Post by drcard on Nov 29, 2020 19:13:03 GMT -5
iPhone – Portable Scanner
Overview:
iPhones come with a built-in scanner that many users never use. I’ve seen users buy a portable scanner for their laptop and yet carry their iPhone everywhere including while carrying the laptop. Why buy a portable scanner when you already have one in your phone? The answer is the user doesn’t know the phone has a built-in scanner or doesn’t know how to use the built-in scanner. To remedy this: First, your updated iPhone has a built-in scanner. Second, below are instructions on how to use the scanner, edit the scans, and share the scans.
How to Use the iPhone to Scan Documents
Background:
A camera and a scanner both perform the same physical function of capturing an image, thus a scanner is really just a different kind of camera. The only difference between a photo and a scan is the format that the captured image is stored as. Photos are stored in one of many different photo formats, and scans are usually stored in the pdf format. The software on the device that captures the image determines the format that the image will be saved as (i.e. photo or scan). Thus, using an app on the iPhone, the camera can be used to capture an image of a document and the app will save that image as a “scan” in the pdf format which can easily be shared with other people and devices.
The app on the iPhone that turns the phone into a portable scanner is Notes. The instructions that follow are how to use the Notes app to perform scans.
How to Use Notes to Scan
• From the Home screen press the Notes button (looks like a notepad).
• From the Folders page press the Create a New Note button (looks like a pencil on a note) in the lower right corner of the screen. This will open a new note page with keyboard on the lower half of the screen. Tip: You can open an older Notes document, select Edit to add a scan to that document.
• Press the camera button above the keyboard and you will be presented with a list of options, select Scan Documents from the list.
• The Scan Documents view is showing what the camera lens is pointing at. Notice the buttons at the top (Cancel, lightning bolt, three circles, and Auto or Manual), which will be explained later. Also notice the shutter button (big round button) at the bottom of the screen.
• The scan can be performed in the Auto mode or Manual mode and which mode will be used is displayed by the right control button at the top of the Scan Document screen. The scan is performed slightly different for each mode. I will explain how to perform both modes as follows:
o Auto Mode – The Auto scan mode is on when the word Auto appears in the top right corner of the Scan Document view. Hold the phone over the document and move the phone so that the entire document is on the screen. Keep moving the phone away from the document until the phone recognizes the document. When the phone recognizes the document to scan, it covers the document in a yellow grid. Hold the phone steady with this grid visible and the phone with automatically take the scan (snapshot) and you will hear it click and the scan taken is saved as a thumbnail on the lower left of the screen.
o Manual Mode – The Manual mode is on when the word Manual appears in the top right corner of the Scan Document view. The manual mode is used when the phone fails to recognize the whole document and only recognizes part of the document. Happens when the document has both text and photos. Using the manual mode allows you to adjust the scan area to include the entire document immediately after taking the scan. Hold the phone over the document and move the phone so that the entire document is on the screen. Keep moving the phone away from the document until the phone recognizes the document or part of the document with the yellow grid. The yellow grid does not have to cover the entire document. When the phone recognizes the document or part of the document to scan, press the shutter key to take the scan. The scan snapshot will remain on the screen with the document or part of the document outlined with a white line forming a box with white circles at each corner. The white outline of the document can be adjusted so the corners of the outline match the corners of document. To adjust, press a white circle with your finger and move the circle to the documents corner. Repeat this adjustment on each corner circle as needed to have the outline match the document. Press Keep Scan to keep the scan as a thumbnail and return to the Scan Document view.
• Once you have the scan (from Auto or Manual modes) it will shrink to a thumbnail on the lower left corner of the Scan Document view. If you take multiple scans there will be a thumbnail for each scan. Press the thumbnail with your finger to display that scan. This allows you to crop and rotate the scan before you save it.
• Once you have the scan or scans you want to keep, press the Save button, name this scan file, and save it (it will save the scan in pdf format). You can scan more documents before saving and all pages of the scans will be saved in that single Notes document.
