With powerful tools like Google Drive, Samsung Galaxy built-in features, and Google Lens on Pixel devices, it has never been easier than now to scan documents straight from your smartphone.

So, read this step-by-step guide to learn just how easy it is to digitize, save, and share important documents at the click of a button on your Android device.

Person holding an android phone

Scanning Documents with Google Drive

Google Drive allows scanning with ease and respecting users' privacy. This is how to take the best out of Google Drive's document scanning:

1. Open Google Drive: Open the Google Drive application on your Android smartphone.
2. Start the Scan Feature: Tap the "+" (plus) icon located at the bottom right. Then, tap on the "Scan" menu and open your device camera.
3. Position & Capture: Frame your camera to capture the document against the blue border. Take the picture either in "Auto" or "Manual."
4. Edit Scan
5. Crop & Rotate: Trim the margins and orient the document.
6. Filter Options: Grayscale or readability-enhanced
7. Clean: Remove marks and shadows that might leave an imperfect scan.
8. Save the Document: Once you have entered any changes, tap "Done." Provide a name to the document and choose to have it in either a PDF or JPG format and tap on the folder in Drive, then "Save"

It is also possible to save a shortcut of the scanning tool for Google Drive straight to the home screen.

Add Drive Scan Widget: Tap and hold on to your device's home screen. Go to the "Drive Scan" widget and add it to your screen. Now you can scan from your home screen.

Scanning with Camera App from Samsung Galaxy

Most versions of One UI 2 or more operating systems of Samsung Galaxy have a scanning app built into the camera. Here is how you can scan a document off the bat:

1. Open Camera App. Use your Galaxy to open your camera app.
2. Position the Document. Place your camera over the document you wish to scan.
3. Use Tap to Scan Feature. Once a yellow border appears on the borders of your document announcing that the camera is actually going to take a photograph, tap on "Tap to scan".
4. Save Scan: Adjust your scanned document the way you want and "Save". The scanned document will now appear within your Gallery app.

For users who wish to pull text from an image rather than save a scanned document as an image:

Text Extraction: Use the top of your viewfinder to tap "Extract Text" after capturing; this converts the text for editing.

Scanning Documents With Google Pixel Using Google Lens

Google Lens on Pixel devices has made it easier to scan, edit, and save documents directly to Google Drive. Here's how to do it easily:

1. Launch Google Lens: Open Google Lens on your Pixel device or access it from Google Photos by tapping the Lens icon while viewing a photo.
2. Scan the Document: Open your phone's camera. Point the camera at the document you wish to scan. Google Lens will automatically detect the document and give you some options which include "Text," "Search," or "Translate." Select "Text" to scan.
3. Take a Snapshot and Edit: Tap on the area of the document to capture it. Google Lens will highlight any identified text. You can easily copy the text or choose "Save as PDF" to save the digital copy.
4. Save and Share: Save the scanned document to a preferred location on your device or Google Drive. You can also share via email or messaging apps directly from Lens.
5. Fast scanning is also available with a built-in document scanner on Pixel phones running Google Camera 7.2 or later.

Scanning Documents With Android Apps

If you want more flexible scanning options, there are third-party apps like Scan.Plus. Scan.Plus has some added features like automatic edge detection, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and compatibility with cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud. It will allow you to scan, categorize, and share documents easily and support different formats and file-sharing options for on-the-go productivity.

With the Android versions of Google Lens or Google Drive on Samsung, users get multiple access routes for scanning their documents. This means that critical information in such documents will never again be denied cross-access.