How to Scan Documents With Your Phone: Straight, Clean and as One PDF
Turn phone photos of pages, NID cards and receipts into clean scans and save them as a single PDF, right in your browser.
You do not need a scanner at home to send a clean document. A phone camera is enough, as long as the picture is straightened, the shadows are removed and the pages end up in one file. The free Document Scanner does exactly that in your browser.
Quick answer
Open Document Scanner, add photos of your pages, check the detected corners (drag them if needed), choose colour, grey or black-and-white, then save all pages as one PDF in A4 or at the picture's size.
Why a plain phone photo is not enough
A photo of a page is usually skewed, because you hold the phone at an angle. It has shadows from your hand and the room, a grey-looking paper colour, and background clutter around the edges. It looks unprofessional and is hard to read. A scan fixes each of these problems by finding the paper, straightening it and cleaning the colours.
How to scan, step by step
- Open the Document Scanner.
- Add one or more pictures of your pages. You can add up to 20 pages at a time.
- The four corners of the paper are found automatically. If they are not right, drag the round dots on the corners into place with your finger or mouse.
- Choose how the page should look: colour, grey, or black-and-white like a photocopy.
- Choose the page size: A4 or the picture's own size.
- Save all pages as one PDF, in the order you added them.
Your pictures stay on your device during this process, which is a good feature for private papers such as ID cards.
Taking a good photo for scanning
- Put the paper on a dark, plain surface so the edges are easy to detect. The tool works best when the paper is lighter than the table.
- Use good, even light, such as near a window, and avoid casting your own shadow on the page.
- Hold the phone directly above the page and fill the frame with the paper.
- Keep the page flat. Press down the corners of a book or folded paper.
- Take a sharp photo and wait for the camera to focus.
Choosing colour, grey or black-and-white
- Colour keeps stamps, signatures in blue ink and photographs.
- Grey is a good middle ground and keeps the file small.
- Black-and-white looks like a photocopy and gives the smallest, cleanest text pages.
Typical documents to scan
NID cards, birth certificates, mark sheets, bank statements, receipts, contracts, book pages and class notes all scan well. For an ID card, scan the front and back as two pages of one PDF.
After scanning
- Make the PDF smaller with Compress PDF if a form has a size limit.
- Combine with other files using Merge PDF.
- Get the text out with Image to Text if you need to edit the words.
- Rotate sideways pages with Rotate PDF.
Frequently asked questions
How many pages can I scan at once? Up to 20 pages at a time, in the order you added the pictures.
What if the corners are detected wrongly? Drag the round dots on the four corners into place.
Are my pictures uploaded? No. They stay on your device while you work.
Does it work for ID cards? Yes. NID cards, certificates, receipts and book pages all work.
Is it free? Yes.
Next step
Open the Document Scanner below, add your photos and create a clean PDF in a minute.
