How to create PDFs on Android devices using Google Drive

4 months ago 49

It hasn’t ever been that elemental to make a PDF utilizing your phone. Several years ago, erstwhile I started handling my mother’s bills, I realized I needed a speedy mode to scan her documents portion I was astatine her home. Rather than resistance a scanner around, I recovered a useful Android app called Tiny Scanner that fto maine crook insubstantial documents into easy-to-store PDFs utilizing my phone’s camera.

Later, Google introduced the beta of its ain scanning app called Stack, truthful I began utilizing that to make galore of my PDFs. It offers speedy scans and categorization and was conscionable a small much amusive to use.

However, as is Google’s wont, that institution is present sunsetting Stack and giving immoderate (although not all) of the app’s abilities to create, edit, and store PDFs to Google Drive, the retention work app that comes installed connected Android phones. (I accidental I should beryllium grateful that Google has incorporated astatine slightest immoderate of Slack’s features into Android’s Drive app, but the useful categorization and different automatically added details are present gone, making it conscionable that overmuch much hard for maine to find that 1 papers I request right now.)

So now, if you privation to make a speedy PDF utilizing Drive, here’s however it works:

Go to your Google Drive app (if by immoderate weird chance, your telephone doesn’t person Drive, look for it in the Play Store).
Lay retired your papers — connected a contrasting surface, if possible; I recovered it works a batch amended that mode — and pat the camera icon (right supra the +New button).

Paper with words connected it outlined with a bluish outline, a fastener beneath that, and buttons with Manual and Auto seizure beneath that.

Auto seizure finds the edges of the caller PDF.

Screenshot: Google

Notebook insubstantial with words written connected it; beneath are icons for cropping, filtering, and different features.

Once created, the PDF is previewed and tin beryllium edited.

Screenshot: Google

The app volition present find the edges of your PDF utilizing a bluish outline. It volition presume you privation to usage Auto capture, which lets the app itself fig retired the document’s edges and instantly make a draught PDF.
If you’re much of a do-it-yourself person, you tin pat connected the Manual button conscionable nether your image, determination your telephone astir to set the outline, and past deed the shutter fastener — but since you volition beryllium capable to set the cropping connected the adjacent leafage anyway, you mightiness arsenic good fto Auto seizure bash its thing. It’s faster.
If you person already taken a representation of the document, determination is besides a photo icon to the near of the shutter fastener that lets you prime an representation from Photos instead.
Either way, erstwhile you’ve got your draught PDF, you volition beryllium automatically taken to a leafage wherever you tin edit it: harvest it to set the outline, usage a filter, cleanable it up, retake it, oregon delete it.
The aforesaid leafage lets you make a multi-page papers if you request 1 — conscionable pat connected the plus icon conscionable nether the representation to adhd the adjacent page.
Happy with your document? Select Done successful the apical close corner, prime wherever successful Google Drive you privation to spot it, and pat Save.

You tin besides edit an existing PDF:

PDF of notebook leafage with tiny icon astatine bottommost right.

To edit an existing PDF, prime the edit icon successful the bottommost close corner.

Screenshot: Google

Notebook leafage successful PDF with drafting features shown astatine bottom.

Existing PDFs person constricted editing features.

Screenshot: Google

While successful Drive, pat connected the PDF record you privation to edit.
Look for the edit icon successful the little close corner. Tap connected that, and you tin constitute connected oregon item the papers utilizing variously colored “ink.”
Using the icons connected apical of the page, you tin besides adhd a remark oregon bash a hunt wrong the document.
Tap the 3 dots successful the precocious close corner, and you tin stock the document, negociate entree to it, download it, oregon execute a fig of different editorial tasks.

Of course, this isn’t everything you’d privation to bash with a PDF record — for example, you mightiness privation to region a page, adhd text, oregon password-protect a document. In that case, unfortunately, you volition astir apt person to usage Adobe Acrobat oregon immoderate different for-pay app.

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