How to use Scan to PDF
- On a phone, tap Scan with the camera. On a computer, scan the QR code with your phone: every page you scan on it appears on the computer. Or turn on the webcam, or add photos.
- Hold the page in view. Its edges turn green when it is found; tap the round button to take the photo, or switch on Auto to have it taken once the page is steady.
- Check the corners, then pick a filter: Auto removes shadows and makes the paper white, B&W gives crisp text and the smallest file.
- Add more pages, drag them into order, and save the PDF or share it.
Why use Scan to PDF
Finds the page for you
The page edges are found automatically and the page is straightened, even when the photo is taken at an angle. Drag the corners to fine-tune.
Clean pages
Auto, Grey, B&W and Whiteboard filters remove shadows and make the paper white. Black-and-white pages make tiny PDFs.
Searchable text
Optionally reads the text in English, Arabic or Urdu, so you can search, select and copy it in the PDF.
Private, no app
Works in the browser on iPhone, Android and computers. No app, no account, no watermark, and nothing is uploaded.
About this tool
A photo of a page is not a scan: it is taken at an angle, lit unevenly and full of the desk around it. This document scanner online fixes that. It finds the page's four corners, flattens the page with a perspective correction that works out its real proportions (so A4 comes out as A4), and cleans it: the shadows are divided out, so the paper turns white and the ink stays sharp. You can scan documents with your phone's camera, a laptop webcam, or photos you already took, or scan from your phone to your computer: link the two with a QR code and every page you scan on the phone appears on the computer.
The scanned pages become one PDF on A4 or Letter paper, or at each photo's own size. Turn on searchable text to make a searchable PDF: the words are read on your device with Tesseract (English, Arabic or Urdu) and laid invisibly over the picture, so you can search, select and copy them. Everything runs in your browser, so the photos and the PDF never leave your device, which also makes this a private CamScanner alternative with nothing to install.
Frequently asked questions
How do I scan a document to PDF with my phone?
Open this page on your phone, tap Scan with the camera and hold the page in view. When the edges turn green, tap the round button (or switch on Auto). Check the corners, pick a filter, add more pages, then tap Save PDF or Share.
Does it work on iPhone and Android?
Yes, in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android, with no app to install. Your browser asks once for permission to use the camera. On a computer you can use the webcam or add photos.
Can I scan with my phone and save the PDF on my computer?
Yes. Open this page on your computer and scan its QR code with your phone's camera. Every page you scan on the phone then appears on the computer straight away, ready to check and save as one PDF. No app, cable or email is needed.
How do I make the PDF smaller?
Choose the B&W filter for pages of text (a page is often under 100 KB), or turn on Smaller file, which lowers the resolution of colour pages. Both suit email and upload limits.
What does "Make the text searchable" do?
It reads the words on each page on your device and adds them as an invisible text layer, so you can search the PDF and select and copy its text. The picture of the page stays exactly as scanned.
Are my documents uploaded?
No. The camera picture, the page finding, the filters and the text reading all run in your browser, and nothing is kept after you close the page. If you link your phone to your computer, the pages go from one of your devices to the other: directly, or encrypted through our pairing service, which cannot read them.
Can I scan to PDF on Windows 11?
Yes. Open this page in Edge or Chrome on Windows 11 and use a webcam, or use the phone link to scan with your phone camera and receive the pages on the computer.