Do you know you can scan documents on an Android phone?
Scanning a document is an easy way to share and edit documents digitally. You don’t need anything more than your Android phone and its camera to can scan clear images of documents for professional or private use.
There are hundreds of document-scanning apps available, but Google Drive, Microsoft Office Lens, and Adobe Scan are the best options. These apps are available for Android and iOS devices. However, it is also worth exploring Google Stack, as it is Google’s dedicated document scanner.
How to use Google Drive to scan a doc on your Android phone
- Open the Google Drive app.
- Tap the plus button in the lower-right corner.
- Select Scan.
- Line up the document in the viewfinder, make sure all four corners are visible and that your view is mostly flat, and press the shutter button.
- Drive allows you to review and accept or reject the photo before converting the image to PDF.
Once you’ve accepted the image, you can perform the following steps to scan more pages or make edits:
- Add more pages to the current document (+ icon).
- Re-capture any page that has been added (reload/redo icon).
- Alter the crop/distortion correction (crop icon in the upper-right corner).
- Change color settings (palette icon in the upper-right corner).
- Delete, rotate, or rename the scan (three-dot button in the upper-right corner).
- Further options in the nested settings menu allow you to change paper size, orientation, and image quality, though the defaults should be fine for most situations.
Once you are happy with the results, tap the checkmark in the lower-right corner. Drive asks where to save it in Google Drive and what to name it. It should be there after you tap Save in the lower-right corner. Congrats, you made a PDF with your phone’s camera.
Tip: Drive can automatically correct for perspective, so you don’t need to worry too much if you can’t snag the perfect shot. It stretches and tweaks things to compensate on its own, though some content might end up a bit off-kilter.
The reasons to use the Google Drive app for your PDF needs are:
- It’s simple and easy to use.
- You probably don’t need to install anything. Most phones come with it.
- It syncs PDFs that it creates to Google Drive, a boon to G Suite-based productivity and cloud storage.
How to scan a document on your phone with Microsoft Office Lens
Microsoft Office Lens is one of the best ways to scan a document on Android. Whether or not you are deeply integrated into Microsoft’s Office suite and services, it is fast and easy with a simple interface and all the tools you need.
Some of its perks include:
- Integration with Microsoft apps and services like OneNote, OneDrive, Word, and PowerPoint.
- Text copy to Microsoft Word.
- Simple, super-fast interface.
- Works with images and photos you already have.
Scanning a document with Microsoft Office Lens
When you launch the app, it takes you straight to the viewfinder.
The viewfinder has all the tools you need immediately accessible with just a few taps. Along the bottom of the viewfinder, below the shutter, are different modes you can switch between based on what you’re scanning. You’ll probably use the default Document mode, but you can quickly switch to scanning business cards, photos, and whiteboards, each of which triggers its preset modes.
Above the shutter is your camera roll, offering easy access to images you captured with your camera app. Tap the images you’d like to add to a document and then tap the orange arrow to the right of the shutter button (above right). You can also tap the photograph/gallery icon to get to a file picker to navigate to images outside the camera roll.
When you’ve lined up the document in the viewfinder, an orange-red rectangle indicates a solid lock on its perspective and dimensions (which it can automatically crop and correct for). Just note that if you take photos on a grid-like background like you see pictured above, it might bug out a bit with that automatic cropping. If that happens, there is a manual crop tool, and only specific circumstances triggered any misbehavior for us.
Editing a scanned document in Microsoft Office Lens
When you have captured a page for your document, the workflow to tweak it is simple. If you need to add another page to your document, tap the Add New button, and you are taken to the viewfinder to add another image. Repeat that process as necessary with each page of the document.
You can swipe between pages by scrolling left and right when multiple images are loaded. If you prefer to convert your documents to black and white or another look, filters are easily accessible with a quick swipe up.
