There’s a pretty nifty document scanner out there integrated into your iPhone’s Notes app. It’s great at automatically figuring out the edges of your document, and it even recognizes text for you. The problem, however, is that the scanned text is saved as a PDF in the note itself, meaning you’ll then have to manually export the document to do anything really useful with it.
You can greatly improve this workflow by using the completely free one Fast scan apartment It has an edge over other alternatives in that it’s one of the few apps that does all the processing using Apple’s native tools, so you don’t have to pipe your data through a third-party server.
But what really makes this app powerful is its workflow and built-in automation system. You can create an export profile with all your settings and pre-program a destination for your documents. Once you’re done with a scan, the app automatically formats and saves the PDF to the destination of your choice – even to a cloud-based service like Dropbox.
Here’s an example of how it works. Open the QuickScan app, press the New scan button and start capturing the pages closure button (the app will do the cropping automatically). When you’re done scanning, press the Save on computer Button.
Immediately you will see a grid of all your scanned pages. You can drag the pages to rearrange them and tap a page to see the full preview or edit it. Here you can tap live text Key to highlight and select text individually. When you tap Eye Icon in the bottom toolbar, the app scans and recognizes all text in the document. You can then preview and copy the text.
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Beat those share icon and you can choose to export the file as a PDF, JPG or plain text document with or without password protection. Tap the “Choose Destination” button and then share it via Files app, any messaging app, or just copy the result to your clipboard.
Next, let’s automate the whole process. While you’re on the export side, go to the Export Favorites sectionand create a new one Favorite. Select the destination where you want to save the file (local or cloud) and then define the rest of the parameters, including the file type. Give your automation a name and press the Save on computer Button. Now you can jump over settings > Automatic export > Allowed and select the export profile you just created.
Your automation is now set. The next time you scan the pages and click the Save button, the app will automatically export the document to your destination with your settings. For me, it’s my Documents folder in iCloud Drive. (If you end up loving this free app as much as I do, be sure to tip the developer!)
[Reddit]
