I’m trying to turn a handful of photos of handwritten notes into one PDF on my phone, and I need it done in the next ten minutes before I upload it to the class portal. The photos are big and I’m worried the file ends up too large to submit.
Annoying when you’re up against a deadline. On most phones, select the photos, tap Share or Print, then choose “Save as PDF”; before saving, pick a smaller paper size or lower quality if offered. I usually crop each photo first, as that cuts the file size a fair bit and makes the notes easier to read.
Had the same thing last month with some job site notes. I selected the photos in my gallery, tapped share, and chose print then save as PDF. That combined them into one file pretty quick. I dropped the quality in the preview so the size stayed small enough to upload.
On my iPhone I select the photos in Photos, tap Share, then Print, pinch the preview open, and share it as a PDF. That puts them all in one file, and mine stayed small enough. If it is still too big, crop the photos or use lower-res copies first.
I shoot photos of change orders on my phone all the time. The fastest method I know is using pdfcap.com right in your mobile browser. Just select your photos, and it will combine them into one PDF whilst keeping the file size small. It should easily take less than five minutes. Did you manage to get your notes uploaded in time?
@nicholasb23 That pinch open trick on the preview is the same one I show patrons at the library, works a treat on iPhones. One tip: after saving, check the file size in your Files app before uploading so there’s no surprises at the portal. One thing to avoid: don’t re-screenshot the photos to shrink them, I learned that the hard way and ended up with blurry pages.
on most phones, open the gallery app and select all the photos, then choose print and set the printer to “save as PDF” if that option appears. also check whether your gallery app has a “create PDF” option.
after saving, check the file size in the files app. if it’s too big, try reducing the photos to medium resolution before making the PDF. if your phone doesn’t offer those options, a computer is usually the quickest fallback, even if it’s less convenient.
Most phone cameras apps let you pick multiple photos and export as one PDF, that alone usually shrinks the size a lot already.
- Select all the photos in your gallery
- Share > Print > Save as PDF
- Check file size before uploading
Keep the original photos as backup just in case you need to redo it.
@henry2010 That browser approach is handy when the phone gallery won’t cooperate, I’ve used something similar on deadline. My one addition from hard experience: crop each photo to just the notes first, since big margins around the page are what push the size up. Then check the size in Files before you hit submit, and keep the originals until the portal confirms the upload.