Scanning documents with iOS

Last updated: December 2, 2020 by Marion Bates

If you have a paper document and an iPhone or iPad, and you want to send it digitally to someone, you can just take a photo and send that, of course. But if you use the Notes app, it automatically makes a PDF, reduces the file size, and cleans up the picture for you. Here's how to do that.

1. Open the Notes app (it's built in, you don't have to get it from the App Store) and make a new note:

2. Tap the camera icon:

3. Tap Scan Documents:

4. Hold the iPhone (or iPad) over the document, keeping it as level as you can, until the whole document is visible. Hints: Use a dark background if possible, and put your light source off to one side instead of above you, so you don't get so much shadow from your own hand + the device. When it seems OK, tap the shutter button:

5. If needed, drag the corners to line up with the edges of the document. It doesn't have to be the edges of the actual paper -- just the part/content that you care about -- but usually, it does a pretty good job of detecting the edges for you. Don't worry if it looks yellowish or smudgy, it'll clean that up automatically. If it looks too blurry or if part of it is cut off, tap Retake and try again, otherwise tap Keep Scan:

6. If you have another page of the same document to do, proceed with steps 4 and 5. It will automatically string them together into a multi-page PDF at the end of this, it's pretty smart. When you're done, tap Save:

7. Notice how it looks much whiter and cleaner than the original photo! Tap the share/upload icon when you're ready to send the scan to someone:

8. Depending on how your iPhone/iPad is set up and what apps you have, you'll see several options -- for example, if you choose Mail, it will make a new message with your scanned document attached:

9. Or, if you've got the Google Drive app loaded, you can choose to upload the scan there, then share it to your teacher later:

If you choose Drive, just tap upload and it will put your document in your Drive.

Once you've sent it or uploaded it, you can delete the note on your iPhone/iPad using the trashcan icon. If you want to do more to the document before you send it to your teacher(s), you can always just send it to yourself first, then download it onto whatever computer you're using, and edit it or rename it before sending along the final version.