Scanning Documents

The Scan tab is the heart of the HorseBook iOS app. Point your camera at a document, and AI reads it, identifies the document type, extracts every field it can find, and lets you review before saving. No manual data entry required.

How It Works

The scanning process has four steps:

1. Capture — The camera opens using Apple's VisionKit framework. It auto-detects document edges and captures a clean, cropped image. You can also choose a photo from your library instead.
2. Classify — The image uploads to the server. AI identifies the document type: Coggins test, registration paper, health certificate, receipt, brand inspection, genetic test, insurance document, or other.
3. Extract — A second AI pass reads the document with type-specific prompts. For a Coggins test, it pulls the horse name, test date, lab, accession number, and result. For a receipt, it reads the vendor, date, line items, and total.
4. Review — The extracted data appears on screen for you to check. Edit any field that needs correction, then confirm to save.

Opening the Scanner

Tap the Scan tab to open the camera. VisionKit provides the document scanner interface with automatic edge detection and perspective correction.

If you already have a photo of the document (from a text message, email, or your photo library), tap the photo library button to select an existing image instead of capturing a new one.

Supported Document Types

The scanner recognizes and extracts data from:

• Coggins tests — horse name, test date, accession number, lab, result, vet
• Registration papers — horse name, registered name, breed, color, date of birth, sex, sire, dam, registration number, registry
• Health certificates — horse name, issue date, expiration date, vet, destination, origin
• Receipts — vendor, date, line items, amounts, total, payment method
• Brand inspections — horse name, inspection date, brand description, inspector
• Genetic tests — horse name, test type, results, lab, date
• Insurance documents — horse name, policy number, coverage, insurer, dates
• Other documents — for anything else, AI extracts whatever fields it can identify

Reviewing Extracted Data

After extraction, you see the results organized by field. Each field shows what the AI read from the document. You can:

• Edit any field — tap a field to correct it if the AI misread something
• Link to a horse — if the AI found a horse name, it searches your existing horses for a match. You can confirm the match, choose a different horse, or create a new one.
• Change the document type — if the AI misclassified the document, change the type and re-extract

Once everything looks right, tap Confirm to save the record.

Horse Matching

When the scanner extracts a horse name from a document, it compares it against your existing horses. If it finds a strong match (based on name similarity), it suggests linking the document to that horse. You always have the option to:

• Accept the suggested match
• Choose a different horse from your list
• Create a new horse from the extracted data

For registration papers specifically, confirming the extraction can create a new horse record with all the details pre-filled — name, breed, color, date of birth, sire, dam, and more.

Tips for Good Scans

• Lighting matters — natural or bright indoor light works best. Avoid harsh shadows or glare.
• Flat surface — place the document on a table rather than holding it in the air.
• Full document — make sure the entire document is visible in the frame. VisionKit crops to the edges automatically.
• One document at a time — the scanner processes a single document per scan. For multiple documents, scan each one separately.
• Legibility — AI reads printed text more reliably than handwriting. If a field is handwritten, double-check the extraction.

What Happens After Saving

When you confirm the extraction:

• The document image is stored in your account
• The extracted record (medical record, expense, etc.) is created and linked to the horse
• You can find the document in the horse's Documents tab and the specific record in its relevant tab (Medical, etc.)
• The record syncs to the web dashboard immediately