Scan and Sign Documents with iOS Notes

Notes app
Settings app

Continue reading for my guide. Apple’s guide here.

Scan

Before we scan documents using the Notes app I recommend changing one setting for Notes. Open the Settings app and scroll down to “Notes”. In the Settings Notes menu scroll down and turn on “Save to Photos”. This makes it so any documents you scan using notes are automatically added to the Photos which is typically easier to save and share from.

  1. Open the Notes app
  2. Create a new note, click the Create note icon in the bottom-right:
  3. Click the Camera icon:
  4. Select Scan Documents and using your camera position the document on a well lit surface. Notes automatically detects your document and takes a picture; click Save
  5. Your document appears in the note, similar to below
  1. Click and hold the document to make the options menu appear where you can share the document to apps on your iPhone such as Messages, Outlook, Mail, or Gmail. Below is an example of sharing a test document with Outlook
  1. (Optional) Because we turned on Notes “Save to Photos” the document should also appear in Photos as an image you can share

Continue following this guide to learn how and sign your new document before sharing.

Sign

  1. Tap on your scanned document in notes and click the icon in the top-right:
  2. Among the options on the bottom of your screen scroll to and select Markup
  3. We are now editing the document with Markup. In the bottom-right of the screen click the “+” icon and select Signature
  1. The “New Signature” window appears. Follow the instructions: using your finger sign your name along the line at the bottom of your screen. When you’re happy with your signature click Done at the top of the screen
  2. Your signature appears on the document. Drag your signature around using your finger and use the corners of the signature’s bounding box to resize it
  1. (Optional) Again, click the “+” icon in the bottom-right but this time select Text. “Text” appears in the middle of your document. Tap “Text” and select Edit to change the text to something like your printed name or date. Tap on your document to remove focus from the text box when you’re happy with its contents
    1. Similar to your signature move the text around using your finger. To change the size of the font tap on your text box and click the “aA” icon in the bottom-left of the screen. Use the slider to decrease or increase the text box’s font size
  1. When finished with all markups, signature and text, click Done in the top-left of the screen. You should be back in your note with the marked up document visible
  2. Click and hold the document to make the options menu appear where you can share the document to apps on your iPhone such as Messages, Outlook, Mail, or Gmail. Below is an example of sharing a test document with Outlook

Please note, that although the original scanned document will appear in Photos the marked up document will not. You will need to share the signed document via another app (step 8) to send it to others.