Among every other gadget, our smartphones have become that tiny productivity machine we carry around in our pockets. Gone are those days where you need to stay in front of a giant machine to scan a document. Even with portable scanners now, it still doesn't feel like what you can take everywhere. But, the good news is that you don't need a giant or portable scanner to digitize your papers today. Ask me how? We show you how to scan documents on Android!
If you're a student, a business person, or any other person, you can't do without papers. Even, by scanning things on your phone, you worry not about taking every piece of documents everywhere you go. Just scan them on your phone and you get unlimited access to them at your wish. Cool, right? Below are 5 simple ways to scan documents on your Android device.
How Do You Scan With An Android Phone?
Below are our top picks of apps you can use to scan documents on Android devices - starting from the one pre-installed on your device. You can get these apps for free on the Play Store, and it's quite easy to use them.
Google Drive
If you're in a hurry to scan documents on your Android phone, Google Drive is one of the quickest and easiest ways to do it. And that's why we place it first in this guide. Google Drive is pre-installed on most Android phones, and it comes with a robust feature for scanning documents straight from your phone's camera to a PDF file. What’s more, it also saves the scanned PDF file on your cloud storage, so you can view it anywhere, even when you don’t have your phone.
How to scan documents with Google Drive
- Fire up the Drive app on your device.
- Tap the large + button in the bottom right
- Select Scan on the pop-up menu. This should open your device's camera.
- Placing the paper you want to scan on a flat surface, point the camera to it and tap the shutter button with patience.
- If the shot looks good - mark it. If not - cancel and retake it.
- You’ll see the scan preview on the next screen, with some buttons below it.
- If you wish to change the color, tap the palate button.
- To correct the orientation, tap the rotate button.
- In case you want to adjust the scan area, tap the Crop button.
- To scan another page, tap the + button in the bottom left of the screen.
- Tap Save once you’re done with the documents to save it as a PDF file on your Drive.
CamScanner
CamScanner used to be my favorite app to scan things on Android. The reason is that the app is feature-rich. Unlike adding the pages one-by-one on Google Drive, CamScanner lets you scan an entire document in a row - just point and shoot, then onto the next page!
CamScanner saves the scanned documents as PDF or JPG files in your local storage by default. You can also hop in for its native cloud storage or connect your Drive, Dropbox, or Box account. All in all, CamScanner has a subscription service for some of its premium features, but you can get all the basic stuff you need for free.
How to scan things with CamScanner
- Install CamScanner from the Play Store and launch it.
- On the welcome screen, tap Use Now. You may sign in or create an account if you wish.
- Tap the Camera button in the bottom right corner to begin. Ensure you allow the permission on the next screen to allow CamScanner to do its job
- On the next screen, tap Docs or any form of document you want to scan.
- Depending on the quantity of the document you want to scan, tap Single Mode or Batch Mode. The Gear icon before the shutter button allows you to change options like flash, resolution, and text orientation. Use them if you need to.
- Finally, align the camera viewfinder with the document, and tap the Camera button to scan it. If you’ve chosen the Batch mode, continue snapping the pages until you’re done with it.
Once you’re done with the scanning process, the next screen contains the editing tools you can use to adjust your document to fit your needs. Remember to save the scans when you’re done with it. You can then view and share it from the “My Docs” folder on the home page.
Adobe Scan
Adobe Scan is another useful app you can use to scan PDF files on your Android phone. Coming as one of the popular apps from Adobe, it has everything you need to scan documents on your device.
Like most scanner apps, Adobe scanner has color presets to enhance your documents. It also features options to save scans to your local storage or use cloud storage if you want. If the two apps mentioned earlier don't suit your needs, you can get Adobe Scan from the Play Store. Its scanning process isn't much different from the ones mentioned above as well.
Clear Scanner
Especially for Android devices with low processing power, Clear Scanner is a lightweight app that allows you to scan everything from documents to receipts, sketchbooks, whiteboards, and more with your Android device.
Having an entry-level phone shouldn't be a barrier to scan documents, inasmuch you have a decent camera that can handle texts well. Like other scanner apps, Clear Scanner boasts editing and organization features, cloud storage support, options to save as PDF or JPG, and more. That aside, its top advantage is the processing power and small app size. Top that, it comes as a free app on the Play Store with all the essential features you need. You can also pay a little amount for its pro version to get some extra features.
Microsoft Office Lens
Coming from Microsoft, Office Lens is also a popular document scanner app that provides a solution to "How do I scan from my phone". With each document scanner app working towards a similar goal, Office Lens names itself as a good scanner for students and business people. It works hand-in-hand with other Microsoft Office 365 apps, but you don't need to be a subscriber all you need is to scan documents.
