You do not need a scanner for most paperwork. A phone camera, decent light and a few minutes will give you a PDF that an office will accept. The difference between a messy result and a tidy one is mostly in how you take the photos.
Set up the page first
Lay the page flat on a plain, dark or contrasting surface, such as a table or a sheet of dark card. Smooth out folds and creases. If a page keeps curling, put a heavy book on the edges, or place a clean sheet of glass over it, taking care that it does not reflect the light.
Light matters more than the camera. Daylight from a window is best. Do not use the flash, because it makes a bright patch in the middle of the page. Stand so that your own shadow does not fall across the paper.
Take the photo
Hold the phone directly above the page, level with it, so that the edges of the paper look parallel to the edges of the screen. Fill the frame with the page, leaving a small border so no words are cut off. Tap the screen on the text to focus, and hold the phone still for a moment before taking the picture.
Check each photo straight away. Can you read the smallest words? Is any corner missing? Is there glare on glossy paper? Retaking now takes ten seconds; discovering the problem after you have sent the document takes much longer.
Put the pictures in order
Open our Photos to PDF page and drop all the pictures in. iPhone photos work as they are, with no need to convert them first. Each picture becomes one page, and you can use the arrow buttons to move pages up or down and Remove to drop one you do not want. The PDF follows the order on screen, so check it before you press Make PDF.
If a photo is sideways, use Crop and rotate first and save the corrected copy. If you need to remove the edges of the table around the paper, crop it there too.
Choose the page size and quality
Choose A4 or US Letter if the document will be printed or filed. Pick whichever the person receiving it uses. The 'same size as the photo' option keeps each page the shape of its picture, which suits receipts and cards.
The quality setting trades sharpness against file size. Balanced suits most documents. Choose Smaller file if you must email the PDF and the message keeps bouncing. Choose Best for something with fine print that must stay legible, such as a contract or a bank letter.
Check the result before you send
Open the PDF and look at every page at normal size. Is the text readable without zooming? Are the pages in the right order? Is anything cut off? Remember that each page is a picture of your photo, so the text cannot be selected or searched. If you need the words as text, use Image to text on the individual pictures.
Handling sensitive paperwork
Documents like bank statements, ID and contracts deserve care. Because our tools run inside your browser, nothing you drop in is uploaded, which is a good reason to use this method for private papers. Afterwards, delete the photos from your phone and from any cloud photo backup if you do not want them kept, and send the PDF only to the person who needs it.