For an application, a job request or a reimbursement, you're asked for "everything in a single PDF." With your phone you can do it in a few minutes if you follow a few steps.
1. Take good photos
The quality of the PDF depends on the photos. Try to get:
- Good light, with no shadows on the paper. Natural light from a window works well.
- The document on a flat surface in a contrasting color.
- The phone parallel to the page, with no angle, and the whole page inside the frame.
- Legible text when you zoom in. If it can't be read in the photo, it won't be readable in the PDF either.
If your phone has a built-in scanner (the Notes app on iPhone or Google Drive on Android), use it: it crops and straightens pages automatically. Then export the pages as images or PDF.
2. Convert the photos to PDF
Go to Images to PDF, select all your photos and put them in order with the ▲ ▼ buttons. Choose the page size: Letter is the most common in Mexico and A4 is the international standard. If you want each page to be exactly the size of the photo, choose "Same as image." Download the PDF.
Photos taken with your phone keep their orientation, and very large ones are slightly reduced, which keeps the file manageable without affecting readability.
3. Adjust whatever you need
- Is a page sideways? Rotate it with Rotate and organize PDF.
- Need to include another document that's already a PDF? Combine them with Merge PDF.
- Got an extra page? Delete it in the same organize tool.
If the file is too large
Many portals limit the size to 5 or 10 MB. You can reduce the size of the photos before creating the PDF with Convert images: choose JPG and a maximum width of 1280 or 1920 pixels.
Before you send it
- Check that all the pages are in the right order.
- Open the PDF and make sure the text is readable on every page.
- If the document has sensitive information, consider sending it through a secure channel and not through a service you don't know.