Scan Documents with Microsoft Lens

Microsoft Office Lens was an app that enabled users to take photos of whiteboards, business cards, and other documents. However, it was discontinued in early 2026, although users can still access scans previously created and stored on that device.

Microsoft recommends installing the OneDrive app instead and using its scan feature.

How to scan with the OneDrive app

1. 1. Open the OneDrive app on your mobile device.
   2. Select the ⁠+⁠ button on the bottom corner.
   3. Select Scan photo to scan your documents.
   4. Save it to your desired location in your OneDrive.

Note: OneDrive does not support saving scans locally on your device.

1. Download Office Lens to your phone or tablet.
   1. Office Lens is available on Android, Apple, and Windows devices.
2. Open Office Lens and permit it access to your photos and camera.
3. Select the appropriate material that is being scanned on the bottom of the app, i.e. Document, Whiteboard,  etc.
4. Line up the document on the screen, and wait for an orange box to appear around the intended object.
5. Press the White button on the bottom of the screen to take a picture.
6. (Optional setting) Adjust the document borders if needed by dragging the white corner circles to the corners of the document.
7. Office Lens will present a brightened more contrasted version of the image and several buttons on the bottom.
   1. Select the Add button (camera icon with a plus sign on it) to take additional pictures to be added to the same file. This is recommended for book chapters and PDFs.
   2. Filters allow for visual adjustment.
   3. Crop allows for adjusting of the document borders and Rotate allows for correcting the orientation of the document.
   4. More includes Ink for drawing markup and Text for typing markup.
   5. Select Done to complete the image capture.
8. Select which file format in which to export the images.
   1. The default method is PDF; be aware that manual text recognition and correction might be needed (“PDF Tagging”).
   2. A Word (OCR Document) can also be created from recognized text; always review text to ensure 100% accuracy.
   3. Additional file types can be used once signed into Office Lens.
9. After saving the PDF, Office Lens will take you to a location named My Scans. Press and hold on the file you mean to send.
10. Select the share icon on the top right to share the file.