How to turn a photo of a document into a PDF

How to turn a document photo into a PDF with Deckle

1. Photograph the document flat, in even light, with the page filling most of the frame.
2. Copy the photo to a computer and check its extension. Open JPG to PDF for .jpg files or HEIC to PDF for .heic files.
3. Choose Select files, or drop the photo onto the page. For a document of several pages, add all the photos together.
4. Put the pages in order with the up and down arrows, and turn any sideways page with the rotate button on its row.
5. Under Page size, choose Fit inside A4, then Portrait. Choose Landscape for a wide document.
6. Type a name in Output PDF name, such as passport-photo-page, and choose Create PDF.
7. Download the PDF and zoom in to check that every line you need is readable.

The result screen says how many pages were created and from how many images, so a three-page letter photographed as three photos should give three pages.

Take a photo that reads well as a PDF

The PDF is only as clear as the photo. Deckle places the photo on the page; it does not straighten, crop or sharpen it.

• Lay the page flat on a plain, contrasting surface. A dark table behind white paper makes the edges obvious.
• Hold the phone parallel to the page. Tilting it turns the page into a trapezium and makes the far edge smaller.
• Use daylight or two light sources. A single lamp throws your shadow across the text. Avoid flash on glossy paper.
• Fill the frame. Get close enough that the page takes up most of the photo, but keep all four corners in view.
• Check the photo before you leave. Zoom in on the smallest print, such as a reference number or a signature date. If you cannot read it on the phone, retake it.

Holding the phone flat over a page is also a common reason a photo comes out sideways: with the phone level, it has little to go on when deciding which way is up. Press the rotate button on the row before converting, or see why a HEIC photo is sideways in the PDF.

Why Fit inside A4

A phone photo has no paper size, only pixels. With Match each image, a 4032 × 3024 photo becomes a page about 56 × 42 inches. It looks normal on screen but surprises anyone who prints it or whose form checks page size.

Fit inside A4 puts the photo on a 595 × 842 pt A4 page, shrunk to fit and centred, without cropping. All the pixels are still there, so the recipient can zoom in. If the document will be printed, a margin of Narrow keeps the edges of the photo clear of the printer's unprintable border. How to put images on A4 pages covers the options.

Several photos, one document

For a multi-page document, such as a tenancy agreement or a medical letter, photograph each page separately and add all the photos to one run. Each photo becomes one page. Read the list of Images to include from top to bottom against the page numbers on the paper before you convert.

If your phone saved some pages as HEIC and others as JPG, convert each group with its own tool and join them with Merge PDFs.

What the recipient gets

The PDF holds a picture of the document. The text cannot be selected, copied or searched, and form fields cannot be filled in. That is fine for most uploads that just need proof of a document. If the recipient needs searchable text, see making a searchable PDF from phone photos.

HEIC to PDF leaves camera and location data out of the PDF. JPG to PDF copies a JPEG within the pixel limit exactly, including any GPS location stored in it, so remove location data from the photo first if that matters.

Tips

• Convert on a computer for fine print. iPhone and iPad scale each photo down to 4 megapixels, so a 24-megapixel photo keeps about a sixth of its pixels: fine for a full page of normal text, softer for small print. A computer or Android device keeps up to 16 megapixels. A 48-megapixel photo is refused on iPhone and iPad.
• Crop in your photo app first. Cutting away the table around the page gives a cleaner PDF, since Deckle does not crop images.
• Use a scanner app for long documents. If you photograph documents often, a scanning app that straightens pages saves time; you can still convert its JPG output here.
• Keep the original photo. If the recipient asks for a clearer copy, you can convert it again.

Other ways to turn a document photo into a PDF

• Preview on iPhone. Open the photo in the Preview app, tap the button next to the file name, tap Export and choose PDF. Apple lists an Embed Text option for PDF exports that runs text recognition on images. Apple describes this in Export PDFs and images in Preview on iPhone.
• Preview on a Mac. Open the photo and choose File > Print, then Save as PDF from the PDF menu, as in Save a document as a PDF on Mac.

Frequently asked questions

Will the PDF look like a scan?

It will look like your photo. Deckle does not flatten, straighten or whiten the page, so the lighting and angle in the photo stay as they are.

Can I put the front and back of an ID card on one page?

No. Each photo becomes its own page. Photograph both sides together in one shot if they must share a page.

Why is my form rejecting the PDF as too large?

The PDF is roughly the size of the photos. Export a smaller copy of each photo from your photo app, then convert again.

Is my document photo uploaded?

No. The PDF is built in your browser and the photo stays on your device.

Related tools

• JPG to PDF to convert document photos saved as JPG
• HEIC to PDF to convert iPhone photos saved as HEIC
• Merge PDFs to combine pages converted separately
• Rotate PDF to fix a sideways page after converting