To scan a document with your phone, open Google Drive on Android, tap the camera button, and photograph the page. On iPhone, use the Notes app and choose Scan Documents. Either way you end up with a PDF you can email or upload. The steps below follow the help pages from Google and Apple.
Which one you use depends on your phone, but the choice of file matters too. Drive lets you pick PDF or JPG when you save, while Notes keeps the scan as a PDF inside a note.
Android: scan with Google Drive
Google Drive has a built-in scanner. According to Google’s help page, this is how it works:
- Open the Google Drive app.
- Tap Camera at the bottom right.
- Point the camera at the document. A blue outline shows the area that will be cropped.
- Take the photo. You can switch between manual and automatic capture.
- Adjust the scan. Crop & Rotate changes the scan area, Filter adjusts colors or switches to grayscale, and Clean erases stains, fingers, and similar marks.
- For a multi-page document, tap Add and scan the next page. Retake shoots the page again, and Delete removes a page.
- Tap Done.
- Type a file name or pick one of the suggested titles.
- Choose the format, .pdf or .jpg.
- If you like, tap Location to pick a Drive folder.
- Tap Save.
Button names can shift slightly between app versions, but the order stays the same.
Add a scan shortcut to the Android home screen
If you scan often, a widget saves a few taps. Google’s instructions: open your device’s widgets, find the Drive scan widget, touch and hold it, and drag it to the home screen. Pick your account if asked, choose the folder where scans should go (or create a new one), and tap Select. The folder name appears on the widget.
iPhone: scan with the Notes app
Nothing to install on iPhone. Apple’s support page describes the Notes scanner this way:
- Open the Notes app and go into a note, or start a new one.
- Tap the camera button in the note’s toolbar, then tap Scan Documents.
- Position the iPhone so the page shows on the screen. Adjust settings like Flash or Filters if you want.
- Pick how to capture. With automatic capture, hold the iPhone steady and it takes the picture when it detects the page edges. To make changes, tap the thumbnail, choose an option such as Adjust, and confirm.
- With manual capture, tap the shutter button, drag the corners as needed, then tap Retake or Keep.
- Scan any additional pages, then tap Save when you’re done.
The document is saved as a PDF in the note. Apple also has a separate help page on working with PDFs in Notes, useful if you need to mark up the file afterward.
Getting a legible scan
The app fixes the crop, but it can’t rescue a bad photo. A few habits help:
- Even light. Sit near a window or under a lamp that lights the whole page. A shadow from your hand or phone across the paper hurts the text.
- Flat page, contrasting surface. Put a white sheet on a dark table. That helps the app find the edges, especially in automatic capture.
- Phone parallel to the page. Shooting at an angle warps the letters.
- Keep fingers out of the frame. If one sneaks in, Drive’s Clean tool can erase the mark.
- Check before you send. Zoom into the PDF and make sure account numbers, dates, and amounts are readable. A blurry copy is what usually gets bounced back.
Naming, storing, and sending
Name the file something you will recognize later, like “lease-agreement-2026” rather than “Scan 1”. In Drive you set the name and folder when you save. In Notes the PDF lives inside the note, so give the note a clear title.
If the recipient wants a single file with several pages, scan every page in the same session: use Add in Drive, or keep capturing in Notes before you tap Save. If your pages are already in separate PDFs, our guide to merging PDFs shows how to combine them on Mac, iPhone, Windows and Android.
If you’re away from Wi-Fi when it’s time to send, our guide to using your phone as a hotspot lets you send the file from a laptop. Treat scans of IDs, Social Security cards, and tax forms with care. Send them only to the person or office that needs them, and delete extra copies you don’t have to keep, especially in shared folders.
If it doesn’t work
- No camera button in Drive. Update the app in your app store. The button’s position and label change between versions.
- The app can’t find the edges. Switch to manual capture and set the corners yourself in Notes, or adjust the crop in Drive.
- The photo looks dark or yellowish. Try the filters. Grayscale often makes text sharper.
- The phone asks for camera access. Allow it in your device settings, or the scanner won’t open.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to install an app?
Not on iPhone: Notes comes with the system. On Android, Google’s help page describes scanning in the Google Drive app, which is free in the app store if it isn’t already on your phone.
Is the result a PDF or a photo?
In Notes it’s a PDF inside the note. In Drive you choose between PDF and JPG when you save.
Can I scan several pages into one file?
Yes. In Drive, tap Add to scan the next page. In Notes, keep scanning pages and tap Save at the end.
Can I scan just a piece of text instead of a whole document?
On iPhone, yes. The same menu in Notes has a Scan Text option that inserts the scanned text into the note, in supported languages.
