How to Turn Photos or Scans into One PDF for an Online Form
Combine phone photos or scans of documents into a single, readable PDF that fits an application’s upload limit.
Short answer
Photograph each page, open JPG to PDF, add the photos in order, choose A4 portrait, and create the PDF. If the form has a size limit, run the result through Compress PDF.
Taking good photos of documents
- Place the page on a flat, dark surface in even light, with no flash glare.
- Hold the phone directly above the page so the text is not skewed.
- Crop to the page edges in your phone’s photo editor before converting.
Creating the PDF
- Open JPG to PDF and select all the page photos (JPG or PNG).
- Put them in the right order with the arrows or by dragging.
- Choose A4, Portrait and Small margin. This suits most application portals.
- Select Create PDF and download it.
Meeting the size limit
Many portals cap uploads at 100 KB to 2 MB. Check the size of your new PDF. If it is too large, open Compress PDF and use Strong compression, then confirm every page is still readable. For very strict limits, resize the photos before creating the PDF.
Before you submit
Open the final PDF and check that the page order is correct, every page is legible, and nothing is cut off. Always follow the exact format and size rules published by the organisation that receives your documents. PDFPilot is not affiliated with any government body or institution.