PDF Generator
Capture pages with your camera and turn them into a clean, shareable PDF.
The PDF Generator — reached from Tools as Scan to PDF — opens a full-screen live camera so you can photograph documents one page at a time. Each shot is added to a thumbnail strip along the bottom in the order you took it. When you are done, one tap lays every page out on a white A4 sheet and opens the share sheet. It is the fastest way to digitise paperwork on scene without a scanner.
Overview
| Control | Where it is | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Camera preview | Fills the screen | Live view from the rear camera |
| Create PDF | Top right | Builds the PDF and opens the share sheet |
| Thumbnail strip | Above the shutter | Every captured page, left to right, in capture order |
| 📸 shutter | Bottom centre | Photographs the current page |
| Page preview | Tap any thumbnail | Full-screen look at that page |
| ✕ | Top left of the preview | Closes the preview |
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Camera used | Rear camera, photo-quality preset |
| Flash | Automatic — fires only when the scene is dark |
| Page size | A4 (595.2 × 841.8 points) |
| Margin | 20 points of white on all four sides |
| Image fit | Scaled to fit and centred, never stretched or cropped |
| Background | Solid white behind every page |
| File name | ScannedDocument_<timestamp>.pdf |
| Page order | Exactly the order of the thumbnail strip |
Getting Here
- Open the Account tab, then App Settings, then Tools.
- Under the Documents category, tap Scan to PDF.
- Allow camera access if you are asked. If you have denied it before, an alert titled Camera Permission Denied appears with the message "Please enable Camera permission in settings to use this feature." Tap OK to jump to Settings.
The screen opens on a black background with the live preview already running; there is no loading step. The display follows Keep Screen Awake from App Defaults.
Capture Pages
- Lay the page flat and fill the frame with it. Even, indirect light gives the cleanest result.
- Tap the 📸 shutter. The page is photographed and a thumbnail appears at the right-hand end of the strip.
- Repeat for each page. There is no page limit, and pages stay in capture order.
- To check a page, tap its thumbnail for a full-screen preview, then tap ✕ to go back to the camera.
The flash mode is automatic, so the camera only adds light when the scene needs it. In a dark space, hold steady for a moment after the shutter so the exposure can settle.
Capture pages in the order you want them in the finished document. The thumbnail strip is the page order, and there is no way to reorder or remove a single page on this screen — if a page is wrong, start again.
Create and Share the PDF
- Once every page is captured, tap Create PDF.
- Each photo is drawn on its own white A4 page, scaled to fit inside a 20-point margin and centred.
- The finished file is written as
ScannedDocument_<timestamp>.pdfand the system share sheet opens. - From the share sheet you can save it to Files, mail or message it, or hand it to another app.
Tapping Create PDF with an empty thumbnail strip does nothing at all — no PDF, no share sheet and no message. Capture at least one page first.
The PDF is written to a temporary location, so it is the share sheet that makes it permanent. If you dismiss the share sheet without saving or sending, the file is not kept.
How This Connects
- Where the images come from. Every page is a fresh photo from the rear camera, captured only while this screen is open. Nothing is read from your photo library, and nothing is fetched from the server — this screen works completely offline.
- Where the PDF goes. The finished file leaves the app through the system share sheet, so its destination is up to you. Once saved to Files or your photo library, it can be attached elsewhere in the app — for example to an incident's additional details, see Incident Additional Tab, or sent in a chat, see Chat.
- Camera permission is shared. The same camera grant is used by QR Code Scanner and Photo Markup on the Tools screen, and by Anomaly Detection. Denying it in Settings stops all of them — see Permission Required.
- Related PDF tools. Combind PDF and Extract PDF on the Tools screen work on PDFs you already have; this screen is for creating one from scratch. To mark up photos before exporting, use Photo Drawing, which produces an identically laid out A4 PDF.
- Screen sleep. Whether the display dims while you work comes from Keep Screen Awake in App Defaults.
- Offline and reconnect. Capture and PDF creation never need a connection. Sharing may, depending on which destination you pick in the share sheet.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| The screen is black with no preview | Camera access is off, or no rear camera was found. Check Camera for REDENES in Settings, then reopen the tool |
| "Camera Permission Denied" appears | Tap OK, switch Camera on in Settings, then return to Tools and tap Scan to PDF again |
| Create PDF does nothing | The thumbnail strip is empty — capture at least one page |
| A page came out dark | Move to better light and retake; the flash only fires automatically when the scene is dark |
| Pages are in the wrong order | The PDF follows capture order and pages cannot be moved here; leave the screen and capture them in order |
| A page needs removing | There is no per-page delete on this screen; start a fresh scan, or mark up the pages in Photo Drawing instead, where pages can be deleted and reordered |
| The PDF disappeared after sharing | The file is temporary until you save it; repeat the scan and choose a save destination in the share sheet |
| The image looks squashed on the page | It should not — pages are scaled to fit and centred. Retake the page square to the camera so less of it is cropped by the frame |
Related Pages
⬅️ Previous: Time & Distance Calculator | Next: Photo Gallery ➡️