start?
Only when the picture is the one copy. Before retyping, ask who keeps the list behind it: the property manager for a lobby board, the organizer for a fair's booths, the administrator for an old website, who may be able to export its entries. With a typed list in hand, start from the Excel, CSV or Word to Directory page, and keep the photo to compare the result against.
How do new businesses get listed once the board goes online?
Give them a form that saves each request for you to approve, with room for a logo. Saved requests and uploaded files need a backend, and the app can email you when one arrives. Send a test request and check that its email reaches you, then pin a card with the directory's address on the old board.
Which plan does a directory built from photos need?
Keeping listings in a database, taking new ones through a form, storing logos, sign-in and email all need a backend, so the directory is an app with data, and putting it live needs a paid plan. List what the directory has to do after launch, then compare the plans on the pricing page.
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