Scan

You can use the Adobe Scan app to instantly scan various types of documents, capture new images, or use existing images and convert them to digital copies. The Scan app converts images to PDF and saves them to Adobe cloud storage. Empowered with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), the app supports automatic text recognition that automatically converts image text to real text.

To quickly scan a document in auto-capture mode:

  1. Open the app and wait for the camera to be ready.

  2. Once the app captures the document, tap on the thumbnail to view and/or edit your scan.

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Scan a document

To scan a document from the capture window:

  1. Open the app and tap cameraicon

  2. Select the document type. Refer to Customize scan capture for more details.

  3. Optionally, tap the flashiconon to change flash settings. Refer to Customize scan capture for more details.

  4. Invoke a scan using one of the following capture modes:

    • autoscan Auto-capture (default): The app displays the capture screen and detects the document. In auto-capture mode, the app uses live edge boundary detection that displays blue dots to identify document corners.

    • autoscanoff Manual-capture: Center the document in window and tap the capture button.

  1. Follow the on-screen messages to complete the scan workflow:

    • 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.

    The app uses auto crop and image cleaning to improve scan quality. The captured scan appears on the screen with crop handles and the modifying tools menu.

  2. On the capture screen, modify your capture as desired using the tools menu.

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  1. Optionally, tap Keep scanning to continue capturing more documents or tap Retake to recapture the document if you are not satisfied with your current capture.

  2. Once you tap Save PDF, the scan is automatically saved to the Adobe cloud storage. You can open the scan again to modify it. Refer to Modify your scan for more details.

Scan ID Cards

Adobe Scan now allows you to scan ID cards with the new ID card scanning feature. To scan ID cards:

  1. Open the app and tap cameraicon

  2. Select the document type as ID card.

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  1. Set the optional settings as desired.

  2. With auto-capture enabled, keep the ID card with first page up. The app captures the first page and prompts you to capture the second page.

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  1. If you need to recapture the first page, tap Retake.

  2. Tap Next page to capture the other side of the ID card.

  3. Tap Adjust and save to modify the scan and save as PDF.

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Scan books

Adobe Scan now allows you to simultaneously scan both left and right pages of a bounded book. The Scan app’s book scanning feature can help you scan an entire book in lesser time by scanning two pages at a time. It automatically splits the capture into separate pages.

To scan the pages of a book:

  1. Open the app and tap cameraicon

  2. Select the document type as Book.

  3. Set the optional settings as desired.

  4. Rotate your camera to a landscape view for a better capture of both sides.

  5. Align the dotted divider line to your book’s center bind and adjust the borders. The divider line and the borders automatically identifies the book binding and the split.

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  1. Verify the scanning order. To change the book scanning order, tap switchicon

  2. Tap the capture button if auto-capture is not enabled. The scan is captured and split into 2 pages.

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  1. Tap the thumbnail icon to open the captured scans.

  2. Modify each page as required and tap Save PDF.

Note

The Adjust border screen shows the full original photo for both pages, allowing you to readjust the border and center binding.

Scan QR codes

Scan android app allows you to scan QR codes. To do so:

  1. Open the app and tap cameraicon

  2. Select Document as the capture mode. It displays a QR code icon at the top-right corner.

  3. Set the optional settings as desired.

  4. Focus the camera on the QR code that you want to scan.

It shows a badge that contains the QR code value, as shown below.

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  1. You can take one of the following actions:

  • To open the page associated with the link, tap the badge.

  • If you see an option to copy the QR code text as shown below, tap the badge to copy the text and paste it in a browser.

  • To dismiss the badge, tap anywhere on the screen.

Note

Once you dismiss a badge with the QR code value, the badge may not appear with the next scan of QR code. To reopen the badge menu, you can tap the QR icon in the top-right corner. The QR code icon lights up if the capture screen detects a QR code.

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  1. Tap the capture button to take an image of the QR code or tap Home button to exit.

Customize scan capture

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

Item

Description

Document type

Streamline your workflow by selecting one of the Document types.

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 stack 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.

Create scan from digital photos or documents

Scan’s integration with the device photo library allows you to create scans from existing photos or digital documents. Scan uses the document detection feature to distinguish documents from selfies, artwork, and other non-document photos.

