Method 1: Scan with Your Phone (No Scanner Needed)

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    iPhone — Notes app

    Open Notes → create a new note → tap the camera icon at the bottom → Scan Documents. Point at the document — the app detects edges, captures and flattens automatically. Add more pages if needed, then tap Save. Tap the share icon to email the PDF directly.

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    Android — Google Drive

    Open the Google Drive app → tap the + button → Scan. Point at the document and Drive auto-captures, corrects perspective and saves as PDF. Open the file → Share → email it.

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    Dedicated scanning apps

    Adobe Scan (free) and Microsoft Lens (free) produce high-quality scans with OCR text recognition and work on both iPhone and Android. Both export directly to email.

Method 2: Use a Printer Scanner

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    Place document face-down on the scanner glass

    Lift the lid and place the document face-down, aligned with the corner markers.

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    Scan via the printer touchscreen or software

    On the printer: Scan → Scan to Computer or Scan to Email. On a computer: open the printer's software (HP Smart, Epson Scan, Canon IJ Scan Utility) → Scan → save as PDF.

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    Attach to email

    Attach the saved PDF to a new email as you would any attachment. Many printer apps have Scan to Email built in — it opens your email client with the scan already attached.

Always save as PDFPDF is universally readable, looks professional, and stays the same on any device. Use JPEG only if specifically asked for an image file.

Frequently Asked Questions

iPhone Notes: after capturing the first page, tap Add Page. Google Drive: tap + after the first scan to add more before saving. Adobe Scan: tap the thumbnail then add pages. All combine into a single PDF automatically.
Most email providers allow attachments up to 25MB — more than enough for most scanned documents. If it is larger, compress the PDF using ilovepdf.com or smallpdf.com, or upload to Google Drive and share a link instead of attaching the file.