How to scan documents to PDF on a Mac, with a scanner or an iPhone
Scan paper into a PDF on a Mac with a printer scanner in Image Capture, or with your iPhone's camera straight into Preview, several pages in one file.
The problem
You need paper as a PDF: a signed form, a receipt, a letter. The scanner maker's app is a mess, or you have no scanner at all.
How do I scan a document to PDF with my iPhone?
- Open Preview on the Mac with your iPhone nearby, signed in to the same Apple Account.
- Choose File, then Import from followed by your iPhone's name, then Scan Documents.
- On the iPhone, hold it over each page; it captures automatically. Tap Save when done.
- The pages arrive in Preview as one document. Choose File > Save to keep it as a PDF.
How do I scan multiple pages into one PDF with a scanner?
- Open Image Capture from Applications and select your scanner.
- Click Show Details.
- Set the format to PDF and choose to combine the pages into a single document.
- Choose resolution and kind: 300 and greyscale suit most documents.
- Click Scan. With a document feeder, every page goes into one PDF.
What should I do with the scan next?
- Make it searchable so you can find and copy words in it.
- Delete pages you did not mean to scan.
- Shrink it if it is too large to send.
Our take
Scan at 300 and greyscale unless colour carries meaning. A colour scan of a black and white letter is three times the size and no easier to read, and the larger file is the one that bounces off an upload limit.
In Simply PDF
Simply PDF opens any scan for free, and with a key makes it searchable, compresses it with a preview, and tidies its pages.
On a MacBook Air (M1), macOS 27.0.1, the Scan Documents command comes from the system's iPhone camera feature, so it appears in Preview, TextEdit and other apps, under a menu named after your device.
Questions
How do I scan multiple pages into one PDF on a Mac?
In Image Capture, set the format to PDF and combine the pages into a single document. With an iPhone, scan all pages in one session from Preview.
Can I scan with my iPhone to my Mac?
Yes. In Preview, choose File, Import from your iPhone, Scan Documents.