Software developer Adobe has rolled out Adobe Scan, a new scanning app for iOS and Android devices that transforms documents into searchable and editable PDF files.
Adobe Scan is free, which may make users think about throwing out their bulky scanners. The new scanning app is not as controversial as Adobe's Project VoCo, which will allow users to edit audio files similar to how images are edited on Photoshop, but Adobe Scan is very powerful nonetheless.
Adobe Scan: What Can It Do?
Adobe Scan, now available for download at Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store, turns all kinds of documents, including notes, receipts, pictures, and business cards, into PDFs that can be easily edited and stored.
There are several apps that allow users to scan documents into PDF files, but many of these apps are either not free, outdated, do not allow editing, or all three of the above.
Adobe Scan, meanwhile, uses optical character recognition to convert scanned text into digital text that can be searched, copied, and edited using Acrobat Reader DC or Acrobat DC.
In addition, there is no limit to the number of pages that users can scan using the app, with no downgrade in quality either.
One characteristic of Adobe Scan is that it uploads the PDF files created into Adobe's Document Cloud, which is an advantage for Adobe's customers who already use the online file system but a limitation for those who prefer to use other cloud file services.
Adobe Scan is powered by Adobe Sensei, the artificial intelligence and machine learning platform of Adobe that is capable of detecting boundaries, auto-cropping captured documents, and correcting perspectives. The scanning app also works with Adobe Sign to automatically sign and send documents from any device.
"Adobe Scan represents a radical re-imagination of how to capture your most important document content," said Bryan Lamkin, Adobe's executive VP and general manager for digital media.
How To Use Adobe Scan
Adobe Scan is fairly easy to use. After installing the app, users will need to sign in using their Adobe account. For those who do not yet have one, creating an Adobe account is also free and simple to do.
To scan, users will need to tap the camera icon and line up the documents so that it takes up as much of the device's display as possible. Users can scan several pages continuously without having to leave this interface.
After finishing scanning documents, users can then change the name of the images through the pencil icon at the top and access a variety of edit options at the bottom. Among the editing options available are reordering the pages, cropping pages, and adjusting the color.
Users can then save the PDF to upload the document to the Adobe Document Cloud and share it through several options such as through an email attachment, a link for other users to access, and the other usual means of sharing available online. Users can also open the PDF in Acrobat to make further edits to the document.