• The controls at the top of the Scan Document view adjust how the scan is taken and are to be used before you take the scan. What these controls do and how to use them follows:
o The Cancel control cancels the scan mode.
o The Flash control (lightning bolt) is for the camera flash to be used in taking the scan snapshot. This can be made to flash each time (on), not flash at all (off), or flash when the phone thinks the scan needs more light on it (auto). Press the lightning bolt displays the options to select the option you want. I leave this on Auto and make sure the document is well lit from another light source.
o The Color Scheme control (three interlocking circles) adjusts color/contrast for the scan you take such as Color, Black and White, or Greyscale. Usually you leave this as Color, but sometimes Greyscale or Black and White provides more contrast and make the text on the document more readable. You can play with these controls and see what yields the best scan.
o Auto or Manual scan modes were explained above.
• Tips on making scans: Make sure the area where the document is going to be scanned is well lit. The phone’s document recognition software will work better if there is a big difference in the color of the document and the background the document is lying on. Holding the phone very steady when the scan is taken produces a sharper image without blurring.
How to Edit a Notes Scan
• You can edit a scan taken by Notes. The edit can add text, add a signature, magnify a portion of the scan, or use shapes or arrows to point out a portion of the scan.
• Open the Notes file containing the scan such that the scan is displayed on the screen.
• Tap the scan with your finger and this will open the scan to allow editing and other actions with this scan. The following explains the control buttons at the top and bottom of this Edit scan screen:
o Add Scan – This button is a + sign in a circle on the bottom left corner of the screen. This opens the Scan Document screen. Scanning a document here will add the new scan as the next page in current scan. You use this function to create a single multi-page pdf file.
o Crop Scan – This button is a square with extended sides second from the left at the bottom of the screen. This causes the white outline with circles at the corners. You can move the circles with your finger to outline that part of the document you want to keep. Press Done when finished.
o Color Scheme – This button is three interlocking circles at the bottom center of the screen. This opens the color scheme option to apply to the scan. You can try the different schemes to see what scheme makes your scan more readable.
o Rotate Scan – This button is a square with a left turn arrow above it second from the right at the bottom of the screen. This rotates the scan 90° to the left each time the button is pressed.
o Delete Scan – This button is a trash can on the bottom right corner of the screen. This button deletes the scan from the Notes file. Any text or other scans in that Notes file will not be deleted.
o Share Scan – This button is a square with an up arrow in it at the top right corner of the screen. This button brings up the share menu with many options to take on the scan such as attach to a text message, email the pdf file, open the pdf file in another app such as adobe, copy the pdf file, print the pdf file, save the pdf file to another source, or Markups on the scan itself. These will be explained below, but remember that these functions are in the Share menu.
• Selecting Markup in the Share menu access the Markup menu. The Markup menu (press the + to access the Markup menu options) edits allows you to enter text onto the scan via text box, add a signature (if you have created one), magnify a portion of the scan for emphasis, or add shapes to point out portion of the scan. You can also choose the color and thickness of lines drawn on the scan. Play with these controls to get the markings on the scan that you desire. Press Done when you finished with the markup edits.
• When finished with editing the scan press the Done button at the top left of the screen.
How to Share a Scan
• The Share menu will apply to the item on the screen when the Share button is pressed. This means that if you have a Notes document that is open showing the scan you want and other scans and text in that document as well, pressing that Share button on this screen will share everything in that Notes file. If you desire to share only the scan, then tap the scan to bring up the edit scan screen and press the Share button on this edit screen.
• The Share menu shows the scan as a pdf document and gives you the option to send it as an attachment to a text, email it as a pdf attachment, send to one of your other apps such as Acrobat, store as a pdf file which can be transferred to another device, or print the pdf file.
Notes:
For those that do not have a portable scanner, your phone can easily meet that need without additional cost or additional equipment to lug around. If you absolutely believe that a scanner must be a box device then you can purchase a scanner bin for your phone, if you are into over priced cardboard boxes.
