A school letter as a photo or PDF: the AI adds the events
Turn a photo or PDF of a school letter into calendar entries without retyping a single date: in “New entry”, you attach a photo of the note from the nursery pigeonhole or the PDF the school sent round. The AI reads it like a forwarded email and adds the events it finds. Familienplaner does not keep the photos and PDF files themselves.
How the school letter gets into your calendar
Open “New entry”
In the calendar, tap “New entry”. If you start from the plus on a day instead, that day applies to any events for which the letter gives no date; they are then marked “Check the date”.
Attach a photo or PDF
Below the field, choose “Attach a photo or PDF”. On a phone the browser usually offers the camera too; on a computer you pick a file. Up to five photos or PDF files go in one go, for example every page of a letter.
Who the letter is for
If the calendar is filtered by one child at the moment, their name appears in the sheet: events for which the letter names nobody then go to that child.
Tap “Add”
With an attachment, the button says “Add”, and while the AI is reading it shows “Reading…”. If you close the sheet in the meantime, the server still finishes reading, and a message then tells you what is in the calendar.
See what was added
Afterwards the sheet shows how many events were added, each with “Remove”; tapping an event opens its day in the calendar. The attachment gets its own line in the inbox.
What the AI reads in the photo and the PDF
You can attach photos as JPEG, PNG or WebP, and PDF files. Your browser redraws each photo at a smaller size before sending it; in Safari, an iPhone photo in HEIC format becomes a JPEG on the way.
The AI reads what is in the photos and the PDF together with the text in the field, as if it were all one forwarded email. It picks out the events, with the day, the time and anything to bring along, such as “Bring trainers”. If a letter lists several events, each one goes into the calendar separately.
Where the AI had to interpret a day or a time, it marks the event with “Check the date” or “Check the time”. If the letter gives a rule such as “every Thursday gym club”, a series is created; if the rule is unclear, it becomes a single event marked “Check the repetition”.
What is stored and what is not
The photos and PDF files go to the AI only to be read; they are not stored. As with a forwarded email, what stays is the text from the field, who attached it, which files were included and what ended up in the calendar. Every account in your family sees this in the inbox: the word “Photo” for a photo, the file name for a PDF.
Photos and PDFs are read only by Anthropic’s language model, run by Amazon Web Services in the EU; the fallback model from OpenAI does not receive them. If Anthropic is not responding, you try again a little later. The request travels there via Vercel (USA), not necessarily within the EU.
Photo, PDF or a forwarded email?
If the invitation arrives as an email with the date in the text, forward it to your calendar address. If the date is only in an attachment, such as the PDF of a school letter, forwarding does not help, because the email analysis does not read attachments. Save the PDF instead and attach it in “New entry”.
For paper, “New entry” is the way to go: the note from the nursery pigeonhole, the letter at the bottom of the school bag, the notice on the clubhouse door. A photo is enough; you don’t have to type anything.
Where photos and PDFs reach their limits
- The AI can make mistakes, and it reads a blurred, skewed or dark photo less well than a clear one. Check important events against the letter.
- Up to five files go in one go, about 3 MB in total. A single PDF may be no larger than 3 MB; if it is bigger, take photos of the pages with the events or split the PDF.
- Each family can have the AI read attachments at most 50 times a day. After that it works again from midnight; until then, you add events yourself.
- Whatever is already in the calendar, whatever someone removed earlier and whatever is already over on the day you attach it, the AI does not add again.
- You cannot pick beforehand which events from a letter go into the calendar: the AI reads text and files as content and takes no instructions from them. Anything that does not concern your family, you take out afterwards with “Remove”.
Frequently asked questions about school letters, photos and PDFs
Which files can I attach?
Photos as JPEG, PNG or WebP, and PDF files, up to five in one go and about 3 MB in total. Other files, such as a Word document, cannot be read; the sheet then names the file that was left out.
Does Familienplaner store my photos?
No. Photos and PDFs go to the AI only to be read and are not stored. The inbox keeps a line with the text from the field, your name, the result and which files were included, with its name for a PDF. The accounts in your family can see this line.
What if the AI reads a date wrong?
Then you change the event in the calendar like any other, or take it out with “Remove”; straight after, “Undo” brings it back. Where the AI was unsure, the event is already marked “Check the date” or “Check the time”. Still, check important events against the letter.
Can I attach several pages of a letter in one go?
Yes, up to five photos or PDF files in one step, mixed if you like. The AI reads them together, as if they were a single email, and looks for events on every page.
Does Familienplaner read the attachment of a forwarded email?
No. From a forwarded email it reads the sender, subject and text, not the attachments. If a date is only in the PDF of an email, save the PDF on your phone or computer and attach it in “New entry”. There the AI reads it like the text of an email.
Who gets to see the photo?
Nobody in your family, because the photo is not stored; the inbox only shows that a photo was included. To be read, it goes to Anthropic’s language model at Amazon Web Services in the EU, and Anthropic has committed not to store content after processing and not to train with it. What happens in detail is described in section 7 of the privacy policy.
All features are free, no credit card needed.
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Last updated: October 2026