Turn your mobile device into a document scanner

The Dropbox app lets you easily scan, save, organize, and share important documents straight from your mobile device. It’s your very own file, PDF and document scanner, in the palm of your hand.

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Library of OCR scanned pdfs stored in Dropbox

Scan, save, and organize your work in a snap

Ever forgotten to pick up that paper bill from a client dinner you were hoping to expense? How about those notes for your next trip you were planning, scribbled on a napkin? Or worst yet…your grocery list, before you headed to the store?

With the document scanner feature of the Dropbox mobile app, you can:

  • Digitize files in seconds with the camera on your mobile device. 
  • Scan files directly to your Dropbox account.
  • Convert existing files to scans.
  • Save each scan securely in cloud storage.

So you’ll never lose track of important physical documents again.

Download the app
An iPhone digitally scans a signed document

Do more than just store your scans

It’s easy to upload and organize quality scans using the Dropbox mobile app, but that’s just the beginning. Once you’ve created your scan, you can:

  • Add additional pages.
  • Edit your scan or add a filter.
  • Reorder the pages of your scan.

Dropbox Plus, Family, Professional, Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise users can even search for text within their scans, thanks to optical character recognition (OCR). That’s one way to speed up your workflows, and give you back time to do the work that matters.

Search scans faster
An iPhone digitally scans a signed document

Productivity in your pocket

It’s more than just a file scanner. Discover a few ways to get the most out of the document scanner app.

Mobile phone scanning a document

Scan files and edit them

Digitize documents, receipts, IDs, and photos with your mobile device. Customize the file name and choose where in your Dropbox you'd like to save the scan.

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Find photos fast

Tired of searching through digital files for that document or image you need? With OCR, you can search for text that's in any file, photo, or scan and quickly find what you're looking for.

Flicking through files with hand

Speed up workflows

Access any scanned file in your cloud storage account—even offline—and preview over 175 different file types.

Scan photos

Scan your old photos into Dropbox, so they'll be safely preserved and easily accessible. All it takes is your mobile device; no special equipment needed.

Scan contracts, bills, and invoices

Ditch the filing cabinet, and keep them organized in Dropbox, then access all your files from any of your devices.

Scan Receipts

Forget about collecting—or worse, losing—stacks of receipts on business trips for your expense reports. Just scan them into Dropbox as you go using your mobile device, and they'll be easy to find and submit later.

Frequently asked questions

To access the Dropbox document and PDF scanner feature:

  • Open the Dropbox mobile app on your mobile device.
  • Tap the + (plus) icon.
  • Tap Scan Document.

    • This will open the scanner interface, allowing you to capture and save scans directly to your Dropbox account. For more help and guidance, check out our Help center guide to scanning documents using the Dropbox mobile app

    No, currently the document and PDF scanner feature is only available on the Dropbox mobile app for iOS and Android devices. It is not available on dropbox.com or via the desktop application.

    You can however organize the scans in your Dropbox account on dropbox.com and using the desktop app—just as you can any file that’s stored in your account.

    When you scan a document with the Dropbox mobile app it will be automatically saved in your Dropbox account as a PDF.

    Yes, Dropbox uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to analyze your scanned documents and make the text searchable. This means you can search for specific words or phrases within your scanned documents using the search function in Dropbox.

    Please note: This feature is only available to Dropbox Plus, Family, Professional, Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise users.

    The document scanner feature is available to all Dropbox users. However, only Dropbox Plus, Family, Professional, Standard or Advanced, plus Enterprise users can use the OCR functionality to search for words or phrases within scanned documents.

    Yes, the document scanner feature allows you to scan multiple pages and save them as a single PDF file. Simply continue scanning additional pages using the scanner interface, and Dropbox will combine them into a single PDF document.

    See more features

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    Electronic signatures

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    Cloud storage

    Keep all your files safe with powerful online cloud storage

    Keep online files safe
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    Organize files and folders

    Organize all your content in one place

    Start organizing files
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    File sharing

    Share any file or folder easily with anyone, hassle free

    Start sharing your files

    Scan documents and organize them with the Dropbox mobile app

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