# Scan Documents to PDF with Your Camera

> Turn your phone or webcam into a document scanner. Capture each page live, apply scanner filters (grayscale / B&W), get a multi-page PDF. Stays in browser.

Live tool: https://lofttools.com/tools/pdf-tools/scan-to-pdf

Category: PDF & Documents

## How it works

1. **Allow camera access** — Tap "Start camera" and grant browser permission. Works in any modern mobile or desktop browser.
2. **Snap each page** — Hold the document in view, tap Capture. Repeat for as many pages as needed. Pick Color, Grayscale, or B&W per scan.
3. **Build the PDF** — When all pages captured, tap Build PDF. The result is a multi-page PDF you can download or share.

## FAQ

### How is this different from Image to PDF?

Image to PDF takes image FILES already on your device. Scan to PDF turns your camera into a live scanner — you capture pages on the spot, no separate photo-then-upload step. Better for mobile.

### What's the B&W filter for?

Mimics a document scanner. Adaptive threshold turns the page into pure black/white — text becomes crisp, shadows and yellowing disappear, file size drops. Best for paper documents.

### Does it work on desktop?

Yes, if your laptop has a webcam. The "environment" facingMode preference helps mobile pick the rear camera; desktop falls back to whichever camera is available.

### Are my scans uploaded anywhere?

No. Camera frames stay in your browser. The PDF is built locally with pdf-lib. Nothing leaves your device.

## Privacy — what we do not do

This tool runs entirely in the browser via WebAssembly. Your file never reaches a Loft Tools server. Specifically:

- **No upload.** The file bytes load into the browser tab's memory and process on your own CPU. Open DevTools → Network and observe zero outbound requests carrying file data while Scan Documents to PDF with Your Camera runs.
- **No AI training on your file.** Loft does not train models. We could not train on a file we cannot see.
- **No content scanning.** No virus, copyright, or content-moderation pass against your file. The bytes are not accessible to us.
- **No server-side log of file contents, filenames, or EXIF metadata.** Cloudflare edge captures URL and truncated IP for abuse defense (standard CDN behaviour). Cloudflare Web Analytics records anonymous page hits, no cookies, no PII. Nothing about your file content reaches any log.
- **No retention.** Close the tab and the file leaves browser memory. No backups exist on our side because no copy ever existed on our side.
- **No account.** No email, no signup, no auth, no telemetry tied to you.
- **Offline-capable after first visit** (PWA). Once you've loaded a tool, it caches; later sessions work without internet. For high-sensitivity files, run the tool once online to warm the cache, then disconnect before processing.

Compare with upload-based services: each transmits your file to a processing server. Even over HTTPS, each has logs, retention windows, and subpoena exposure. Loft has none of these because the server architecture does not include your file.

## More

- All tools: https://lofttools.com/tools
- Category: https://lofttools.com/tools/pdf-tools
- LLM index: https://lofttools.com/llms.txt