Scan to PDF
Capture pages and turn straightened photos into a PDF.
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Scan to PDF help
Turn camera pictures into a PDF and straighten the page view. Use clear, evenly lit pictures of receipts, notes or paper documents for a more readable result.
How to use Scan to PDF
- Use Add photos or the camera controls to capture your paper pages.
- Adjust Page corners, or select Use whole photo; inspect Preview scan.
- Choose Color mode and any adjustments, arrange Scanned pages and set PDF page size.
- Select Create PDF, then Download scanned PDF, and check the scan before sharing.
Options explained
- Page corners
- Adjust all four corners to straighten perspective while keeping the complete paper in view.
- Color mode
- Choose the offered color, grayscale or black-and-white treatment for the selected page.
- Brightness and Contrast
- Adjust readability when a photo is dark or washed out.
- Black-and-white strength
- Set the threshold for black-and-white output; review faint handwriting and small print.
- Reduce paper shadows
- Reduce uneven paper shading; compare the preview before accepting.
- PDF page size
- Choose the output page size before assembling the scan.
- Scanned pages
- Reorder or remove captured pages before saving the document.
- Detect page and Use whole photo
- Find a suggested paper boundary, or retain the complete photograph. Always inspect the corners before export.
- Rotate right
- Turn the selected photo a quarter turn clockwise.
- Reset adjustments
- Restore the selected page’s default color, brightness, contrast and shadow settings.
- Move earlier, Move later and Remove page
- Arrange the captured pages; Undo and Redo restore or repeat changes.
Limits and supported files
Camera photos, JPG, PNG and WebP images.
Local tests used synthetic 10, 50, 100 and 200 MB PNG images. Chromium, Firefox and WebKit: completed 10 MB; 50, 100, 200 MB did not complete.
Each source photo must fit within 64 MB, 16 million pixels and an 8,192-pixel edge. Chromium, Firefox and WebKit: completed 50, 300 small images; 1000 small images did not complete. The batch tests used tiny images; full-resolution photos need much more memory.
Scan to PDF was tested on a 16 GB Mac with Chromium, Firefox and WebKit. “Did not complete” includes input limits, errors and test timeouts; try a smaller selection. These are observed examples, not guaranteed limits on your device. WebKit tests do not replace a check in Safari on your own device. The 90-second test window is not a hard limit; some jobs may need longer.
Questions
How can I get a clearer scan?
Keep the paper flat, use even lighting and include all four corners. Avoid shadows and motion blur. Straightening can correct perspective, but it cannot reliably restore detail that was not captured.
Will the scanned words be searchable?
A page picture alone does not create searchable text. Use OCR if you need recognized words and check the output against the photo. Keep the scan itself for reviewing unclear text.
Can I straighten a photo taken at an angle?
Adjust all four corners to straighten perspective while keeping the complete paper in view.
Can I turn a color scan into black and white?
Choose the offered color, grayscale or black-and-white treatment for the selected page.
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