How to scan to PDF

How to scan to PDF, step by step

Scanning a sheet with your phone takes under a minute, in three steps:

1. Open the Scan to PDF tool.
2. Allow camera access when the browser asks. Without that permission there is no image, and the tool says so instead of going blank.
3. Photograph each sheet, one photo per page. The list shows what you captured: you can delete the blurry one and change the order of the pages.
4. Press create the PDF and download the single file, with the pages in the order they are in the list.

The whole job runs on your device, the photos never leave the browser. Once the page has loaded once, you can work with the network off.

What you need: a camera and permission

This tool is a camera, not a flatbed scanner. You need a device with a camera, phone or computer, and you must allow access when the browser asks, once.

• On a phone, permission is given from the address bar or the site settings; on a desktop with no camera connected there is nothing to allow, and the tool says so instead of showing a black rectangle.
• If the camera is already in use by another program, a video call, another browser tab, close it and press try again.
• The camera switches off as soon as you close the tool, switch tools or leave the page. If the camera light goes out when you leave, that is the correct and deliberate behaviour.

Tips for scanning well

• Frame with the phone parallel to the paper. There is no perspective correction: the image goes into the PDF exactly as captured, without straightening corners or cropping the sheet. Framing is what makes the difference in the result.
• Prefer window light and move out of your own shadow. Blurry text or a shadow across it is the real limit of this tool, not a malfunction. Lay the sheet on a flat surface.
• Use the rear camera. It is the default because it is the one pointing at the paper and the one with the better sensor; there is a button to switch to the front one.
• Create the PDF in batches of up to fifty pages. Every photo stays in the device memory until you create the PDF; at the limit, create the PDF and start another scan.
• A scan does not replace a flatbed scanner. For the receipt you need to send today it is plenty; for archiving an old document at reproduction quality, a scanner is still better.
• It works offline. You only need a connection to load the page; from there on the camera, the photos and the PDF assembly all happen on your device.

How to make the result searchable with OCR

The pages of the PDF enter as photographs: you can view them, print them and send them, but you cannot search for words or copy text. That needs optical character recognition, which this tool does not do. If you need searchable text, run the PDF through the OCR PDF tool, included in the Premium subscription. And if you want the pages back as images, to reuse a photo, PDF to Image extracts each page as an image file. You can also join the scan with JPG or PNG photos you already have with Images to PDF.

Is scanning to PDF free? What are the limits?

No. This tool is part of the Premium subscription, EUR 1.99 a month, which removes the limits on every tool and adds OCR. Sign PDF opens on the free plan, with one signature a day.

Sources

• BestPDFInTheWorld, Digitalizar para PDF
• MDN, MediaDevices.getUserMedia()
• MDN, Permissions API