How to Scan Documents With Your Phone and Save Them as One PDF

You rarely need a flatbed scanner. A modern phone camera is enough for forms, certificates and receipts if you shoot carefully.

Quick answer

On a phone, the Take a photo button opens the camera directly. Shoot one page after another, fix the order, and download a single PDF. On a computer you can choose photos you already have.

Taking good scan photos

• Light: use daylight or a lamp from the side; avoid your own shadow.
• Background: place the page on a dark table so the edges are clear.
• Flat: press curled pages flat under a glass or a book.
• Straight above: hold the phone parallel to the page.
• Fill the frame: the page should take most of the picture.

Steps

1. Open the tool on your phone.
2. Tap take photo for each page.
3. Reorder or delete pages.
4. Create the PDF and download it.

After scanning

• Straighten tilted pages with Deskew Image or PDF.
• Make the PDF smaller with Compress PDF if a portal limits size.
• Make the text searchable with OCR PDF.
• Merge with other documents using Merge PDF.

Tips

• For a more "scanner-like" look (white paper, strong text), use the Document Scanner tool.
• Keep each file under the upload limit of the portal.
• Check each page is readable before sending.

Photos stay in your browser and are not uploaded.