Scan documents to PDF with your phone
You don't need a scanner, or a scanning app with a subscription. Your phone's camera and a browser are enough to turn letters, receipts and forms into clean PDFs.
A photo is not a scan
A photo of a page has shadows, a grey or yellow tint, a slanted shape and a strip of table around it. A scan is flat, straight, white and cropped to the paper. Think Pages turns the first into the second on your phone.
Many scanning apps keep your documents in their cloud. Here the photos stay on your phone, which matters for letters from your bank, your doctor or the tax office.
Key benefits
- Flat and straightEach photo is cropped to the page, flattened and straightened automatically.
- White paper, sharp textShadows and tints are evened out. Choose Clean, Colour or Black & white.
- SearchableThe text can be read with OCR, so you can search the PDF and copy from it.
- Many pages, one filePhotograph each page in turn and export a single PDF.
How to scan with your phone
- Open Scan to PDF in your phone's browser and tap Scan with camera.
- Lay the page on a darker surface and photograph it from above. Tap Scan another page for each extra page.
- Choose a look: Clean for most documents, Colour for photos and letterheads, Black & white for the smallest files.
- Press Export PDF, then save or share the file.
Tips
- A dark table under white paper helps the edges get found.
- Avoid your own shadow: stand so the light comes from the side.
- Hold the phone level with the page and fill the screen with it.
Questions
Do I need to install an app?
No. It runs in Safari or Chrome. You can add it to your Home Screen to open it like an app.
Can I scan several pages into one PDF?
Yes. Tap Scan another page after each one. Drag the pages into order before exporting.
How good is it compared with a real scanner?
For letters, forms and receipts in decent light it is very close. A flatbed scanner is still better for photographs and very small print.
Tools for this job
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