Scanning

The free Adobe Scan app turns your device into a powerful portable scanner that recognizes text automatically (OCR). Capture new images with your camera or grab any image from your device. The app converts images to PDF and saves them to Adobe Document Cloud. By default, the app automatically converts image text to real text via optical character recognition (OCR).

Scan features include:

Scanning: Quick steps

If auto-capture is enabled, simply open the app, wait for the capture, and tap on the thumbnail to view and/or edit your scan.

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Scanning from the capture window

To scan a document:

  1. Optional: Optional steps include setting the flash, selecting the document type, and so on.

  2. Invoke a scan. The app has two capture modes:

    • autoscan By default, auto-capture is enabled, and on startup the app displays the capture screen and tries to detect a document.

    • autoscanoff If auto-capture is disabled, center a document in window and tap the capture button.

  1. Follow the on screen hints. The app uses auto crop and image cleaning to improve scan quality. Messages appear on the screen as follows:

    • Looking for document: The app is looking for the document and trying to detect its boundaries.

    • Capturing… hold steady: Edge detection can see the entire document.

    • No document found. Capture manually: The app cannot detect the document edges.

  2. Edit your scan as described below.

  3. Tap Save PDF to automatically convert your scan to a PDF and save to Adobe Document Cloud.

Optional steps

Use the options on the capture screen to control how you scan :

Item

Description

Scan type

Streamline your workflow by selecting one of the Printing.

flashiconon

If your device has a flash, you can set it to always on flashiconon, always off flashiconoff, or auto flashiconauto (only use in dark settings).

autoscan

Toggle auto capture on autoscan and off autoscanoff.

scanaddicon

Add an existing photo or document to your current scan collection

thumbs

Long press the thumbnail to view your last 3 scan thumbnails–you can delete these captures now or later. Tap the thumbnail to end your scan session and view/edit the file.
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Document types

Selecting a scan type changes the scan name as well as how the app captures the scan. For example, the app captures the entire camera view for a whiteboard but uses boundary detection when capturing a business card.

Whiteboard:

  • File name: Whiteboard + <date>

  • Full screen capture

  • commenticon shown as the 3rd option on file card

Form:

  • File name: Form + <date>

  • Boundary detection

  • fillsignicon shown as the 3rd option on file card

Document:

  • File name: Scan + <date>

  • Boundary detection

  • commenticon shown as the 3rd option on file card

Business Card:

  • File name: Business Card + <date>

  • Boundary detection

  • contacts1 shown as the 3rd option on file card

Scanning from a file list

You can initiate a new scan from any file list (Recent and All Scans). Simply tap the plus, and choose whether

  • Tap scanaddicon to scan an image from your photo library.

  • Tap cameraicon to capture a new scan with your camera.

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Edit your scan

When you’re finished scanning, tap the thumbnail in the lower right-hand corner to enter Review Mode. From here, you can tap Save PDF or modify your scans by tapping modifyicon and choosing one of the edit options from the bottom menu.

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These options allow you to:

Add photos to existing scans

While in Review mode, browse your device for images and documents that you can add to your current scan:

  1. Tap scanaddicon

  2. Take another photo or select a file from your device.

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Reorder pages

While in Review mode, you can reorder pages 1 or more pages:

  1. Tap scanreordericon

  2. Drag and drop pages to new locations.

  3. Tap checkicon

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Crop pages

While in Review mode, you can easily crop any page (adjust the borders):

  1. Navigate to the page you want to modify.

  2. Tap cropicon

  3. Drag the crop handles to resize the scan area. You can also:

    • autodetecticon Auto-Detect: Let the app automatically position the crop borders.

    • nocropicon No Crop: Reset the auto crop location.

    • rotaterighticon Rotate: Rotate the scan before or after cropping.

  4. Tap checkicon

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Rotate pages

While in Review mode, you can rotate pages any or all scanned pages.

  1. Navigate to the page you want to modify.

  2. Tap rotaterighticon

  3. Repeat as needed for other pages.

  4. Tap Save.

Adjust the color

While in Review mode, you can adjust the color of any page.

  1. Navigate to the page you want to modify.

  2. Tap coloricon

  3. Choose your color options for the current page. You can:

    • Use the original color.

    • Use auto color to let the scan app make the adjustments.

    • Select grayscale to remove color.

    • Select whiteboard to increase the contrast.

  1. To apply the setting across multiple pages, enable Apply to all pages.

  2. Tap Save.

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Cleanup the image

While in Review mode, you can erase unwanted artifacts, fuzzy images, or any other unwanted content. The “erase” action is essentially filling a selected area with a color you select (thus hiding that area).

You can perform image cleanup on a new scan or cleanup the image on an existing scan.

  1. Navigate to the page you want to modify.

  2. Tap cleanupicon

  3. Select your fill color:

    • Fill with surrounding color: Use an app-selected background image as a brush color.

    • Tap the square: Choose a color from the color picker popup.

    • Tap the eyedropper: When the moveable eyedropper appears, move it over a color and tap checkicon

  1. Zoom the image in and out as needed.

  2. Swipe your finger over the area to erase an area.

  3. Tap checkicon

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Resize pages

While in Review mode it’s easy to adjust the page size for your workflow. For example, you can select A4 Portrait or another size that suits your printing needs.

  1. To do so, enter the modify scan mode:

    • On any thumbnail on a file list, tap overflow and then tap modifyicon, or

    • In an open file, tap modifyicon in the bottom menu.

  1. Tap resizeicon

  2. Navigate to the page you want to delete.

  3. Resize the page. Repeat this step for any page.

  4. Tap checkicon

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Delete pages

While in Review mode, you can delete any number of pages.

  1. Navigate to the page you want to delete.

  2. Tap deleteicon

  3. Confirm you want to delete the page.

Canceling a scan or edit

Canceling a scan or edit shows a confirmation dialog. Tap Discard to cancel.

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If you cancel a scan and the last page is a captured image (not imported), the dialog provides options for adjusting document borders, retaking the last photo, and disabling auto-capture.

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Save as PDF

Once you’re satisfied with the scan, you can do the following:

  • Tap pencilicon or file name to edit the default name.

  • Tap Save PDF to automatically convert your scan to a PDF and upload it to Adobe Document Cloud so that you can access the file anywhere.

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Live edge boundary detection

The Scan app automatically tries to detect document boundaries. Live edge boundary detection and capture hinting behave differently in auto-capture mode and manual capture mode:

  • Auto-capture mode: When the app detects a document, a blue dots identify document corners. The “Capturing… hold steady” hint appears when the app is relatively certain a complete document is in range.

  • Manual mode: Simply tap the capture button when ready.