How to scan a paper document and email it

Step by step

1. Scan the pages. Open Scan to PDF, tap Take photo for each page and check that the four corners sit on the page edges. Choose Clean for colour or Black & white for plain text, then save the PDF.Open Scan to PDF
2. Make it small enough to send. In Compress PDF choose "Choose a size" and type a limit in KB, well under your email service's attachment limit. The scans are made smaller step by step until the PDF fits.Open Compress PDF
3. Add a password if it is private. Optional. Type a password twice in Protect PDF and save the locked copy. Anyone opening it will be asked for the password.Open Protect PDF

How do I get a good scan?

A clean scan is smaller and easier to read than a rushed one. Put the page on a darker surface, use daylight, and hold the phone flat above the page rather than at an angle. Keep all four corners in view so the page can be straightened.

Scan to PDF evens out shadows and uneven light, so a lamp casting a soft gradient is not a disaster, but a hard shadow across the text is. Move the phone or the lamp instead of fixing it afterwards.

How big can an email attachment be?

Most email services limit attachments to around 20 to 25 MB, and the receiving side may have its own, lower limit. A multi-page scan from a modern phone camera can easily pass that, because each page is a full photograph.

Aim well below the limit. A PDF of a few hundred KB per page is comfortable to send and to open on a phone. If the text must stay readable, try a larger size first and go smaller only if you need to.

• Many pages: set a size in MB rather than KB.
• A single page of mostly text: a smaller limit usually still reads well.
• Stamps, small print or handwriting: pick a larger limit and zoom in to check.

How do I handle passwords and sharing?

A password stops anyone who only has the email from opening the file. Send the password by a different route, such as a phone call or a message, never in the same email. Use at least 8 characters; a few unrelated words work well.

There is no recovery if the password is lost, so keep the unprotected scan until the other person confirms they opened the file.

What if the pages come out in the wrong order?

Scan to PDF has a thumbnail strip where you can rotate, remove or add pages before saving. Fix the order there rather than afterwards. To join a scan with another PDF, use Merge PDF.

Questions