About scanning with your phone
You do not need a scanner to send a signed form, a receipt or a letter as a PDF. A phone camera is enough. For good results, lay the page flat on a dark, plain surface, use daylight or bright, even light, hold the phone straight above the page and fill the screen with it. Avoid shadows from your hand or phone. Each photo becomes one page, in the order shown. Photos are turned the right way up using the orientation your phone recorded, and you can turn any page by hand as well. A4 suits the UK and most of the world, Letter suits North America, and Fit to image makes each page exactly the size of its picture. Document style turns the photo into greyscale and stretches the contrast, so grey, shadowy paper becomes white and faint writing becomes dark and easy to read; Greyscale keeps the photo as it is but without colour, which also makes the file smaller. Everything happens on your device: the photos are never uploaded, and the page works offline once loaded. To make the text searchable, run the PDF through OCR PDF; to make it smaller, use Compress PDF.
Limits: photos up to 25 MB each with a free account, 200 MB on Pro and 500 MB on Business; up to 25 photos per task on Free, 100 on Pro and 200 on Business. Browser tools have no daily task limit.
Before you sign in, files can be up to 25 MB. A free account raises this to 25 MB.
Privacy: this tool runs entirely in your browser; the file never leaves your device. Nothing is uploaded, so we have nothing to store or delete.
How to use the PDF tools: Step-by-step help with every tool, limits and your files.
Scan to PDF: frequently asked questions
Does it open my phone's camera?
Yes. On a phone, Take or choose photos opens the camera. On a computer it opens the file picker so you can choose photos you already have.
Are my photos uploaded?
No. The PDF is made in your browser and the photos never leave your device.
What does the Document style do?
It removes colour and boosts contrast, so the paper turns white and text turns dark, like a photocopy. It works best on printed or handwritten pages.
My photos are sideways. What do I do?
Photos are turned using the orientation your phone saved. If one is still wrong, press the turn button under it until it looks right.
Can I search the text in the PDF?
Not straight away, because each page is a photo. Run the PDF through OCR PDF to add searchable, selectable text.