Paperbay
Scan documents to PDF · Free productivity app
- Works offline
- Private: stays on your device
- No account or sign-up
Paperbay is a free document scanner that runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer: it finds a page's edges with the camera, flattens and cleans it, and saves a searchable PDF, with no account and nothing uploaded.
About Paperbay
A document scanner that works in your browser, with everything kept on your device. Point your phone's camera at a page: Paperbay finds its edges as you hold it, takes the picture by itself once you hold still, and is ready for the next page. Or choose photos you already have. Each page is flattened to its true shape, turned the right way up and evened out so shadows and yellow lamplight go, then shown in colour, greyscale or crisp black and white, with a strength slider; drag the corners with a magnifier if a page needs it. Put pages in order by dragging, name your documents and find them later by any word on them, because Paperbay reads the text on your device in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or Dutch and adds it to the PDF as an invisible layer you can search, select and copy. Each scan takes a name from its own words, like "Invoice 1042, Harbour Joinery, 3 Nov 2026". Put both sides of an ID card on one page at its real size, split a photo of an open book into two pages, and join or split scans. Save a PDF in A4, US Letter or the scan's own shape at the file size you need, or JPEG or PNG pictures, and share it or save it. Or send it straight to another free Yuzool app on your device: sign it in PDF Tools and get the signed copy back, lock it in Lockbox, black out details in Redact, keep it in Receipts, listen to it in Read Aloud, or open a bill's lines as a spreadsheet in Gridwork. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account. Pro adds folders, your signature on pages, password-protected PDFs and more paper sizes with margins.
- Edges found live, and Auto takes the picture when you hold still
- Pages flattened, turned upright and cleaned: colour, greyscale or black and white
- Shadows evened out, with a local threshold for crisp black and white
- Searchable PDFs: the text read on your device in seven languages
- Find any scan by a word on its pages, named from its own text
- ID card mode and book mode; join and split scans
- Send it on: sign in PDF Tools, lock in Lockbox, redact, Receipts, Gridwork
- PDF in A4, US Letter or the scan's shape; JPEG and PNG too
- Nothing uploaded, no account, unlimited pages
Screenshots
Price
Free to use. Optional one-time upgrade: Paperbay Pro, $2.99 (no subscription), or every upgrade in every Yuzool app with Yuzool Plus, $19.99 once. Works on iPhone, Android, Mac and PC in your browser; add it to your Home Screen to open it like an app.
Quick answers
- Is Paperbay free?
- Yes. Scanning, every look (colour, greyscale, black and white), unlimited pages and documents, searchable PDFs in every language it reads, JPEG and PNG and Send to are free. Paperbay Pro adds folders, your signature, password-protected PDFs and more paper sizes.
- Are my scans uploaded?
- No. The edge finding, the clean-up and the text reading all happen on your device; the text reader and its language download once from Yuzool and then work offline. Your scans are kept in this browser only.
- Can it make a searchable PDF?
- Yes. Turn on Searchable text and the words read on each page go into the PDF as an invisible layer, so you can search, select and copy them in any PDF app.
- Which languages can Paperbay read?
- English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch. Handwriting reads poorly, so check names and numbers before relying on them.
- Can I sign a scan or send it to another app?
- Yes. Send to another app hands the PDF to PDF Tools to sign (the signed copy comes back to share or save) or to Lockbox to lock with a password, a page to Redact or Receipts, the text to Read Aloud or Grammar Check, and a bill's lines to Gridwork as a spreadsheet. It all stays on your device.
- Can I scan both sides of an ID card onto one page?
- Yes. Scan the front and back, then turn on ID card in Share or save: both go on one sheet of A4 or Letter at a card's real size (85.6 × 54 mm).
- Does it work without the camera?
- Yes. Choose photos you already have (several at once, or drop them on the page) and each goes through the same edge finding and clean-up.
- Do I need to sign up or download Paperbay?
- No: it opens in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, with no account.
