At Handy Gear, we like a feature that’s already on your phone and free. The document scanner built into your phone is a great example, and most people don’t know it’s there.

It’s on both Android and iPhone. You can use it to scan letters, receipts, and paperwork in seconds and store them as a PDF file. Here’s how.

Using Notes on iOS

Apple Support says you can scan documents via the Notes application on your iPad or iPhone. To get this done, follow these steps:

• Launch the Notes app on your phone.
• Create a new note or open one you’ve created before.
• Tap the Attachment button.
• Tap on Scan Documents.
• Hold your device over the doc you’d like to scan. In Auto Mode, scans are automatic. If you’d rather capture the scan manually, hit the shutter or volume button to scan the document.
• Drag the corners to fit the page and tap Keep Scan. You can decide to add more pages. But if you want to wrap up the process, hit Save.

Once you follow the above steps, the scan saves inside your Notes app as a PDF file. And from there, you can share it by message, email, or any other app.

Using Google Drive on Android

Google Support says the Google Drive application can scan documents and save them as PDFs you can search for. Here’s how you can go about this:

• Open the Google Drive app.
• Tap the Camera icon.
• Put your phone over the doc you’re about to scan. When you do, a blue line will go around the edges to show you what the scan will capture.
• Tap the shutter button to capture the page.
• After each take, you can use the Crop, Filter, or Clean tool to adjust the image to your taste.
• Name the file. You can keep Google’s suggested name.

After going through the highlighted steps, select the format you want to save it as. You can go with PDF or JPG. Once you’ve selected a format, choose a folder in your Drive and tap Save.

Using the Camera App on Samsung and Pixel

You don’t need Drive to scan documents if you use an Android device. You can get these scans done on Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones via the built-in camera app.

On a Samsung Galaxy

Samsung Support outlines these steps:

• Open the Camera app and line up the viewfinder with the document.
• Tap Scan when it appears.
• Adjust the corners if needed, then tap Save.

The scan saves to your Gallery as an image. If you want to turn it into a PDF, open it in Samsung Notes and export it as a PDF.

On a Google Pixel

Pixel Camera Help says you can do it this way:

• Open the Camera app and point it at the document.
• Wait for the Scan document prompt, then tap it.
• Follow the on-screen steps. To tidy up any part of the page, tap Clean.
• Tap Done, then choose to save, download, or share the scan.

Extra Tricks That Can Help

On your iPhone, you can do a scan on the Files app. Launch it and tap the More button. After that, tap Scan Documents. The remaining steps work exactly like scanning through the Notes route.

To sign a scan on an iPhone, open it in Notes and tap Markup. Then tap Add. You’ll get the option to choose a signature. You can use one you’ve saved before or draw a new signature on your screen. Tap Done when you’ve done either.

Google Support says you can add a Drive Scan widget to your home screen. This lets you scan documents without opening the Google Drive application and tapping several icons.

On Android, the Files by Google app has its own Scan button too. It saves each scan as a PDF in a Scanned folder inside the app, and you can combine several pages into one file.

FAQs

Do you need an Internet connection to scan docs on your Android phone?

No, you don’t. The Camera, Notes, and Google Drive apps can do scans without being connected to the internet. The only time you’d need this connection is when you want to share or upload a scanned document.

What types of documents will I be able to scan easily?

Flat and well-lit pages with dark text and a white background are effortless to scan. If the paper is wrinkled or glossy, your scan may come out blurry or hard to read.