Try to remember your phone’s scanning ability, it may save you when you are away from your devices at home.
Overview:
iPhones come with a built-in scanner that many users never use. I’ve seen users buy a portable scanner for their laptop and yet carry their iPhone everywhere including while carrying the laptop. Why buy a portable scanner when you already have one in your phone? The answer is the user doesn’t know the phone has a built-in scanner or doesn’t know how to use the built-in scanner. To remedy this: First, your updated iPhone has a built-in scanner. Second, below are instructions on how to use the scanner, edit the scans, and share the scans.
How to Use the iPhone to Scan Documents
Background:
A camera and a scanner both perform the same physical function of capturing an image, thus a scanner is really just a different kind of camera. The only difference between a photo and a scan is the format that the captured image is stored as. Photos are stored in one of many different photo formats, and scans are usually stored in the pdf format. The software on the device that captures the image determines the format that the image will be saved as (i.e. photo or scan). Thus, using an app on the iPhone, the camera can be used to capture an image of a document and the app will save that image as a “scan” in the pdf format which can easily be shared with other people and devices.
The app on the iPhone that turns the phone into a portable scanner is Notes. The instructions that follow are how to use the Notes app to perform scans.
How to Use Notes to Scan
• From the Home screen press the Notes button (looks like a notepad).
• From the Folders page press the Create a New Note button (looks like a pencil on a note) in the lower right corner of the screen. This will open a new note page with keyboard on the lower half of the screen. Tip: You can open an older Notes document, select Edit to add a scan to that document.
• Press the camera button above the keyboard and you will be presented with a list of options, select Scan Documents from the list.
• The Scan Documents view is showing what the camera lens is pointing at. Notice the buttons at the top (Cancel, lightning bolt, three circles, and Auto or Manual), which will be explained later. Also notice the shutter button (big round button) at the bottom of the screen.
• The scan can be performed in the Auto mode or Manual mode and which mode will be used is displayed by the right control button at the top of the Scan Document screen. The scan is performed slightly different for each mode. I will explain how to perform both modes as follows:
o Auto Mode – The Auto scan mode is on when the word Auto appears in the top right corner of the Scan Document view. Hold the phone over the document and move the phone so that the entire document is on the screen. Keep moving the phone away from the document until the phone recognizes the document. When the phone recognizes the document to scan, it covers the document in a yellow grid. Hold the phone steady with this grid visible and the phone with automatically take the scan (snapshot) and you will hear it click and the scan taken is saved as a thumbnail on the lower left of the screen.
o Manual Mode – The Manual mode is on when the word Manual appears in the top right corner of the Scan Document view. The manual mode is used when the phone fails to recognize the whole document and only recognizes part of the document. Happens when the document has both text and photos. Using the manual mode allows you to adjust the scan area to include the entire document immediately after taking the scan. Hold the phone over the document and move the phone so that the entire document is on the screen. Keep moving the phone away from the document until the phone recognizes the document or part of the document with the yellow grid. The yellow grid does not have to cover the entire document. When the phone recognizes the document or part of the document to scan, press the shutter key to take the scan. The scan snapshot will remain on the screen with the document or part of the document outlined with a white line forming a box with white circles at each corner. The white outline of the document can be adjusted so the corners of the outline match the corners of document. To adjust, press a white circle with your finger and move the circle to the documents corner. Repeat this adjustment on each corner circle as needed to have the outline match the document. Press Keep Scan to keep the scan as a thumbnail and return to the Scan Document view.
• Once you have the scan (from Auto or Manual modes) it will shrink to a thumbnail on the lower left corner of the Scan Document view. If you take multiple scans there will be a thumbnail for each scan. Press the thumbnail with your finger to display that scan. This allows you to crop and rotate the scan before you save it.
• Once you have the scan or scans you want to keep, press the Save button, name this scan file, and save it (it will save the scan in pdf format). You can scan more documents before saving and all pages of the scans will be saved in that single Notes document.
