Today, we share the majority of our documents on the web – whether by email or on File transfer platforms.
Despite everything, the paper documents are still legion and, whether you are in the office or on the go, it is essential to be able to scan them anytime.
Fortunately, there are very good Free applications to scan documents Using the camera of your smartphone (on iOS, Android and even Windows Phone). Here is a small selection.
The tools of this article were selected by our team and are not sponsored. Discover how Sponsor your tool.
Applications to scan a document
1. Camscanner (Android, iOS, Windows Phone)
CAMSCANNER is a complete application for scanning, storing and editing all types of documents with remarkable efficiency.
Its free version is more than enough for all your digitization needs, even if certain features are limited, such as optical character recognition to extract and export text from an image.
2. Scannable Evernote (iOS)
Created by the Evernote team, the famous Notes taking toolScannable is one of the best applications to scan on iPhone.
It digitizes all your paper documents in high quality and allows you to save or share them in the blink of an eye.
3. Scanbot (Android & iOS)
Scanbot is a real Swiss knife that allows you to scan all types of documents with precision and edit them (signature, annotation, etc.) in a jiffy.
Its main defect is that it does not make it possible to distinguish different types of documents (visiting cards, photos, etc.)
4. Adobe scan (Android & iOS)
The creators of Photoshop and the famous Adobe suite are also there with Adobe Scan, an intuitive and fast app that detects your documents and allows you to crop them and organize them quickly.
Certain functions, however, require the use of the paid service for Cloud Document.
5. Office Lens (Android, iOS & Windows Phone)
If you are an unconditional of Microsoft, know that the company also offers a CT scan on mobile – available on iPhone, Android and of course Windows Phone.
It has the advantage of offering several types of supports to scan – Business card, whiteboard, photo, document – and optimize its functionalities according to the chosen mode.
Applications to scan a photo
6. Genius Scan (Android & iOS)
Genius Scan is a solid and versatile tool to digitize images and paper documents of all kinds.
It also allows you to easily create multi-pages PDF docs from scanned elements, and to classify and organize your content.
7. Photoscan (Android & iOS)
This free digitization app designed by Google will find all its usefulness for the scanning of photographs: it effectively eliminates the reflections and the bright halos which often spoil the digitization of images.
However, it is less suitable for the reproduction of textual documents.
Why scan documents with your phone?
The development of optimal mobile applications, made to scan documents with many useful features, has largely democratized in recent years.
If you read this article, it's probably because you are looking for an Android or iOS application to scan documents or photos with your smartphone. But what are the real advantages and features of scanning applications ?
Facing the omnipresence of paper documents
In recent years, despite a large trend in the digitization of many services, the paper document is still legion in many use cases. Whether it is an employment contract, cash receipts to send costs of costs or a lease, these important documents of our everyday life are, most of the time, in paper format.
Now, the development ofScanner applications Adapted to mobiles changes the situation. We can scan any type of document when we want thanks to our mobiles, and centralize all of these documents on our smartphones to avoid losing them.
The simplicity of scanning documents with your phone
The period when we absolutely had a scanner printer to scan and send documents is over, and fortunately!
Do you remember how to scan a simple document sometimes could take us 10 minutes? Because we had to light the scanner, predefine the dimensions of the scanned document on the computer, adjust the brightness if necessary before scanning … A sometimes complicated maneuver to obtain the bonus of too heavy files.
Today, you can scan documents or photos when you have a smartphone at any place, any time. The simplicity that the Smartphone scanner applications is priceless.
Having all of our precious documents on phone available is also being able to keep our data and secure our information.
The retouching of documents facilitated by free scan applications
When you take a photo of a document, in order to scan it with a Scanner appthe application will allow you to crop your photo. In some cases, it will even do it for you automatically by detecting the edges of your document or your photo.
Photo retouching is also a very useful feature. The application will ensure that your photo looks as much as possible to a scanned document. In addition to that, it increases the contrast between white and black so that the writing of the document comes out better and more readable.
Some Scanner applications Even allow you to change the colorimetry of your document or your photo. It's up to you to choose the shade you prefer.
Light documents, easy to share
The big advantage of being able to scan a document with your mobile phone is also the reduction of documents. Since they are much lighter, they are necessarily easier to share than photos. In addition, you can convert your documents to several formats (PDF, JPEG, PNG).
If we have to send an emergency document, we can share it with ease by email or SMS via our phone. No need to be in a specific location in the presence of a scanner printer, as it was before, and it is a precious time saving.
Finally, we can also say that the performance of scan is possible thanks to the quality of the cameras of our mobiles.
Scan a document: how to go about it correctly?
For the scan of your document to be successful, you must take into account some useful tips:
- Place your document or photo on a flat surface (for example an office);
- Opt for a united and rather dark background To create a contrast to your document;
- Make sure there is no shadow which can hide the information from the document (especially yours);
- Make sure that the paper is not crumpled or folded;
How does a scanner application work?
Whether on Android or iPhone, here are the steps to scan a document with a Scanner application ::
- Open the Scanner application;
- Let your phone detect the edges of your document;
- Take a picture of your document;
- Change the colorimetry of the document if necessary;
- Record it directly on your phone in PDF format (or any other format offered by the application) and start sharing it;
Our tips for finding the scanner application adapted to your needs
As you can see, scanner applications are precious tools to share documents and photos with ease. Wherever you are, your phone is at hand to scan any document.
To go further in your search for a Scanner applicationdo not hesitate to look at the details of the features of each application. Also read the opinions of other users who will guide you in choosing an app suitable for your use.
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