There is now a free app that you can use to turn your smartphone into a reliable document scanner. I will show you how to do this in this post.
How to turn your Androids and iPhone into document scanners for free
If you do not scan every day or require particularly high-quality results, classic scanners for owners of smartphones and tablet PCs are a thing of the technical past. Written documents for tax returns etc. can be converted into a PDF using the camera of the mobile device just as easily as with a separate scanner.
The scanner, which only takes up space most of the time and serves as a dust collector, can therefore safely be retired. Here I will show you how easy it is to create scans for free with your Apple or Android mobile device.
Scan documents to PDF for free
- Download Adobe Scanner from the App Store on your iPhone or from Google Play on your Android mobile device. Download links below this post.
- A free registration is required when starting for the first time. Tap on “Register” and follow the instructions on the screen. As an alternative to the Adobe ID, you can also log in with an existing Facebook or Google account.
- On an Apple device you will now be asked whether the app is allowed to access the camera of your iPhone / iPad. Confirm this dialog by tapping “Ok”.
- Now align the lens of the rear camera of your mobile device to the side that you want to scan. Adobe Scan recognizes the page and marks the area to be scanned in blue. My tip: A good contrast between the original and the background is very helpful for correct recognition.
After the scan has been created you have several options:
- Tap the top right of the screen to save your document to Adobe’s cloud. It is available to you on other devices across all systems.
- Crop the document if the automatic detection shows small imperfections around the edges.
- Use the magic wand to convert the document. Color PDFs can be created as black and white files, for example. Colors can be optimized automatically.
How to share your scans with friends or colleagues
After you have scanned a document and saved it in the Adobe cloud, you can distribute it with a tap of your finger. Every PDF file can be distributed to others in no time at all.
Briefly touch the saved document with your finger. A dialog box appears on the screen. Decide here for “Release”. Then select “Send by email to …” from the drop-down menu to send the file. Alternatively, you can opt for “Share link” if you would like to provide the recipient with a download link instead of the file.
The advantage of the latter method is that you can also send the link via services that do not allow file attachments.
Download Document Scanner for iPhone
Download Document Scanner for Android