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How to turn handwritten homework into a PDF

By DeckleUpdated

To turn handwritten homework into a PDF, photograph each page, open JPG to PDF, add the photos in page order, choose Fit inside A4 and choose Create PDF. You get one PDF with one sheet of homework on each page, ready to upload to your school's system. The photos on your device are not changed.

JPG to PDF
Illustrated document pages containing a chart, photograph and text.
Illustration · a document can contain more than its visible pages.

How to turn homework photos into a PDF with Deckle

  1. Photograph each page flat, in good light, with the whole sheet in the frame.
  2. Open JPG to PDF and choose Select files, or drop the photos onto the page.
  3. Check that every photo is ticked under Images to include, and use the up and down arrows to put them in page order.
  4. Press the rotate button on any photo that is on its side. Each press turns it 90° clockwise. Use Preview on a row to see how the page will look.
  5. Under Page size, choose Fit inside A4, keep Portrait, and under Margin in points pick None or Narrow.
  6. Set Output PDF name, such as maths-homework-week-6-sam-lee.pdf, and choose Create PDF.
  7. Download the PDF and page through it before you hand it in.

The result screen confirms how many pages the PDF has, which should match the number of sheets you photographed.

Take photos that read well

The PDF can only be as clear as your photos. A few habits make a big difference:

  • Lay the sheet flat on a dark surface. The contrast helps the edges stand out, and a flat sheet keeps lines straight.
  • Hold the phone directly above the page. Shooting at an angle makes the bottom of the page look wider than the top.
  • Use daylight or a bright room light, and avoid your own shadow. Turn off the flash if it leaves a glare spot on pencil work.
  • Write in pen or dark pencil. Light pencil can fade into the paper in a photo.
  • Fill the frame with the sheet. Less background means more pixels on your writing.

Take one photo per side. A double-sided worksheet needs two photos, placed one after the other.

Choose the right page settings

Setting Choose Why
Page size Fit inside A4 Every page comes out A4, so the PDF prints and reads like a normal document
Orientation Portrait for worksheets, Landscape for wide diagrams Applies to every page in the PDF
Margin in points None or Narrow Keeps the writing as large as possible on the page

With Match each image, each page takes the photo's own size in pixels, which gives very large pages. Photos are never cropped or stretched with either option; a large photo shrinks to fit the A4 page.

On a phone

Deckle works in your phone's browser, so you can photograph and convert in one place. Phones keep fewer pixels per page: 4 megapixels on iPhone and iPad, and 16 megapixels on most Android phones. A larger photo is scaled down to fit, and the review lists each one before you convert. A 12- or 24-megapixel iPhone photo of a worksheet converts on the phone at 4 megapixels, which is usually enough for handwriting. For finer detail, send the photos to a computer, where they keep up to 16 megapixels, or use the iPhone's own method below. A 48-megapixel photo is refused on iPhone and iPad.

If your photos are HEIC files, the iPhone's default format, use HEIC to PDF on a computer instead. See how to convert HEIC to PDF on a Mac or on Windows.

Tips

  • Name the file the way your teacher asks. Many schools want subject, week and your name in the file name. Use letters, numbers and hyphens.
  • Check the order before you create the PDF. Photos are listed in the order you added them, not the order of the page numbers you wrote on the sheets.
  • Remove a blurry page and retake it. Untick the blurred photo, take a new one, add it and move it into place. The arrows and Undo work until you choose Create PDF.
  • Combine with typed work. If part of the assignment is a typed PDF, merge it with your homework PDF in Merge PDFs.

Other ways to turn homework into a PDF

Frequently asked questions

Can teachers read handwriting in a photo PDF?

Yes, if the photo is sharp and well lit. The PDF shows the photo exactly as taken, so check it at normal zoom before you hand it in.

Can the PDF be searched or copied as text?

No. The page is a picture of your handwriting. That is normal for homework submissions.

Will my photos lose quality?

No. JPG to PDF places each JPEG in the PDF without re-compressing it. With Fit inside A4, a large photo is drawn smaller on the page, but all its detail is there when you zoom in.

My school system says the file is too big. What can I do?

Leave out photos you don't need, or retake them with less background. Deckle does not compress PDFs to a set size.

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