Scan to PDF: how it works
To turn photos into a scanned PDF, open the Scan to PDF tool, capture pages with your camera or upload images, and PDFER auto-crops, straightens, and applies a grayscale or black-and-white scan effect before combining them into a PDF. Images are processed in your browser and never uploaded.
How to use Scan to PDF
- Open the Scan to PDF tool.
- Capture pages with your camera or add image files (JPG/PNG).
- Choose a scan effect (Grayscale, Black & white, or Color) and optionally enable Auto-crop & straighten.
- Click Create PDF and download the scanned document.
In your browser vs. uploading to a server
Best for digitizing paper documents from a phone photo without a scanner app that uploads to the cloud. Auto edge-detection and perspective correction flatten a angled photo into a clean page, all on-device.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a photo look like a scanned document?
- Add the photo in Scan to PDF and pick the Grayscale or Black & white effect; PDFER whitens the paper background and boosts contrast so it reads like a flatbed scan, then exports a PDF.
Can it crop and straighten a photo of a document automatically?
- Yes. Enable “Auto-crop & straighten” and PDFER detects the page edges and perspective-corrects the photo into a flat, top-down page. You can also drag the four corners manually.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
- No. PDFER runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly and JavaScript. Your files are read into memory on your device, processed locally, and never sent to PDFER or any third party. Closing the tab or leaving the tool erases them from memory.
PDFER is a privacy-first PDF toolkit built by Kiril Urbonas. Every tool runs entirely in your browser — see our security model and privacy policy.