How To Scan On iPhone And Send To Email

You don’t need a printer to scan your document if you have an iPhone. Just scan it with your phone and send a PDF.

Have you ever wanted to send someone a document, but you only had a physical copy? There’s no need to use a printer and physically scan and upload the document to your computer. Using your iPhone, you can scan a document and send the scan via email.

iOS has a built-in tool for this with the Notes app. However, there are also various third-party tools you can use. Let’s talk about them!

Quick Method: Scan in Notes → Share via Mail (Step-By-Step)

The easiest way to scan documents is with the Notes app. Here’s how to scan a document in Notes and share it via email:

Open Notes.
Select a note or create a new one. Make sure it’s in the “On My iPhone” or “iCloud” folders.
Click the attachment icon, which looks like a paperclip.
Tap on Scan Documents.
Position the document in the view of your camera.
The device will capture a scan automatically, but if not, you can manually capture a picture by clicking on the shutter button.
To scan a multi-page PDF, just scan additional documents by taking more pictures.
Click Save.

Next, share the note with a friend. To do that, follow these steps:

Open the note and click on the share icon (it looks like an upwards-pointing arrow in a square).
Click on Collaborate and then on Send Copy.
Set permissions for who can access the note (such as only people you invited or anyone with the link).
Choose the Mail app to send the document.

The good part about using this method is that you can allow others to collaborate on the document, which will be saved as a note in Notes. For example, they can sign the document directly in Notes or add other markups.

However, if you want a faster method of sharing a document, you can send it as a PDF directly from the Mail app. I will talk about that soon. First, though, let’s discuss how to annotate a document in Notes.

Add Notes, Signatures, and Redactions With Markup

The good part about using Notes is that it has a built-in markup tool that allows you to add a signature, annotate scans, and more. Others who collaborate on the note using the Notes app can do the same.

Here’s how to add a signature using Markup:

Open Notes and tap on the document.
Click on the Markup icon, which looks like this:
To add a signature, click on the plus icon and then tap on Signature.
Create a new signature or use a saved signature.
Adjust the signature box size and add it to the document. Click on Save.

In addition to the signature option, you can draw on the document and add other annotations.

Alternative: Start in Mail and Scan Documents Directly

Using the Mail app, you can scan a document and insert the scanned PDF directly. The recipient will still be able to sign it digitally using an app like Adobe, even if they don’t have an iPhone.

To do that, follow these steps:

Start by composing an email on your iPhone.
Then, click on the paperclip icon above the keyboard.
Click on Scan Document and position your camera on the document.
If your iPhone doesn’t capture a scan automatically, use the shutter button to take a picture.
Click on Keep Scan to keep the scan and take additional pictures of more pages as necessary.
Click on Save once you are done.
If you want to edit the scan, tap on it and make edits. For example, you can crop the scan or apply a filter.
Send the email. The document will be sent as an attachment.

This is a great option if you don’t care for Notes and want the fastest way to scan and send a document via email. If the recipient uses Android or Windows, or if they need to print out the PDF, it’s also a better option than the Notes option.

Using Third-Party Scanner Apps

CamScanner is my recommended third-party app for scanning documents.

If you are looking for a third-party scanner app, there are many options. I recommend CamScanner.

CamScanner makes it easy to scan documents and save them as PDF, Word, TXT, Excel, or JPG files. You can also upload several images and combine them into one long PDF.

You can then save the PDF to your phone, share a link to contacts so they can view it online and download it on their own devices, or send the document via Mail, WhatsApp, Messages, or any other messenger app. It also has a wide range of filters to choose from.

Other good options are Microsoft Lens and Adobe Scan for advanced OCR and PDF scanning.

Save as PDF, Crop, Filters, and Orientation

When saving a scan as a PDF, especially in Mail or when using a third-party app, here are some tips:

Crop the corners properly so it looks like a clean PDF. Avoid cutting off parts of the document when scanning.
Make sure to rotate the pages as necessary, so they are scanned with the top part at the top.
Try out different filters. The black and white filter is a good one for PDFs, but if the recipient needs to see colors, don’t use it.

File Size: Compressing Large Scans Before Emailing

If your scanned document is too large to be sent via email due to your email app’s email attachment limit, you can reduce the PDF size by compressing the scan in Preview.

Here’s how to do that:

Open the Preview app on your phone.
Open a PDF and click on the downward-facing arrow next to the file name.
Click on Export and choose your desired file format (such as PDF or JEPG).
Use the slider to adjust the file size. Select a smaller size to compress it.

Send With the Gmail or Outlook Apps (Not Apple Mail)

To send a scanned document with Gmail, Outlook, or another app, you have two options.

The first is scanning a document with Notes and then sharing the note via Gmail or Outlook. This will send a link to the recipient, and they will be able to collaborate on the note via that link.

The second option is saving the scan as a PDF. In Notes, click on the share icon and then select “Print.” Next, share the printed preview and select “Save to Files.” Or, use a third-party tool like CamScanner to save it as a PDF to your device.

Once it’s saved to your files as a PDF, select it as an attachment when sending an email in Gmail, Outlook, or another app.

Troubleshooting Send Failures

If you are unable to send a note, make sure you have selected the correct permissions. The recipient won’t be able to access it if they were not invited, and you only allow invited people to collaborate on the note. Either invite them by adding their email or allow anyone to collaborate.

If an email isn’t being sent, make sure you are signed in with your iCloud account. Verify that Airplane Mode is off and you have a stable internet connection. Try sending the PDF with another mail app, like Gmail. If the attachment is too large, compress it first. Ask the recipient to check their spam or junk folder.

Conclusion

In conclusion, scan the document and then email it by following these steps:

Use Notes, CamScanner, or Mail’s built-in scanning tool to capture the document.
Crop the document and apply filters, if necessary.
Send the document via email as a PDF or as a Notes link.
If sending a PDF, compress it before sending it, if needed.

I hope this iPhone scan checklist was helpful! Being able to scan documents from your iPhone is an incredibly useful skill to have. It will save you a lot of time and money compared to buying a printer.