We often need clients to send us documents. And it can be a real inconvenience to mail them, or drop them off, or go find somewhere to scan them. Luckily, you can scan documents on your phone! This article tells you how.
Please do not just take a photograph of a document. Photographs are a terrible way to share a document. They are dark and often blurry. They are also huge digital files. It is much better and easier to scan documents to a pdf file. These are clear and easy to use, and they are smaller digital files so they are much easier to email or text.
It is just as easy as using your phone. You take a picture, but your phone then turns that picture into a pdf file. You will find a million other uses for this I promise!
Pro tip: Beware shadow and glare from overhead lighting. Try to angle your phone so it doesn’t create a big shadow on the document. That will show up in your pdf as a large dark patch, which is hard to read.
Method 1: Get an app.
There are a bunch of easy to use and free apps that you can use to scan documents. They use your phone’s camera to take a photo and turn that photo into a pdf. I personally use Scanner Pro, so I can vouch for it. But I paid $5 for it. There are a lot of free ones out there. Just search “pdf scanner app” in your phone’s app store. I know Adobe Scan is available for both type of phones.
Method 2: Iphone
Iphones have a built in scanning ability. You use the Notes app to do it. Just open the Notes app, tap the camera button, then tap “scan documents.” Place the document in view of the camera and it will either automatically capture it, or you can use the shutter button or volume buttons just like when taking a photograph. Then tap “save” or add additional scans. Then just email it to us.
See a full explanation here – https://support.apple.com/en-us/108963
Method 3: Android
On an Android, you use Google Drive to scan your documents. Open the Google Drive app, then tap camera (at the bottom right). Then line up your document with the blue lines and take a photo. Then you can adjust it, save it, and share it with us by email.
See a full explanation here – https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3145835?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
Thank you for taking the time to help us by scanning your documents on your phone instead of using photographs.