To create scans from photos or documents:

  1. Tap scanaddicon

    It opens the image gallery. To include photos or documents from other locations, tap Show all photos and tap on a location to view files.

  2. Tap one or more images to select them.

  3. Optionally, enable Show only documents to view only the documents. Tap one or more documents to select them.

  4. Optionally, disable Auto-crop to import the original photos or documents without cropping. By default the app auto-crops the imported photos or documents.

  5. Tap checkicon to import the image/images as scan.

  6. Edit the scan if required and tap Save PDF.

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You can also directly import images from your gallery. To do so, open your gallery, tap shareicon, and then tap scanicon. When the image opens in the scan app, edit, rename, and save your scan as usual.

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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

  • Save as JPEG shown as the 3rd option on file card

Book

  • File name: Book + <date>

  • Boundary detection

  • Save as JPEG shown as the 3rd option on file card

Document

  • File name: Adobe Scan + <date>

  • Boundary detection

  • Save as JPEG shown as the 3rd option on file card

ID Card

  • File name: ID card + <date>

  • Boundary detection

  • Save as JPEG 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

High-speed scan (Beta)

Scan multiple pages with a single tap

Scan through stacks of documents, magazines, or multiple pages in a book using High-Speed Scan (Beta) in Adobe Scan. Just tap the AI-powered tool’s button to begin scanning and place the pages you want to capture in front of your phone’s camera, one by one. Each new page will be automatically detected and captured, resulting in multiple high-quality digital scans that are ready to save.

To scan multiple pages:

  1. Open Adobe Scan app on your device.

  2. Tap highspeedscan at the top of the screen. A countdown begins, giving you time to correctly position the pages you want to scan.

If you want to pause your scanning session to fix the placement of the pages or if there’s inadequate lighting, you can tap the Pause button in the lower left of the screen to pause your scanning session. You can tap the same button to resume your session whenever you are ready to resume.

If the scan angle is incorrect, a message will appear on your screen prompting you to adjust. The automatic scan will pause, showing the instruction to Tilt the device to get a better scan. Simply correct your camera angle to resume scanning.

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Modify your scan

When you scan one or more pages, the app displays an edit toolbar under the captured images. You can use the edit toolbar to quickly modify and save your scans.

To modify your existing scans, tap overflowicon > Modify scan for the file that you want to modify. It opens the scan in Modify mode, which displays the following options.

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These options allow you to:

Skip to a specific page

To modify multiple pages, you can easily skip to any page using the ‘Go to page’ feature, as follows:

1. From under the scanned image of the current page, tap the page number banner. A thumbnail section pops up showing all the pages in the current scan. Tap on any page’s thumbnail to open the page.

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Note: The thumbnail section pops up automatically if your scan has three or more pages.

  1. Alternatively, you can tap the left and right navigation arrows to navigate the pages.

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Retake the scan

If you are not satisfied with your current capture or with any of you previous captures in the ongoing scan, you can skip to the desired page using the page navigation arrows or using the thumbnails as explained in Skip to a specific page. Tap retakeicon in the lower left to open the capture mode. Then focus the screen on your document and capture again.

Crop pages

You can crop any page to adjust the borders. To do so:

  1. Navigate to the page that you want to modify. You can use the forward and back arrows to navigate to other pages.

    _images/crop-scan.png

  1. Tap cropicon Crop.

  2. In the Crop mode, you can take any of the following actions:

  • To readjust the borders of your scan, drag the crop handles as required.

  • To automatically position the crop borders, tap autodetecticon Auto-detect.

  • To see the full image, tap nocropicon No crop.

  • To see a zoomed view of the cropped scan borders, hold a crop border corner to display the magnifier and then drag the corner as desired.

  • To exit the crop mode, tap cropicon

  1. To save the changes, tap Save PDF.

Rotate pages

To rotate your scanned pages:

  1. Navigate to the page you want to rotate.

  2. Tap rotaterighticon

  3. Repeat as needed for other pages.

Apply filter

You can apply filters to adjust the color of your scanned pages. To do so:

  1. Navigate to the page that you want to modify.

  2. Tap coloricon

  3. Choose one of the following filter options:

    • Original color to keep the colors as is.

