How to scan documents on Mac

How to scan documents on Mac with an iPhone

This is Continuity Camera. It works when both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account, have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, and are within 10 meters (30 feet) of each other.

1. On the Mac, Control-click the desktop or an empty spot in a Finder folder.
2. Choose Insert from iPhone or iPad › Scan Documents. If you have several devices, pick the one under your iPhone’s name.
3. On the iPhone, the camera opens. Hold it over the page: it captures the page by itself when it finds the edges. Or tap the shutter button, drag the corners to the page and tap Keep Scan.
4. Scan the other pages the same way, then tap Save.

The scan appears on the Mac as one PDF, with all pages in the order you scanned them. The iPhone doesn’t keep a copy.

Inside an app, look for the same command in the File or Insert menu: Insert from iPhone or iPad › Scan Documents. It works in Notes, Mail, Messages, TextEdit, Freeform, Pages, Numbers and Keynote, and puts the scan right into the note, email or document.

Scan into Notes

In Notes on the Mac, Control-click inside a note and choose the same Scan Documents command. The PDF lands in the note.

Notes on the iPhone can scan on its own too: in a note, tap the attachments button, then Scan Documents. If your notes are kept in iCloud, the scan shows up in Notes on the Mac as well.

Scan with a scanner in System Settings

1. Put the pages in the scanner’s document feeder or on the glass.
2. Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Printers & Scanners in the sidebar.
3. Select the scanner in the list and click Open Scanner.
4. Choose where the scan goes in the Scan To menu: a folder, or an app that opens it.
5. Click Show Details to set the format (PDF or an image type), resolution and color. For PDF, several pages can go into one file.
6. Click Scan.

If there is no Open Scanner button, the scanner isn’t set up yet. Connect it with a cable or to the same Wi-Fi and add it in Printers & Scanners, or check the maker’s instructions for your model.

Scan with Image Capture

Image Capture in the Applications folder gives the same scanner settings in a bigger window. Open it, select the scanner in the sidebar under Devices or Shared, set the options and click Scan. A flatbed scanner can save several photos on the glass as separate files.