Turn your device into a portable scanner

Why not turn your device into a portable scanner, it’s possible and so practical!

On Friday, I suddenly realised I had to submit a document by 5pm. It was 3:45pm and I was interstate – away from my computer and scanner.

Yes, I could have taken a photo of the document from my smartphone, but I needed the document to be in PDF format, not photo format.

Here was my solution:

I downloaded the app “Tiny Scanner” onto my Android phone. For those of you with Apple devices, I recommend downloading “Scannable” (we all use this at ReadyTechGo).

Once the app finished downloading, I held the document up in front of me and held my smartphone in front of the document so it could fit onto the screen.

The Tiny Scanner app automatically detected the document and snapped an image of it.

It then converts it into a PDF. I could then click on the “Share” icon and emailed it straight off to my recipient. They didn’t even know that I did all this, sitting in the back of a cab.

Pretty nifty hey?

Scannable

Evernote Scannable is available on Apple devices and quickly scans documents, cards, sticky notes, recipes and more using nothing more than your smartphone and its camera.

Tiny Scanner

Tiny Scanner turns your Android device into a portable document scanner and scans everything as images or PDFs. You can scan documents, photos, recipes, reports…in fact just about anything.

Have you ever used a scanning app? Please share in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

17 Comments

- - mom94125 said
  - 02 Sep 2016
    5:47 pm
this sounds like a really useful app to use or at least just have installed in case you need it

- - Melissa89 said
  - 26 Jul 2016
    4:44 pm
Ive done this several times in the past for uni, fairly useful

- - mom90758 said
  - 17 Mar 2016
    7:48 pm
I finally bought an sd card for my android. I wanted to download this app but I didn’t have space! And I’ve just downloaded this app. It’s amazing! I tried to scan one recipe from one book and send it to my inbox. It’s so clear, I can’t believe it!! Thank you so much!!!
Have you got any other idea for interesting apps????
- ReadyTechGo replied
  
  17 Mar 2016 , 9:06 pm
  I’m so glad you found the tip/app useful!! Yes, plenty apps to come in future posts, or head over to our website and sign up for free weekly tech tips!
  - mom90758 replied
    
    18 Mar 2016 , 12:09 pm
    
    Thank you, Lisa! I’ve just signed up for the weekly tips!! Have a lovely day!!
- - Missey Grace said
  - 14 Mar 2016
    6:59 pm
Ahhh, this is wonderful news, I was at the library last Friday looking at a lovely sock pattern and wondering how I could scan it with my android phone – this is it. Thank you Lisa.

- - mom165744 said
  - 08 Mar 2016
    9:44 pm
This is so good to know. I’ve had instances where I’ve had to scan something and ended up having to go home to do it. This just made life easier.

- - Mummytoabeautifulprincess said
  - 06 Mar 2016
    3:43 pm
No but I was just talking about this with my Mum this morning. Thanks so much for sharing!!

- - VernaB said
  - 06 Mar 2016
    3:08 pm
My hubby uses a scanner app on his phone and its really convenient when not at home.

- - pakeko said
  - 06 Mar 2016
    1:54 pm
Was looking for something like this thank you for sharing

- - curlytops said
  - 05 Mar 2016
    12:10 pm
isn’t it jus the same as taking a photo?

- - june11 said
  - 04 Mar 2016
    11:34 pm
Wow, I would never have thought of that but I’m not exactly Tech Savvy.

- - mum4107 said
  - 04 Mar 2016
    5:30 am
Oh my goodness. How awesome is that. I have never done that
- ReadyTechGo replied
  
  04 Mar 2016 , 9:59 am
  It’s so handy! You can scan anything and turn it into PDF! Receipts, post it notes, Child’s excursion forms and more!
  Hope you enjoyed the tip!
- - mom90758 said
  - 03 Mar 2016
    5:18 pm
I’ve never used it before. I don’t need to scan many things and, when I do, I use the big scanner at home. The app is surely very convenient when you are out and about.

- - mom160421 said
  - 03 Mar 2016
    2:17 pm
Wow, there are apps out there for just about anything.

- - Nas01 said
  - 03 Mar 2016
    1:43 pm
Wow how awsome. Definetly going to download it now..