    • Auto-color to let the scan app make the adjustments.

    • Light text to highlight light text or drawings.

    • Grayscale to remove color.

    • Whiteboard to increase the contrast.

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

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Adjust brightness & contrast

To adjust the brightness and contrast of your scans:

  1. Navigate to the page that you want to modify.

  2. From the bottom menu, tap adjusticon Adjust.

  3. To adjust the brightness, tap or drag the Brighness level bar to a desired value.

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  1. To change the image contrast, tap contrasticon Contrast and then drag the Contrast level bar to a desired value.

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  1. If your scan has multiple pages, you can apply the change to all the pages by tapping Apply to all pages toggle to enable it.

  2. Once done, tap Save PDF.

Cleanup the image

You can erase unwanted artifacts, fuzzy images, or any other 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 an existing scan.

To clean up:

  1. Navigate to the page you want to clean up.

  2. Tap cleanupicon

  3. Select one of the following fill colors:

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

    • Fill with selected color: There are two ways to choose a color to fill the screen with:

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

      • Tap the eyedropper: When the moveable eyedropper appears, move it over the image to detect the color of that section, and tap checkicon

  1. Zoom the image in and out with two fingers as needed.

  2. Swipe your finger over the area that you want to erase.

  3. Tap checkicon

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Add markups

You can use Scan app’s Markup tool to add shapes and freehand drawings to your scanned pages. To do so:

  1. Navigate to the page that you want to markup.

  2. Tap markupicon

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  1. To add a freehand drawing:

  1. Make sure Drawing tool is selected from the bottom bar.

  2. Select a color for your drawings or markings using one of the following ways:

  • Fill with surrounding color: Select this to choose the surrounding color as fill color.

  • Fill with selected color: Select this to choose a color of your choice using one of these methods:

    • Tap the square: Tap and drag the picker to highlight a color on the right. Drag the Change the opacity if desired.

    • Tap the eyedropper: When the moveable eyedropper appears, move it over the image to detect the color of that section, and tap checkicon

    _images/replacement-color.png

  1. Tap or drag the Stroke width bar to change the width as desired.

  2. Use your finger to draw on the page. You may zoom your scan page for better precision.

  1. To add a shape:

  1. Tap Shapes from the bottom bar.

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  1. Tap See all to view all the shapes and then tap on a desired shape. The selected shape appears on the document.

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  1. Take any of the following actions as required:

  • To resize the added shape, tap the Resize handle and drag it inward, upward, or sideways to get a desired size.

  • To rotate the shape, long-press the Rotate handle and move it as desired.

  • To move the shape to a different location, long-press the centre of the shape and move it to a desired location.

  • To delete the shape, tap X.

  • To change the stroke color, tap the Stroke color square and then tap on the desired color.

  • To fill the shape with color, tap Fill color square and then tap on the desired color.

  1. To redo or undo your actions, tap the respective icons from the top bar.

  2. Tap checkicon to save your drawings and shapes.

  3. To discard your changes on the page, tap X from the top toolbar. In the dialog that appears, tap OK.

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Note: You can go back anytime to the Markup tool mode to delete or modify your saved drawings and shapes using the undo and redo buttons.

Resize pages

You can easily adjust the page size in Review screen. For example, you can select A4 Portrait or another size that suits your printing needs.

To resize pages:

  1. Tap resizeicon

  2. Navigate to the page that you want to resize.

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

  4. Tap checkicon

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Reorder pages

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

  1. Tap scanreordericon

  2. Drag and drop pages to new locations.

  3. Tap checkicon

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Delete pages

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

  1. Navigate to the page that you want to delete.

  2. Tap deleteicon

  3. In the dialog that appears, tap Delete to confirm.

Add pages

You can include more pages to your existing file by quickly taking more scans or including images/documents from your device. To do so:

  1. Tap Keep scanning.

  2. To scan a new page, focus the screen on the page and capture it.

  3. To add images or documents from your device, tap addphotoicon and then select the photos or documents that you want to add.

Note

If prompted, you must allow access to your device storage to be able to add images and documents from your device.

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Save as PDF

Once you’re satisfied with the scan, tap Save PDF to automatically convert your scan to a PDF and upload to Adobe cloud storage.