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How to Scan Documents with Your Phone to PDF

You do not need a scanner machine to scan documents with your phone to PDF. Take photos of the pages, and PDF Hydra's PDF Scanner turns them into a clean scanned PDF in your browser. There is no app to install.

This is ideal when you must submit papers today: a signed form, a bank letter, a degree certificate or a rent agreement. This guide shows how to get clear scans and how to send them.

PDF Scanner: Turn phone photos of papers into a clean scanned PDF.

Try it free

Get the page ready

  • Flatten the paper. Remove folds and staples if you can.
  • Place it on a dark, plain table so the white page stands out.
  • Use daylight or a bright room, and avoid your own shadow on the page.
  • Wipe your phone camera lens. A dirty lens makes everything soft.
  • Turn off flash if it makes a shiny spot on the paper.

Take the photos

Hold the phone straight above the page, not at an angle. Fit the whole page in the frame with a little space around it. Tap to focus, then hold still.

Take one photo per page, in order. Check each photo by zooming in on small text. If you cannot read it, take it again.

Make the scanned PDF with PDF Hydra

PDF Scanner works in the mobile browser on Android and iPhone. Your photos are processed on your device and are never uploaded.

  1. Open PDF Scanner in your phone browser.
  2. Take or choose the photos of your paper pages.
  3. Let the tool turn them into clean scanned pages.
  4. Download the scanned PDF.
  5. Open the PDF and check that every page is there and easy to read.

PDF Scanner: Turn phone photos of papers into a clean scanned PDF.

Try it free

Mistakes that make scans hard to read

  • Taking the photo at an angle, which makes the page look slanted and the text uneven.
  • Cutting off the edges of the page, which can remove a stamp, a date or a page number.
  • Scanning in a dark room, which turns white paper grey and makes small text hard to read.
  • Moving the phone while the photo is taken, which makes the text blurry.
  • Mixing up the page order. Take the photos in the same order as the pages.

Make it ready to upload

Many portals set a size limit for files. If your PDF is too large, open Compress PDF to 100KB and set the size the form asks for, such as 100KB or 200KB. Check the size the form asks for, as it differs from site to site.

If you need to sign the document before sending it, open the PDF in Sign PDF and add your signature without printing.

Make the text searchable

A scan is a picture of a page, so you cannot search or copy its words. If you need the text, run the scanned PDF through PDF OCR. It reads the text, including Urdu and Arabic, using PDF Hydra's AI service, which does not keep your file.

If you just want photos in a PDF exactly as they are, without the scan look, JPG to PDF puts your photos into one PDF.

Frequently asked questions

How can I scan a document to PDF with my phone?

Take photos of each page, open PDF Scanner in your phone browser and choose the photos. Then download the clean scanned PDF.

Do I need to install a scanner app?

No. The scanner works in your web browser on Android and iPhone, so there is nothing to install.

Are my scanned papers uploaded?

No. The photos are turned into a PDF on your own device.

The form needs a PDF under 200KB. What should I do?

After scanning, open Compress PDF to 100KB and set 200KB, or the size the form asks for.

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