How to scan documents directly to OneDrive

If your job involves keeping a record of documents, then a large part of this work involves scanning documents and saving their soft copies in the form of PDFs. This task becomes tedious when the volume of documents is huge and you are scanning from a bulky scanning machine. You can avoid all this and save your time and energy by scanning and saving with OneDrive document scanning. Read more to know how to scan directly to OneDrive.

OneDrive document scanning feature explained

One of the major features of OneDrive document scanning is that you can scan documents using your mobile and save them in the form of a PDF on OneDrive. This saves time by scanning the documents from the scanner, converting them into a PDF, saving them on your PC, and then pushing them to OneDrive.

Some of the most interesting features of OneDrive document scanning are as follows:

• Since the OneDrive Mobile app is enabled with the feature of document scanning, you don’t need an additional scanning machine.
• A handheld scanner is easy to use. You just need to tap on the camera icon on the OneDrive mobile app and scan the document.
• With this app, you can scan and convert any paper document, whiteboard notes, and receipts into a PDF file.
• With the help of OneDrive folders, you can easily organize scanned documents. You can directly save these scanned files to OneDrive and access them from any device.
• Archiving important documents as well as stuff like your child’s artwork in the form of a PDF.
• You can edit the scanned files by adding notes and drawings. With the help of the markup tool in OneDrive, you can add notes, highlighted text, drawings, shapes, and symbols to the scanned images and documents.
• Sending a scanned document over email or sharing it with another user is extremely easy with the OneDrive document scanning feature.

How to scan and save documents directly to OneDrive

To use OneDrive document scanning, the following are the prerequisites.

• Microsoft account to access OneDrive
• OneDrive is installed on your PC. (If you have Windows 10 or higher, then OneDrive is already installed on your system by default).
• OneDrive application installed on your mobile.

When you complete these three requirements, you can start using document scanning and scan directly to OneDrive.

How to scan and save a document using OneDrive document scanning

Follow the next steps to scan a document and save it directly to OneDrive.

1. Scan the document
2. Edit (or markup) the scanned document/image
3. Save the scanned document on OneDrive

Let us look at these steps in more detail.

1] Scan the document

Scanning a document using the OneDrive app on mobile is as easy as clicking a photo.

1. Open the OneDrive app on your mobile.
2. Tap on the camera icon at the lower bottom.

3. This opens the camera app on your mobile. (Make sure to permit OneDrive to access your camera app). At this stage, you will see various options to take a scan including Whiteboard, Document, Business card, and Photo. Based on the type of document you are aiming to scan, select the option.

4. Now tap on the white circle to scan the document.

2] Edit (or markup) the scanned document/image

1. The document scanned image appears on the screen. Along with that, the options to edit the image also appear at the bottom.

2. By default, you can apply filters and crop or rotate the image. If you want to see more editing options, tap on the three dots above the word More. You will see the following options.

3. Apply the desired effects and edit the image as required. You can even Delete the image if it’s not up to the mark.
4. Once you have finished editing, tap on the Done button.

3] Save the scanned document on OneDrive

1. OneDrive app prompts you to save the file. On the Save As screen, rename the scanned image and select the location to save the file.

2. Once you have saved the scanned file, you can see it in your OneDrive files. This same folder can be accessed from your other devices which are synced with the same Microsoft credentials.

3. Next to the name of the scanned file, click on three vertical dots to take more file options. You can perform the actions such as share, delete, download, copy, and many more on this file.

Pricing for the OneDrive mobile app

The basic plan of OneDrive for home users, which is called OneDrive Basic 5 GB is free. You get 5GB storing space in this plan. However, the office apps such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are not included in the plan. You can get more information about the paid plans from the official website.

OneDrive is definitely a better option for scanning documents and saving them for access from multiple places. If you wish to know more about the functioning of OneDrive, then read the article on how to add, upload, store, create, and use files in OneDrive.

Can I scan sensitive documents using the OneDrive app?

OneDrive is a safe application, just like any other cloud storage platform; because it requires your login credentials. The documents scanned using the OneDrive mobile app are saved in the OneDrive folder. The platform encrypts the data shared and stored on it.

Are my files on OneDrive safe?

The files on your OneDrive are private until you share them. Keep in mind that when you share folders with Edit permissions, people you share with can add the shared folders to their own OneDrive.