CamScanner Free is a mobile app that allows you to take a photograph of a document, convert it into a PDF and upload it to a cloud storage service such as Dropbox. The free version is ad-supported, has limits on the number of documents you can scan and adds a watermark to the resulting PDFs, while the premium version removes these restrictions. The app uses your device's flash to generate the best possible lighting for the document.

Using CamScanner Free

Getting started with the app is relatively simple. You can either photograph a document directly or use a photograph taken earlier. Conversion into PDF is relatively quick, and you have some options available in terms of what gets scanned (you can crop the document to a required size, for instance). You can even use a batch-scan mode to shoot several documents in a row, although the free version caps this number at three. Finally, you can password-protect the files and upload them to a storage service. PDFs are smaller than photos, making this app a real space-saver.

A handy tool for document preservation

If you need to create small electronic copies of physical documents, CamScanner Free is an excellent app. If you have a large number of documents to scan, or want to use the PDFs professionally, consider upgrading to the paid version.