• The controls at the top of the Scan Document view adjust how the scan is taken and are to be used before you take the scan. What these controls do and how to use them follows:
o The Cancel control cancels the scan mode.
o The Flash control (lightning bolt) is for the camera flash to be used in taking the scan snapshot. This can be made to flash each time (on), not flash at all (off), or flash when the phone thinks the scan needs more light on it (auto). Press the lightning bolt displays the options to select the option you want. I leave this on Auto and make sure the document is well lit from another light source.
o The Color Scheme control (three interlocking circles) adjusts color/contrast for the scan you take such as Color, Black and White, or Greyscale. Usually you leave this as Color, but sometimes Greyscale or Black and White provides more contrast and make the text on the document more readable. You can play with these controls and see what yields the best scan.
o Auto or Manual scan modes were explained above.
• Tips on making scans: Make sure the area where the document is going to be scanned is well lit. The phone’s document recognition software will work better if there is a big difference in the color of the document and the background the document is lying on. Holding the phone very steady when the scan is taken produces a sharper image without blurring.
How to Edit a Notes Scan
• You can edit a scan taken by Notes. The edit can add text, add a signature, magnify a portion of the scan, or use shapes or arrows to point out a portion of the scan.
• Open the Notes file containing the scan such that the scan is displayed on the screen.
• Tap the scan with your finger and this will open the scan to allow editing and other actions with this scan. The following explains the control buttons at the top and bottom of this Edit scan screen:
o Add Scan – This button is a + sign in a circle on the bottom left corner of the screen. This opens the Scan Document screen. Scanning a document here will add the new scan as the next page in current scan. You use this function to create a single multi-page pdf file.
o Crop Scan – This button is a square with extended sides second from the left at the bottom of the screen. This causes the white outline with circles at the corners. You can move the circles with your finger to outline that part of the document you want to keep. Press Done when finished.
o Color Scheme – This button is three interlocking circles at the bottom center of the screen. This opens the color scheme option to apply to the scan. You can try the different schemes to see what scheme makes your scan more readable.
o Rotate Scan – This button is a square with a left turn arrow above it second from the right at the bottom of the screen. This rotates the scan 90° to the left each time the button is pressed.
o Delete Scan – This button is a trash can on the bottom right corner of the screen. This button deletes the scan from the Notes file. Any text or other scans in that Notes file will not be deleted.
o Share Scan – This button is a square with an up arrow in it at the top right corner of the screen. This button brings up the share menu with many options to take on the scan such as attach to a text message, email the pdf file, open the pdf file in another app such as adobe, copy the pdf file, print the pdf file, save the pdf file to another source, or Markups on the scan itself. These will be explained below, but remember that these functions are in the Share menu.
• Selecting Markup in the Share menu access the Markup menu. The Markup menu (press the + to access the Markup menu options) edits allows you to enter text onto the scan via text box, add a signature (if you have created one), magnify a portion of the scan for emphasis, or add shapes to point out portion of the scan. You can also choose the color and thickness of lines drawn on the scan. Play with these controls to get the markings on the scan that you desire. Press Done when you finished with the markup edits.
• When finished with editing the scan press the Done button at the top left of the screen.
How to Share a Scan
• The Share menu will apply to the item on the screen when the Share button is pressed. This means that if you have a Notes document that is open showing the scan you want and other scans and text in that document as well, pressing that Share button on this screen will share everything in that Notes file. If you desire to share only the scan, then tap the scan to bring up the edit scan screen and press the Share button on this edit screen.
• The Share menu shows the scan as a pdf document and gives you the option to send it as an attachment to a text, email it as a pdf attachment, send to one of your other apps such as Acrobat, store as a pdf file which can be transferred to another device, or print the pdf file.
Notes:
For those that do not have a portable scanner, your phone can easily meet that need without additional cost or additional equipment to lug around. If you absolutely believe that a scanner must be a box device then you can purchase a scanner bin for your phone, if you are into over priced cardboard boxes.
Try to remember your phone’s scanning ability, it may save you when you are away from your devices at home.
