Sometimes you need to turn a sheet of paper into a digital file. You may need to include a receipt, registration or other form of proof in an online form. Or, you want to keep copies of your important documents in the cloud, so they’re always accessible and safe from loss or destruction. These documents are often scanned as Portable Document Format (or PDF) files.
Previously, you had to use dedicated hardware or a third-party iPhone app to take a photo of a document and convert it to PDF. Apple has added a handy document scanner to the Notes and Files apps, and it does a surprisingly good job of capturing most documents and converting them to PDF. Because it’s not very obvious, you’d be forgiven for not even knowing it exists. Here’s how to scan, convert, and store documents with Notes or Files.
Scan a document and save it as a PDF with Notes or Files
You can scan a document into Notes and then save it as a PDF (if you want), or you can scan a document directly into the Files app as PDF.
- Time to complete: 5 minutes
- Tools required: iPhone with iOS 11 or later
- Cost: 0
Create a new note and add a scan
Foundry
- Open Notes and create a new note (or open a note you want to add a scan to).
- Tap the Camera icon, then choose Scan documents.
- Hold your iPhone over your document until it’s highlighted. You can press the shutter or hold your iPhone (or iPad) still until the scan automatically captures.
- Drag the corner to adjust the scan, then press Continue to scan. You can add additional scans or press To safeguard.
Export scan from Notes to PDF files
Foundry
- Open a note with a scanned document.
- Tap the scanned document, then tap the share button in the top right.
- Choose Save to files.
- Select a folder under Files in which to save your PDF. Give the file a name (and tags if you want) at the bottom of the screen.
Scan directly to files
Foundry
If you don’t want to save your scan to Notes, you can scan directly to Files, where your document will be saved as a PDF. You can then share it with other cloud services if you want.
- Open Files, then choose a location to save your scan.
- Tap the plus button (…) at the top right and choose Scan documents.
- Line up your document and press the shutter button, or stand still to automatically capture the image. If you are using the shutter, you can drag the corners to adjust and press Continue to scan.
- Add additional scans as desired, then press To safeguard once you have finished.
- The scan will be saved to a location of your choice in PDF format, and likely named “Scanned document.” The name will be highlighted so you can easily edit it.
- After creating your analysis, you can select it and use the share button to send it to other cloud services, if desired.
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