How to turn phone photos of documents into a PDF
No scanner? Your phone camera is enough. Here’s how to photograph documents so they’re readable, and turn them into a single PDF.
A phone camera can produce perfectly good document copies, as long as you take a little care with the photos. Then it’s a quick step to turn them into a PDF that looks like a proper scan.
Taking a good photo of a document
- Light it evenly. Daylight from a window works best. Avoid overhead lights that throw your shadow across the page, and turn the flash off, because it causes glare.
- Use a contrasting background. A white page on a dark table is easy to read; a white page on a white bedsheet isn’t.
- Hold the phone flat above the page. Tilting makes the page look like a trapezoid and the far edge blurry.
- Fill the frame. Get close enough that the page nearly touches the edges of the photo, without cutting anything off.
- Check it’s sharp. Zoom in on the smallest text before moving on. Tap the screen to focus if it isn’t.
Turn the photos into a PDF
- Open JPG to PDF on your phone or computer and add the photos.
- Drag them into page order.
- Choose a page size. A4 or US Letter makes the result look like a standard document; Same as image keeps each photo’s own shape.
- Select Create PDF.
Phone photos that were taken sideways are turned the right way up automatically. If one still comes out wrong, fix it afterwards in Rotate PDF.
Keeping the file size sensible
Modern phone photos are often 3–5 MB each, so a ten-page document can be 40 MB or more. If the PDF is too big to email or upload, run it through Compress PDF on the Recommended setting. Photos of documents usually shrink dramatically with no visible loss.
A note on ID documents
If you’re photographing a passport, driving licence or bank card, use a tool that doesn’t upload your images, delete the photos from your camera roll once the PDF is made, and only send it to organisations that genuinely need it.
More guides
- How to make a PDF small enough to emailMost email services won’t send attachments over about 20–25 MB. Here’s how to get a PDF under the limit without wrecking it.
- Are online PDF tools safe to use?Most online PDF tools upload your file to a company’s server. Here’s what that means, and how to choose a tool you can trust with private documents.
- How to sign a PDF without printing itPrint, sign, scan, email: there’s a faster way. Here’s how to sign a PDF on your computer or phone, and when an electronic signature is enough.
- How to fill in a PDF form on your computer or phoneSome PDF forms let you type straight into them; others are just pictures of paper. Here’s how to fill in both kinds.