A communication method including: generating image data of an item on which an electric appliance performed processing; obtaining setting information of the electric appliance which indicates the processing performed on the item; converting the obtained setting information into reference setting information that is setting information in a general format; generating combined data by adding the converted reference setting information to the generated image data; and transmitting the generated combined data to a storage server. For instance, in the communication method, setting information of the electric appliance when the processing was performed on the item is obtained by performing proximity wireless communication with the electric appliance.