With habitation offices being the new normal for many, there are bound to be occasions when you need to send someone a paper document via email. But how tin can you take a physical piece of paper and turn it into a digital image without a scanner?

Yes, you can simply take a photo and send that. Merely it's possible to get results that look similar you used a proper scanner, every bit opposed to sending a desperately lit, warped image.

At that place are diverse ways to do this, including a digital scanner app on your smartphone. Y'all may even find your phone's camera app has a 'Text' or 'Document' setting for this very purpose. In fact, if you accept an iPhone running iOS fifteen, you lot can even use the new Alive Text feature to turn it into editable text without downloading anything extra - and use the Notes app to browse documents.

Tips for taking better photos of documents

Before getting to the apps themselves, hither are a few tips to become the best quality: you don't want skewed text or shadows making them hard to read.

  1. Use natural light. Put your paper on a table near (but nontoo nearly) a window.
  2. Hold your phone square to the document, not at an angle
  3. Try different lenses if your phone has them. Telephoto tends to be the all-time option, and avoid ultra-wide angles which will distort everything.

Scan documents with Google Drive

You may not know it, but Google Drive has a built-in scanner feature that yous tin can use to digitise documents, sometime photos and other printed material. To use it, open the app on your phone and do the post-obit:

Tap the plus symbol in the lower right corner of the screen. This opens a menu pane with several options. Select Scan and the camera will launch, allowing you to capture a movie of the item in question.

How to scan documents on your phone: Android

In one case you have the epitome, you'll be able to crop it to the size you want, then salvage it as a PDF. The newly scanned image will then be saved to your Google Drive binder, assuasive you to share it via e-mail or other messaging app.

Scan documents on iPhone with the Notes app

As with Google drive, Apple's Notes app as well has free born scanner that tin digitise your documents. To use it, open the app and tap the icon in the bottom right corner to create a new note. Select the Photographic camera choice then cull Scan Documents.

How to scan documents with your phone: iPhone

This opens the camera, which will start to scan sections of the prototype. Tap the camera shutter push to have the image, and then y'all can adapt which parts of the image you lot want to proceed by positioning the circles that announced on each edge. When you have things as you desire them, tap the Keep Scan pick and it will be saved to your device.

Scanning documents with other apps

If the methods in a higher place don't quite practice it for you, maybe because you need a specific feature they don't offer, and then there are many alternatives. If you have a Microsoft 365 business relationship, then the Microsoft Role Lens – PDF Scanner is a great option, plus you should besides check out SwiftScan, Genius Scan, Simple Scan besides every bit the many others available in the Google Play Shop and Apple App Store.

One that'due south completely free, with no limits and no adverts is FP Scanner-PDF&Image to Text. Information technology's simply for iOS, unfortunately, just information technology has diverse modes that let you lot 'browse' multiple pages of a book or document and share it as a PDF, too equally the ability to convert characters into editable text. Though, as mentioned at the outset, that is somewhat redundant if you accept iOS xv.

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