Inside the Notes app is one of the most useful tricks in Apple's iOS 11 – a document scanner. Whether it's a receipt, business card or any document you want to save or markup, this tool will make getting it on your iPhone or iPad incredibly simple!
If you've been using a third-party app for this purpose until now, you should probably uninstall it in favour of Apple's own solution!
If you want to try out Apple's built-in scanner, here's what you do: open Notes and then hit the + symbol above the keyboard. A menu will pop up offering a few options and the "Scan Document" option is what you're looking for!
Once you tap that button, the camera will open and ask you to point at whatever document you want to digitize. Remember: pay attention to that top row of icons! The default settings will capture documents in colour. However, if you would like to go with grayscale or black and white (really enhancing the contrast), just tap the above icon of three circles at the top to change it!
You may also adjust this afterwards, so it's still okay to stay with the default settings.
In addition, there's a "photo" choice that will just snap an ordinary picture without optimizing it as a scanned document.
You can either tap the shutter button yourself to capture the document immediately, or you can simply hold your iPhone or iPad focused on the document for a few seconds and it will automatically snap the document once your hands are steady.
If you choose to press the shutter yourself, Notes will let you move around four corner points to line them up with the document's edges – the app does a pretty good job of figuring this stuff out for you without much help!
Also: don't worry too much if your document ends up getting snapped at an angle – Notes will automatically correct this and straighten everything out! This is one of the tool's most impressive features.
So, if you don't really have enough time to square things up perfectly – everything will work out fine!
Once you're done with a scan, Notes will bring you right back in the camera view in case you have a multi-page document or contract to capture. Also, at any point, you can just hit "Save" in the bottom right-corner to drop your scan into the original note you started.
However, if you don't want to keep your scans inside your notes, you can save them elsewhere! Just tap and hold on the document and pick from a variety of third-party apps on your iPhone or iPad. If you need to add annotations or a signature or something, you can choose Apple's "Markup" from the share menu, where you can feel free to draw on the document wherever you please.
Obviously using the Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro is the best option for perfect handwriting, but using your fingers on your iPhone will still do the job!
