You do not always have a flatbed scanner, but you almost always have a camera. This tool turns a phone camera or laptop webcam into a basic document scanner: capture each page, check the thumbnails and save everything as one multi-page PDF. It is quick and free, with no account and no watermark, and it suits receipts, handwritten notes, forms and short documents.

How to scan

1. Press Start Camera. Your browser asks for permission to use the camera. Allow it. On phones the rear camera is requested first.
2. Place the page on a flat surface under good light and frame it in the live view.
3. Press Capture. A thumbnail of the photo appears, and the counter shows how many pages you have, such as "3 pages captured".
4. Repeat for each page. Press Stop when you are finished with the camera.
5. Press Save as PDF. The browser downloads scan.pdf, with one page per capture in the order you took them.

If you try to save before capturing anything, the tool tells you to capture pages first. If the camera permission is refused, the tool reports "Camera denied", and you will need to allow camera access for this site in your browser settings and reload.

What the PDF contains

Each capture is saved as a JPG at 90 percent quality, taken at the camera's own video resolution, and then placed on its own PDF page. The page takes the same size as the picture's pixel dimensions, treated as points, so a 1280 by 720 capture becomes a landscape page of 1280 by 720 points, which is larger than A4. It displays correctly on screens and scales when printed, but if you need standard A4 pages, you will need to resize afterwards in a PDF editor.

Getting clear results

1. Light the page evenly. Daylight from a window works well. Avoid casting your own shadow on the paper and avoid glare from glossy sheets.
2. Use a plain, contrasting background such as a dark desk under a white page, so the edges are visible.
3. Hold the camera parallel to the page. Angles cause keystone distortion where the near edge looks wider than the far edge.
4. Fill the frame with the page, but leave a small margin so no text is cut off.
5. Keep still. Rest your elbows or use a stand, and tap Capture gently to avoid blur.
6. Check each thumbnail. Small thumbnails hide blur, so zoom into the final PDF with the PDF Reader before discarding the paper.

Practical uses

• Scanning receipts and invoices for expense reports.
• Digitising a few pages of a form for an online application.
• Saving handwritten notes or whiteboard pages as a document.
• Sending proof of a document when you are away from a scanner.
• Making a quick copy of a certificate or ID page for a legitimate request. Share such documents carefully.

Afterwards

Once you have a PDF, other tools on this site can improve it. Use Rotate PDF if a page came out sideways, Crop PDF to trim the table background, Organize PDF to fix the order, Delete Pages to drop a bad capture, Compress PDF to shrink it for email, and Number Pages to add numbering. The captures are large pictures, so a ten-page scan may be a few megabytes.

Troubleshooting

1. The camera does not start. Another application may be using it. Close it, allow permission for the site and reload.
2. The wrong camera opens. Some devices open the front camera. Switch cameras in your browser's site settings, where available.
3. The picture is mirrored or dark. Add light and reposition. The saved image is not mirrored.
4. Blank video. Reload, or try a different browser. A secure connection is required for camera access, and this site uses one.

Making a tidy PDF from several captures

If you plan to scan many pages, work in batches of ten or so, save the PDF, and start again, so that one mistake does not cost you the whole set. Name the file as soon as it downloads, for example with the date and the document type, because the default name is the same every time and the browser may add a number in brackets to avoid overwriting.

Privacy

The camera feed is shown only in your browser. Captured images stay in the page's memory, and the PDF is created on your device. Nothing is uploaded. Pressing Stop releases the camera, and closing the tab discards the unsaved captures.

Frequently asked questions