How to Scan a Document or Receipt to PDF on iPhone

An expense receipt, a signed rental form, a doctor’s note — you photograph it on your iPhone and now you need it as a PDF, not a random photo buried in your camera roll. Grabio’s “Photo → PDF” tool wraps that photo into a proper PDF in a couple of taps from the share sheet: on-device, free, and with no App Store app to download.

Why receipts and forms need to be PDFs, not photos

Expense tools, HR portals, and tax software mostly want a PDF upload field filled with a PDF, not a JPG. A photo also sits loose in your camera roll where it’s easy to lose track of, while a PDF has a clear file name and lives in Files where you can find it again. If you’re scanning several receipts for one expense report, having each one as its own named PDF beats scrolling through Photos trying to remember which screenshot was which.

How to turn a photographed document into a PDF on iPhone with Grabio

1. Add Grabio to your iPhone once — it’s a free Apple Shortcut. Get the free Shortcut here and it’s ready in a few seconds.
2. Photograph the receipt or form straight-on, with the whole page in frame and the phone held flat above it.
3. Open the photo in your Photos app and tap the Share button.
4. Scroll down the share sheet and tap Grabio.
5. Tap Photo → PDF from the Grabio menu.
6. Choose where to save it in the Files save dialog, then you’ll see “✓ Done — saved to Files.”

Is it private and free on iPhone?

Photo → PDF runs Apple’s native makePDF action entirely on your iPhone — nothing is uploaded anywhere, so it works even in airplane mode. Grabio is 100% free forever: no account, no login, no subscription, and no daily limit on how many documents you convert.

Scanning documents to PDF on iPhone: FAQ

Does Grabio straighten or crop the page automatically?

No. Photo → PDF wraps your photo into a PDF as-is — it doesn’t do edge detection or perspective correction the way a dedicated scanner app does. Take the photo straight-on with the page filling the frame and it’ll look fine; a crooked or angled shot will stay crooked in the PDF.

Can I combine multiple receipts into one PDF?

Not with Photo → PDF — it’s one photo per PDF. If you need to combine several scanned pages into a single file, Grabio’s Merge PDFs tool (in the PDF menu) handles that separately once you have your individual PDFs.

Does this change or delete my original photo?

No. The original photo stays untouched in your camera roll; Grabio creates a brand new PDF file and saves it wherever you choose in Files.

Related on iPhone: turn any photo into a PDF, merge PDF files, or PDF & Document Tools.