Open the PDF2Scan scan tool, drop a JPG or PNG, choose the Office or Subtle preset and export as JPG, PNG or PDF. The effect converts to grayscale, adds a slight tilt, grain and softness, and runs entirely in your browser. 1 export per day is free, with no signup.
- JPG and PNG inputs work exactly like PDF pages.
- Export as JPG for small files, PNG for lossless quality, or PDF if a form expects a document.
- Crop and straighten phone photos first; the scan effect should add a small tilt, not fix a big one.
- HEIC and WebP need converting to JPG or PNG before upload.
- Several images can become one scanned PDF with PRO merge.
Step by step
- Prepare the image. Crop to the page edges. If it is a phone photo, straighten it and remove the background first; on iPhone, the Files or Notes app document scanner does this well. Convert HEIC or WebP to JPG or PNG.
- Upload it. Drop the file into pdf2scan.com/tool. It is processed in your browser and never uploaded.
- Pick a preset. Subtle for screenshots and graphics with small text, Office for documents, Old for an aged look.
- Choose the output. JPG, PNG or PDF, then download.
JPG, PNG or PDF: which output to choose
| Output | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| JPG | Chat apps, email, portals with size limits | Smallest files; slight compression |
| PNG | Graphics, archives, further editing | Lossless; larger files |
| Forms and portals that expect a document | One page per image; several images can be merged into one PDF with PRO |
Settings for common image types
| Image | Preset | Adjust |
|---|---|---|
| Screenshot of a document | Subtle | Add 1° rotation and 10–15% noise so it stops looking like a screen capture |
| Exported design or certificate | Office | Keep blur at 0.1–0.2 px to protect thin lines |
| Phone photo of paper | Subtle | Use little rotation (it is already a photo) and lower brightness slightly to even out the page |
| Old photo or clipping | Old | Paper tint 15–20%, noise 40–55% |
| Logo or stamp must stay in color | Office + color mode (PRO) | Keeps the original colors with the scan look |
Turn several images into one scanned PDF
A common request is an ID card front and back, or a few receipt photos, as a single scanned document. With any pass or credit pack, PDF2Scan PRO merges up to 10 files into one scanned PDF, in the order you add them, and counts it as one export. Without PRO, you can export each image as a scanned PDF and combine them in your PDF reader.
Doing it in an image editor instead
In GIMP or Photoshop: desaturate, add a little noise, apply a 0.3–0.5 px Gaussian blur, rotate by 0.5°–1.5°, and lift the white point slightly so the paper is not pure white. It works well for a single image, but takes several minutes and is hard to keep consistent across many files.