Document scanner: a real scan from a phone photo

An online tool for the moment when somebody asks for a scan and you do not own a scanner. Shoot the document with your phone or upload photos you already have — the edges are found for you, the perspective is straightened, the shadows go, and out comes a PDF: one page or many, both sides of a passport on one sheet, with a searchable text layer if you want one.

How to scan a document without a scanner

Shoot or upload

Point the camera at the page — the shot is taken once the frame settles. Or pick photos you already have, several at once if you like.

Check the frame

Edges are detected for you. If something is off, open the "Frame" tab and drag the corners; the magnifier shows the point under your finger.

Choose the look

Colour, grey, high-contrast black and white, or photo. Brightness and contrast sit right there, and the result updates as you go.

Build the document

Add the remaining pages, set a file name and a format, then download the PDF or send it straight from your phone.

Photograph a page and get a straight, clean PDF

Drop a photo of your document or choose files

JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP — one page or many

JPG, PNG, WEBP, GIF, BMP, HEIC, TIFF ·

What it does

The edges find themselves

An on-device neural model marks the four corners of the page, while a fast classical detector draws a frame instantly, before the model has even loaded. You can always move the corners by hand — a magnifier follows your finger.

Perspective and shadows

A photo taken at an angle becomes a flat rectangle, and uneven light or the shadow of your hand is flattened against the paper — the page comes out white, not grey with a patch on it.

Passport: both sides, one sheet

Shoot the front and the back as two pages and switch on "Two pages to a sheet" — they land on one A4 sheet, one above the other, the way banks ask for it.

Multi-page PDF

As many pages as you like, reordered by dragging, and any page can be reopened to redo its frame or its look without starting over.

Searchable PDF

On-device recognition adds an invisible text layer, so Ctrl+F works on the document — including Russian, Korean and Arabic, not only Latin script.

The right shape for the job

A4, Letter, or a sheet cut exactly to the scan; PDF, JPG, ZIP, or just the recognised text. On a phone the finished file can go straight to a chat or an email.

Frequently asked questions

How do I scan a document if I have no scanner?

Photograph the page with your phone and open the shot here. The tool finds the edges of the sheet, unrolls it into a flat rectangle, evens out the lighting and hands you a PDF — which is exactly what a flatbed scanner does, only starting from a photograph.

How is this different from "photo to PDF"?

Photo-to-PDF puts the shot into a file as it is — angle, desk around the edges, shadow and all. Here the shot stops being a shot first: what remains is the page, straightened, on an even white background. If you only want to put pictures into a PDF untouched, there is a separate tool for that — JPG to PDF.

How do I scan both sides of a passport onto one page?

Shoot the photo page and the back as two separate pages, then switch on "Two pages to a sheet" in the export panel. Both sides land on one A4 sheet, one above the other. With more pages they are laid out in pairs the same way.

Is the text in the PDF really searchable?

Yes, if you switch on the text layer. The text is recognised on your device and added to the PDF as an invisible layer over the image — the document still looks like a scan, but search and copy work on it. The layer stores Cyrillic, Korean and Arabic correctly, not only Latin script.

Why is the automatic shutter not firing?

It waits for the whole page to be in frame and for the camera to settle for a moment. A contrasting background helps: a white sheet on a white table is the one case where the detector regularly gives up. Then shoot with the button and set the corners by hand.

Which photos can I upload?

JPG, PNG, WebP and HEIC, one at a time or a whole batch. Each becomes a page you can crop, process, rotate and reorder. EXIF orientation is respected, so a phone shot will not land on its side.

💡 Want us to improve this tool just for you?

We can! Just send us a quick message with your idea. If you'd like to discuss it in detail, leave your email and we'll get back to you. You can stay anonymous.

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Published 24 Jun 2026 Updated 28 Aug 2026 Author: The Supreme