You will find most of the other, less frequently used options at the top of the screen. You can delete images in the current document, change their crop, rotate images, change their document type (which adjusts preset filters), make a text overlay, or draw on the document. With pinch-to-zoom working, you can add a signature or annotate if necessary.
Exporting scanned documents in Microsoft Office Lens
When you are happy with your scanned document, you’re ready to export and save it. You can save it to your Android phone’s gallery as a JPEG image, but there are options to save a PDF file to your phone’s storage. You can also send the image to OneDrive, PowerPoint, or OneNote. Plus, documents can be imported to Microsoft Word for OCR if you prefer to convert them into text.
When the document has been saved in a specific format, you’re shown a list of files you created in the app. From there, you can share or delete them via the three-dot menu on each.
There are two other ways to create a PDF on your Android device that we listed below. The Google Drive app is the most convenient choice for users in a pinch, and Adobe Scan is a good tool if you live in the Acrobat ecosystem. However, if you scan documents regularly, we think you owe it to yourself to try Microsoft Office Lens. It’s easily the best document-scanning solution we’ve used.
How to use Adobe Scan to digitize files with your phone
If you need a different set of features than the Google Drive s app can provide, and you’re willing to give up the deeper integration with G Suite’s services, Adobe Scan is a robust alternative to old-school document scanners. Some of its advantages include:
- OCR (optical character recognition), which turns scanned documents into searchable, copyable text.
- Works with the images and photos you have.
- Auto-capture streamlines the photo-taking process.
- Works with the Adobe Acrobat app for built-in signing and filling out forms.
How to scan a document with Adobe Scan
- Download Adobe Scan from the Google Play Store.
- Open Adobe Scan and grant relevant permissions.
- Position your phone’s camera over the scan area, ensuring the entire document is in view.
- Adobe Scan automatically captures the document once it is in view.
- If you’d rather manually line up and capture your document, tap the Aperture icon to the left of Auto-Capture.
- Once you’ve captured all the documents you want to be included in a given PDF, tap the gallery icon in the lower-right corner, and it lets you review your scans.
- From the review screen, you can rename the PDF (use the text/pencil icon) or use the navigation bar at the bottom to add more pages, reorder items, adjust the crop, rotate images, select color settings, or delete pages.
- Tap Save PDF in the upper-left corner when you’re satisfied with your scan.
How to scan documents with Samsung Galaxy
If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone, you can scan documents directly, so long as you have One UI 2 or higher. Most Galaxy phones from the past few years should have the feature, as Samsung is already rolling out One UI 4 to the Galaxy S20 and S21 series.
Simply launch the camera app from your Galaxy device and line it up with a document to start scanning. When you see yellow lines border the paper, select Tap to scan. You can then move the corners of the document to add or remove any unnecessary parts.
When you are happy with the scanned area, tap Save.
Once the scan has been saved, you can view your document within the Gallery app.
How to scan documents with Google Pixel
Scanning a document with your Google Pixel phone is easy with Google Lens. But Pixel phones with Google Camera 7.2 or higher will also have a scanner built-in to the camera.
Open the camera app and point it at a document, and you should see the option to Scan a document near the bottom of the screen. Tap that, and you will see a white outline to specify the area you want to scan. Make any necessary adjustments and select Save to scan the document.
How to scan a document with iPhone
If you have an iPhone with iOS 11 or above, open the Notes app, tap the Camera icon, and select Scan Documents.
How to scan a document as a PDF on an Android phone
- Download a document scanning app that supports PDF output, like Adobe Scan.
- Open the app, and press ‘Scan’ or ‘Camera.’
- Take a picture of your document.
- Review the scan and make adjustments if needed.
- Save the scan. Select ‘PDF’ as your preferred file type when saving.
How to use a phone camera to scan a QR code
Open your Camera app and tap More > Google Lens. Now you’ll have a Lens icon you can use whenever you open your camera, and it can scan QR codes.
You can also use Google Assistant to activate Google Lens. Say “OK Google,” then tap Google Lens at the bottom right.
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