This page will cover how to use both Microsoft Lens and Adobe Scan to create digital copies of your handwritten notes. These copies - saved as PDFs - can then be distributed electronically to others or submitted via Moodle for an assignment.
Microsoft Lens is a scanning application which you can download onto your Mobile Phone. It lets you take pictures of paper documents and convert them into one PDF containing multiple pages. This PDF can then be downloaded, saved to OneDrive, or emailed to the user.
In order to take a picture so that it can be recognised and scanned by the app, you will need to make sure that the paper document is clearly visible and that the picture is taken from an aerial/birdseye view.
When the scanning app has recognised the paper document in the picture, you should see an orange rectangle on the screen outlining the document that you are taking a picture of.
Once correctly identified, you can take a picture by selecting the round white circle at the middle bottom part of the screen.
Once you have taken a picture of a paper document, confirm you are happy with it and Microsoft Lens will store this picture.
You will now have the option to delete, crop, or rotate the picture. These settings can be accessed at the top of the screen.
You will also have the option to add filters, however we recommend that you do not do this.
Make sure your pages are in the correct order. If not, use Reorder to rearrange them.
DO NOT select Done until you are ready to finalise the scanning and go to an Export To menu.
To add multiple pictures into the same PDF, you will need to take each picture one after the other by selecting the Add New icon in the bottom left of the screen. This will allow you to take another picture, and edit it per the above steps.
Repeat these steps until you have taken a picture all of your documents. The limit is 30 pages.
When you are taking a picture you will notice that you now have an orange > option in the bottom right corner. The number in that icon represents how many pages your PDF currently has. If you select this option, you will be taken to the Export to section.
DO NOT click Done until you have scanned all of your documents.
Once you have scanned all of your documents, select Done in the bottom right of the screen. This will take you to the export to menu.
If you have selected to take another picture, but no longer need it, you can select the Orange > Option in the bottom right hand corner. This will also take you to the export to menu.
For Android:
For iOS (iPhone/iPad):
Adobe Scan is a scanning application which you can download onto your portable device. Adobe Scan recognizes text automatically (OCR) and allows you to save to multiple files formats including PDF and JPEG. The PDF or JPEG can then be downloaded, saved to OneDrive, or emailed to another user.
In order to take a picture so that it can be recognised and scanned by the app, you will need to make sure that the paper document is clearly visible and that the picture is taken from an aerial/birdseye view.
When the scanning app has recognised the paper document in the picture, you should see four blue circles appear in each corner of your document. A message will pop up saying - "Capturing....hold steady"
Once the document has been scanned you will be able to adjust the borders of the document to fit to your preference. Select Continue.
To add multiple pictures into the same document, you will need to take each picture one after the other. You will notice a number in a blue circle in the bottom right of the screen. This shows how many photos you currently have in your document.
You can repeat this step until you have taken pictures all of your documents. The limit is 50 pages total.
Once you are ready to create your document, select the blue number in the bottom right of the screen. This will take you to an editing screen where you can edit your whole document.
You have the option to Add page, Reorder, Crop, Rotate.. and more. These settings can be seen at the bottom of the screen.
You can go back and add more pictures to the document by selecting the Add page option.
Once you are ready to save your document, select Save PDF, which is in blue letters in the top right of the screen.
You will be taken to the app's home screen where you will see a list of your scans.
You can upload PDFs to Moodle from a computer or mobile. However, we do not recommend using the Moodle app.
We recommend you go through the PDF file before submitting to Moodle in order to check for any issues.
To submit to Moodle Assignment, please have a look at the Student Guidance for Submitting Assignments.
Please see the video below. This step by step video outlines how to submit a Moodle Assignment.