How to scan a document to PDF

Use your phone camera to turn paper into a searchable PDF.

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You do not need a scanner. A phone camera plus edge detection produces a PDF that is as usable as a flatbed scan for most purposes — and with OCR the result is searchable text rather than a picture of a page, which is the difference between a document you can use and an image you can only look at.

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How to how to scan a document to PDF

  1. 1Open Doclium on your phone and choose Scan.
  2. 2Photograph the page — the edges are detected and the page is straightened.
  3. 3Add more pages if you need them; they go into the same document.
  4. 4OCR runs so the text is searchable, then download or keep it in your library.

Questions people ask

Do I need to install an app?

No. It uses the camera through your browser, so there is nothing to install.

Will the text be searchable?

Yes. OCR reads the text from the photograph, so you can search it and ask questions about it rather than only viewing it.

How do I get a good scan?

Flat page, even light, and no shadow across the middle — a shadow does more damage to OCR accuracy than low resolution does.

Can I scan several pages into one PDF?

Yes. Keep capturing and each page is appended to the same document.

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