PDF Scanner

Documentation

PDF Scanner Guide

Everything PDF Scanner can do, in one page. Skip to a section or read top-to-bottom — most flows take a tap or two.

Scanning a document

From the home screen, tap Scan. The camera opens with live edge detection — point it at a page and a teal outline tracks the document corners.

  • Hold still when the outline is tight and the hint reads Hold still. Auto-capture fires after about 1.5 seconds.
  • Prefer a manual shot? Tap the round shutter button at any time.
  • Use the Single / Batch toggle to capture one page or stack many. In batch mode, tap each page as you go.
  • Distance hints (Move closer / Too close) appear above the camera when the page is too far or too near.

After capture you'll see the review screen with all captured pages. Tap Done to save, the round chevron next to the page thumbnail to crop a single page, or the X on a thumbnail to delete it.

ID cards & passports

Switch the capture mode at the top of the camera to ID or Passport. The viewfinder draws a rectangular frame matching the real-world aspect ratio (85.6 × 54 mm for ID, 125 × 88 mm for passport) and dims the area outside.

  • Capture the front, then the back — both halves are composed onto a single A4 page automatically.
  • To re-shoot one side, open the saved page in the editor and tap the side you want to retake.
  • The IDs default to no auto-capture (manual shutter only) — IDs are usually fiddly to align, so it gives you full control.

Importing photos & PDFs

Tap Import on the home bottom bar to bring in existing images from your gallery. Select multiple at once — each becomes one page of a new document.

To import a PDF, share it to PDF Scanner from any app. PDF Scanner renders each page at 300 DPI as a scannable image — you get a fresh document you can crop, filter, and re-export.

Editing pages

Tap any saved page from a document to open the editor. Swipe left or right to move between pages. The toolbar at the bottom switches between nine tools:

  • Filters — change the look of the page (Bright, B&W, Magic Color, etc.)
  • Adjust — brightness and contrast sliders with live preview
  • Crop — re-crop the original capture (free-form 4-corner) or trim the cropped image rectangularly
  • Draw — pen, highlighter, or eraser
  • Text — overlay text anywhere
  • Watermark — single placement or tiled
  • Signature — place a saved signature
  • Stamp — place a saved stamp or date stamp
  • Rotate — 90° rotation

Most tools have an Apply to all pages toggle so a filter or adjustment applies across the whole document. Edits are non-destructive: tap Save to commit, or X / back to discard with a confirmation dialog.

Filters & adjustments

The 10 filters available, in order:

  • Original — no processing, raw cropped image
  • Auto — AI-based document enhancement
  • Pure — AI-based monochrome enhancement
  • Magic Color — color-preserving enhancement with shadow removal
  • Bright (default) — quick brightening + sharpening
  • Shadow Removal — flattens uneven lighting
  • Light — gentle brightening for darker scans
  • B&W — high-contrast adaptive threshold
  • Gray — desaturated grayscale
  • Sharp B&W — aggressive adaptive threshold for clean text

Pick one in the scan review screen to apply at capture time, or change it later from the editor's Filters tool. Each page remembers its own filter — you can mix filters within a document.

Annotations

Drawings, text, signatures, and stamps are stored as separate spatial layers — they don't bake into the image until you save. That means you can move, resize, or delete them at any time before saving.

  • Draw — pen / highlighter / eraser, 5 colors, 3 stroke sizes, undo / redo.
  • Text — tap to add a text box. Drag to position, pinch to scale, two-finger twist to rotate. Tap an existing text box to edit it.
  • Stamp / signature — same gestures: drag, pinch to scale, twist to rotate, double-tap to remove.

Annotation layers are preserved across re-crops via perspective remap, so you can re-frame a scan after annotating without losing your marks.

Signatures & stamps

Open the Signature tool in the editor → tap Add new to create one. Three sources:

  • Draw — sign with your finger on a clean canvas, with adjustable stroke and color.
  • Type — pick a style and type your name.
  • Photo — scan an existing signature on paper. Background removal isolates ink from the page.

Stamps work the same way (the camera flow has a square viewfinder + crop step before background removal). Saved signatures and stamps live across all your documents — apply them anywhere with one tap.

Watermarks

Open the Watermark tool. Type your text, choose color and opacity, and switch between Single placement (drag where you want it) or Tile (repeat across the whole page). Watermark settings can apply to all pages of a document.

OCR — extract text

Open any saved page → 3-dot menu → Extract text. PDF Scanner runs ML Kit Text Recognition on the page (works in 100+ scripts, fully on-device). Copy the result, share it, or save it as a text file.

QR codes

From the home quick-actions, tap QR. Three tabs:

  • Generate — pick a content type (Text, URL, Email, Phone, Wi-Fi, SMS), customize module style + corner style + color, optionally drop a logo in the center, then save or share as PNG / PDF.
  • Scan — opens the camera. Point at any QR or barcode; the result is auto-saved to history.
  • History — every QR you generated or scanned, with previews. Tap to see details, share, or delete.

Collage

From a document, open the 3-dot menu → Collage. Choose a template (12 grid layouts plus 3 ID-document templates with real-world dimensions: ID Card, Driver License, Passport), pick a page size (A4, Letter, etc.), tap any cell to swap pages between cells, and tweak border gap + color.

Export to gallery, save as PDF, or share. Pages auto-paginate when there are more than the template can hold.

Exporting & sharing

  • Save as PDF — single tap from any document. Goes to your Downloads folder.
  • Save as image — each page lands in your Gallery.
  • Share — opens the system share sheet (PDF or images). Use any messenger / mail / cloud app.
  • Print — uses the system PrintManager. Works with any AirPrint-compatible printer that's set up on your phone.

Settings

From the home top bar, tap the gear icon. You can change:

  • Theme — light, dark, or follow system
  • Language — 16 languages, applied per-app (no device-wide change needed)
  • Scanner mode — Advanced (custom OpenCV / ML detector, the default) or Simple (Google ML Kit)
  • Capture sound / vibration, auto-capture, auto-crop, default filter

Tips & troubleshooting

Scans look soft or blurry

Hold the phone steady — tap the shutter manually if auto-capture is firing during motion. A stable two-handed grip and good lighting make a noticeable difference. Try the Sharp B&W filter for text-heavy documents.

Edge detection misses my document

Detection works best when the document contrasts with the background. Place white paper on a dark surface (and vice versa). If a sofa, carpet, or tablecloth still defeats it, you can capture without auto-crop and re-crop manually in the editor.

How do I delete a page or document?

Long-press in the home grid for documents, or open a document and use the page's 3-dot menu for individual pages. Deletion removes the underlying image files too — there's no recycle bin.

How do I move a document to a folder?

Open the document → 3-dot menu → Move to folder. Folders are tags under the hood — pick an existing one or create a new one inline.