For the past 11 years, Google Drive has been a premier product from Google, providing cloud document storage services. Initially, people did not consider saving essential documents, but they later identified reasons such as preservation, legal protection, historical significance, and supporting decisions. People have shown interest in saving essential documents to ensure ease of access and searchability.
Recognizing the need to save essential documents, Google Drive recently released a unique feature that transforms your usual smartphone into a portable scanner. Although a few third-party apps exist for the same purpose, having an in-house solution provides a more confident smartphone experience. Additionally, Google Drive’s document scanner feature includes offline scanning, direct upload, and auto-capture capabilities. So, let us discuss everything about it.
Effortless Document Security: A Guide to Safeguarding Your Important Files with a Google Drive Document Scanner
Understanding Google Drive Document Scanner and Its Capabilities
A few days ago, Google Drive updated itself and added a new Document Scanner feature. This new feature includes automatic capture, manual capture, back-to-back shots, multi-page scanning, direct upload, manual adjustment, image optimization, and offline scanning. In terms of accessibility, the new document scanner is available for both Android and iOS devices.
Pre-requisites for Getting a Google Drive Document Scanner
After reading about the capabilities, you might be eager to use this scanner feature. But before that, clearly understanding the requirements would be beneficial. Being a Google product, it is mandatory to have a Google Drive account to use it. You might be surprised to know that this is the only requirement. Meanwhile, make sure you have a Google Drive account. If you do not, create one here.
Utilizing Google Drive Document Scanner for seamless Document Management
Note: Along with complying with the prerequisites, users who want to use the Google Drive Document Scanner feature must update their Google Drive app. There is no update regarding the document scanner feature’s availability for web users.
- Open the Google Drive app.
- On the home screen, look for the + button at the bottom.
- Select the scan option.
- Ensure the document is within the frame and capture it.
- Review the output and edit it as per your preference.
- Tap the Save button to preserve it as a PDF on your drive.
- That is it; you are done.
Organizing and managing scanned documents
Alongside the scanning feature, Google Drive offers more features that help you organize and manage your documents. You can create folders and categorize specific scanned documents in different spaces. For better reach, you can rename the files to locate them when needed. Additionally, you can use color coding and star documents and regularly review them. These are some considerable things that you can do with scanned documents to arrange them well.
Security and privacy considerations
When you scan your essential documents with the Google Drive Document Scanner feature, you might hesitate to scan them. After all, they are personalized for you, and there may be doubt about the exposure of such documents. However, you do not need to worry, as Google has introduced industry-standard encryption protocols, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS), to protect data in transit. Similarly, Google has added controls for data access and storage so people never regret using them.
class="wp-block-heading">Maximising Efficiency and Storage: Practical Tips for Google Drive Document Scanner
Before Google Drive’s Document Scanner feature, people checked out numerous third-party apps for document scanning. For that reason, some users who are new to such advanced scanning tools might face problems. Furthermore, I am sure many of your first experiences will be worse. For this, we have figured out and finalized a few tips that you should try to gain the best experience on your first attempt, so let us look at them.
- Ensure proper lighting to avoid shadows while scanning.
- Place the document squarely within the frame to get the best output.
- Align the document edges to get an appropriate scan.
- Use the app’s in-built image optimization to improve scan clarity, remove glare, and adjust brightness.
- Always use advanced search to refine your search.
- Apply different color codings to identify special scans.
Final Thoughts
Google Drive Document Scanner offers a user-friendly, secure solution for managing important documents. Its capabilities streamline the scanning process, providing efficient storage on the trusted Google Drive platform. By embracing this tool, users benefit from convenience and ensure the security of their valuable files. It is a step towards organized and protected document management practices, enhancing overall productivity and peace of mind. Embrace the simplicity and security of the Google Drive Document Scanner for a seamless document storage experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Can Google Docs scan text?
Ans. Google Docs has OCR (Optical Character and Recognition) technology that helps it scan text from images.
Q2. Does Google have free OCR?
Ans. At present, there is no cost to using OCR on Google.
Q3. Can Google convert an image to text?
Ans. You can do this, as it is possible to do it through Google Drive.
Q4. Can I have a document read to me on Google Docs?
Ans. You can do that through the Accessibility option >> Speak option >> Speak selection.
