How to Scan a Document to PDF on iPhone, Android, and Windows

You don't need a flatbed scanner or a dedicated scanning app to turn a paper document into a PDF. Every major mobile platform has a document scanner built directly into its camera or file management system, and Windows has one too. This guide covers the fastest route on each platform so you get a clean, properly cropped PDF the first time.

How to Scan a Document to PDF on iPhone

The iPhone's built-in scanner is tucked inside the Notes app and the Files app. Both produce high-quality PDFs automatically, with edge detection that crops out table edges, shadows, and background clutter.

Method 1: Using the Notes App (Quickest)

1. Open the Notes app and create a new note (or open an existing one).
2. Tap the camera icon in the toolbar above the keyboard.
3. Select Scan Documents.
4. Hold your iPhone over the document. The scanner automatically detects the edges and captures the page. For manual control, tap the shutter button.
5. Scan additional pages in the same session — each tap adds another page to the same PDF.
6. Tap Save when finished.
7. To export as a PDF, tap the scan in the note, tap the share icon, and choose Save to Files or send it directly. The file is already in PDF format.

Method 2: Using the Files App (Saves Directly to PDF)

1. Open the Files app.
2. Navigate to any folder (On My iPhone or iCloud Drive).
3. Tap the three-dot menu in the top right corner.
4. Select Scan Documents.
5. Scan your pages and tap Save. The PDF is saved directly to the folder you were browsing.

Both methods use the same underlying scanner engine. The Files app route is slightly faster if you want the PDF in a specific folder right away.

How to Scan a Document to PDF on Android

Android doesn't have a single universal scanner since the experience varies by manufacturer, but Google has built document scanning into Google Drive, which is available on virtually every Android phone.

Using Google Drive (Available on All Android Phones)

1. Open the Google Drive app.
2. Tap the + (Add) button in the bottom right corner.
3. Select Scan.
4. Point your camera at the document. Drive detects the edges automatically.
5. Tap the shutter button to capture. Tap Add Page to scan additional pages into the same document.
6. When finished, tap Done, give the file a name, and choose where to save it in Drive.
7. The file is saved as a PDF and is immediately available in your Drive.

Using Samsung's Built-In Scanner (Samsung Devices Only)

Samsung phones running One UI 3 or later have a document scanning mode built directly into the camera app. Open the camera, swipe to More in the mode selector, and tap Bixby Vision or look for a Documents mode. Samsung's scanner saves to the Gallery as an image, so you'll need to convert it to PDF separately — making the Google Drive method generally preferable for most users.

Using Google PhotoScan or Google Lens

Google Lens (available in the Google app or Google Photos) can identify document edges and extract content, but it saves as an image rather than a PDF. For a proper scan-to-PDF workflow on Android, Google Drive's built-in scanner is the most reliable option.

How to Scan a Document to PDF on Windows

Windows 10 and Windows 11 both include a scanning application. You'll need a physical scanner or multifunction printer connected to your PC.

Using the Windows Scan App

1. Connect your scanner or multifunction printer to your PC (USB or network).
2. Open the Windows Scan app (search for "Scan" in the Start menu; it may need to be installed from the Microsoft Store if not already present).
3. Select your scanner from the dropdown.
4. Set the file type to PDF.
5. Choose your color mode (Color, Grayscale, or Black and White) and resolution. For standard documents, 300 DPI in grayscale is a good balance of quality and file size.
6. Click Scan. The PDF is saved to your Pictures folder by default.

Using Print to PDF as a Workaround

If your scanner software saves files as JPG or TIFF rather than PDF, you can convert them in seconds. Open the scanned image in any viewer, press Ctrl+P, select Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer, and click Print. The resulting PDF is saved wherever you choose. For multi-page documents scanned as separate images, our JPG to PDF tool combines them into a single PDF instantly.

How to Scan a Document to PDF on Mac

Mac users with a connected scanner can scan directly to PDF through the Image Capture app or through the Preview app.

Using Preview

1. Open Preview (it's in your Applications folder).
2. Go to File → Import from Scanner, then select your scanner.
3. In the scan dialog, set the format to PDF under the Format dropdown.
4. Click Scan. The PDF opens directly in Preview, where you can add additional pages by going to File → Import from Scanner again.
5. Save the final document via File → Save.

Improving Scan Quality: What Actually Matters

A scanned PDF is only as good as the capture itself. A few things have an outsized impact on the final quality:

Making Your Scanned PDF Searchable

A scanned document is essentially an image — the text is pixels, not actual characters. This means you can't select text, search within the document, or copy a passage out of it. If any of those things matter for your use case, you need to run OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on the scanned PDF.

Our free PDF OCR tool processes scanned PDFs directly in your browser and returns a searchable version with real text layered over the original image. For more on how OCR works and when you need it, see our OCR explainer.

Combining Multiple Scanned Pages Into One PDF

If your scanning workflow produces separate files — one per page — you'll want to merge them before sending. Our Merge PDF tool handles this directly in the browser. Drag in your scanned files, reorder if needed, and download the combined PDF. For a detailed walkthrough of this specific workflow, see How to Combine Scanned Pages Into One PDF.