Scan Documents with Your Phone Camera — Free
Photograph documents with your phone camera, clean them up automatically, and save them as one PDF — no app to install.
Open the camera straight from your browser and photograph each page. The tool can sharpen the image, boost contrast, or convert it to clean black-and-white like a photocopy. Shoot several pages in a row and combine them into a single PDF.
How to scan a document with your camera (3 steps)
- Open the camera (or choose photos you've already taken).
- Shoot one page at a time and pick an image mode: auto enhance, grayscale, or black-and-white.
- Create the PDF and download it.
Four image modes — pick one to suit the document
- Auto — for everyday documents, and the one to choose if you're unsure. Adjusts brightness and sharpness so the page looks scanned.
- Original — for photos, color flyers, or anything where color matters. Keeps the colors exactly as the camera captured them.
- Grayscale — for printed documents with pictures or stamps. Removes color but keeps light and dark tones, and makes the file smaller.
- Document black-and-white — for plain text, receipts, and forms. A clean white background with crisp black text, and the smallest file.
How to get a scan-like result
- Even light — a window to one side works better than a ceiling light, which leaves a bright circle mid-page.
- Hold the phone parallel to the paper — an angled shot turns the page into a trapezoid.
- Watch your own shadow — leaning over the page is the most common cause of a dark band along one side.
- Use a contrasting surface — white paper on a dark desk makes the edges clear and the shot easier to frame.
- Fill the frame — the closer you are, the more detail you capture. The tool fits the image to A4 for you.
- Flatten the paper — folds cast line-shaped shadows that document black-and-white mode makes more visible.
Common uses
- Sending paperwork without a scanner — medical certificates or ID copies, as A4 PDF pages straight from your phone.
- Receipts for expense claims — shoot several receipts into one file and send them in one go.
- Multi-page notes or pen-signed contracts — shoot page after page and keep them as one PDF.
- Whiteboards or handwritten notes — document black-and-white mode makes writing easier to read than a plain photo.
How it differs from scanner apps
Many scanner apps need installing, ask for access to all your photos, and some upload images to their own cloud. MyPDF runs in your browser and asks for camera access only while you use it. Photos aren't saved to your gallery or uploaded, no watermark is added, and the finished PDF stays in this browser's "Recent files" list for 24 hours before being deleted automatically. The trade-off: there's no automatic edge cropping, so shoot straight and fill the frame from the start.
FAQ
How is this different from a scanner app?
There's nothing to install — it works on the web — and your files aren't uploaded to a server.
What is document black-and-white mode?
It turns a photo into crisp black and white like a photocopy: clear text, a clean white background, and a small file.
How many pages can I shoot?
There's no limit. Shoot continuously and combine everything into one file. You can delete bad shots before creating the file.
Where are my photos stored?
In the browser's memory while you work. The finished PDF stays in the browser's Recent files list for 24 hours. Nothing is saved to your gallery or sent to a server.
Can I change the mode after shooting?
Yes. Pick a new mode and create the file again. It's processed from the photos you already took, so there's no need to reshoot.
Can I shoot in landscape?
Yes. The tool looks at each photo's proportions and lays it out as a portrait or landscape A4 page. One file can mix both orientations.
📖 Full guide: Scan documents with your phone like a pro