Microsoft Lens: PDF Scanner

Everything works well enough for daily uses. I use it to scan and store most paper notes, receipts, documents, magazine clips... Most of the times the app detects the boundaries of the document and automatically crops the scanned image to remove unwanted background. However, sometimes when the contrast between the background and the document is not high enough and/or the light level is low, the app cannot tell where the boundaries are and keeps switching around and snaps on to the wrong boundary lines. I try to move & adjust the phone to different angles & positions to get the app to snap on the correct boundaries but before I can hit the button it switches away to the wrong ones again. If it cannot determine where the correct boundaries are then it should just pick one and allow the user to cycle through the options until he/she finds the correct one. Miscrosoft should add the annotate option after the picture is taken to hi-lite, circle, underline or add a quick note to the scanned image.

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I received a great promo for Lens because I have an office subscription. It made me want to love Lens. But Lens is lacking features that I use all the time when scanning documents. The biggest problem is that it lacks important editing features, such as the ability to change a color document to B/W, and the ability to lighten or darken a document. Second, when I input images from my device (camera roll) into Lens, I must do it one page at a time. I am used to being able to select a number of images at once. (I use that scanner feature frequently to combine PDFs. (I convert the PDFs to images, and then bring the images (PDF pages) into my scanner app and make a new PDF.) Lastly, my old app will capture a page as soon as it detects the edges, without my having to touch the shutter button, but Lens doesn’t. That feature makes it easier to hold the device while scanning and it allows me to scan multiple pages quickly. Lens might offer new functionality for people who want to scan whiteboards. I don’t know and I don’t need that ability. For those of us who deal heavily with documents, Lens needs to step up its game. I can already easily send scans to one note (as an image or a pdf) so switching to Lens would not help me. I will hold off using Lens for now.

I was actually impressed by this app. I usually use my normal camera to take notes for class, but this app enhances that. The most impressive thing I noticed about this app is how you can easily take a photo from the sides and it straightens it out with no image issues whatsoever. A minor issue I did notice however is that the user would have to manually turn off the Auto setting for the flash for every picture they wish to take. While this might be helpful for lighting in photos, sometimes in certain situations (such as a dark classroom) the flash would not be appreciated by others and forgetting to turn it off might be a little embarrassing. Other than that, this app seems very well made and works as directed. Five stars from me.

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Upon initial installation, this app was my lifeline for college assignments but the more I used it the less functional it became. It started without being able to connect to my OneDrive, and then losing camera functionality altogether and now it won’t even run when I try to start it. Absolutely disappointed with the app at this point EDIT: I got a developer response so this is my reply, I’m on iPhone 6s Plus on the latest OS. (Not sure what the number is specifically). I have had camera issues in the past so I don’t believe it is your app not being able to open my camera. But when the app does work, it won’t save any PDFs to my one drive. Even if I uninstall and reinstall. Also even when it doesn’t open my camera, I still have the work around of going through to my camera library, but ever since the last update, the app won’t process me clicking the icons and takes forever to even open it. I’ve never had issues with device operation other than the camera being buggy but all my other apps work fine with no lag whatsoever

This has been my go-to app for some time now, and I ever since I began using it, I became a huge fan and have gotten many friends and colleagues hooked on this app. It used to be a 5-star app, but over the past few months it has become hit or miss on scanning documents. When in document scan mode, you visually see it detect all the edges properly; however, when you snap the image oftentimes it now cuts off a significant portion! What gives? I have deleted and reloaded the app, updated iOS, reviewed all settings, and it continues to happen. Previously this worked like magic. I didn't have to be careful of the angle or anything. I could quickly scan any document without fuss and it worked all the time. Sadly it's now less than 50/50 on capturing the entire document (despite it showing the correct edges onscreen). I am truly sad.