Ledge

How to scan a document with an iPhone straight into a Mac folder

· 6 min read

Control-click inside the Finder folder where you want the scan, choose Import from iPhone or iPad, then Scan Documents. The iPhone’s camera opens by itself. Scan the pages, tap Save, and a PDF appears in that folder on the Mac. There is no cable, no app to install and no emailing the scan to yourself.

What you need

This is Continuity Camera, a feature built into macOS and iOS. It works when:

  • The Mac and the iPhone are signed in to the same Apple Account, with two-factor authentication turned on.
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are switched on for both devices.
  • The two are near each other.

Nothing has to be set up in advance beyond that. If your iPhone already answers calls on your Mac or shares its clipboard with it, the scanning will work too.

Scan into a Finder folder

  1. On the Mac, open the folder where the scan should go. The desktop works as well.
  2. Control-click an empty part of the window. The same menu is under the Action pop-up menu in the Finder toolbar.
  3. Choose Import from iPhone or iPad > Scan Documents. If you own more than one device, each is listed with its own Scan Documents command; pick the one in your hand.
  4. Pick up the iPhone. The camera is already open in scanning mode. Hold it over the page. In Auto mode it captures as soon as it finds the edges of the paper. If it does not, tap the shutter button, drag the corners to fit the page and tap Keep Scan.
  5. Turn to the next page and repeat. Every page you scan goes into the same document.
  6. Tap Save on the iPhone.
  7. Back on the Mac, a PDF appears in the folder. It arrives with a generic name, so rename it now while you still remember what it is.

A few habits make a visible difference to the result. Put the page on a flat surface that contrasts with the paper: white paper on a dark table is ideal. Use even light and keep the phone’s own shadow off the page. Before you tap Save, tap the thumbnail of the scanned pages on the phone to check them, and retake any that are cut off or blurred.

Scan straight into an app instead

The same command exists in several Apple apps, including Mail, Notes, Preview and TextEdit. Look for Import from iPhone or iPad in the File menu, or Control-click at the spot where the scan should go. In a new Mail message the scan lands in the message body. In Preview it opens as a new document for you to save.

That is the shortest path when the scan has exactly one destination. The cost is that the scan then exists only inside that message or note. If someone else asks for the same document next week, you have to dig it back out. Scanning into a folder first leaves you with a file you can send as many times as you need and keep with your records.

If the menu item is missing or does nothing

  • Check the account. Both devices must use the same Apple Account. Compare the name at the top of System Settings on the Mac with the name at the top of Settings on the iPhone.
  • Check the radios. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth must both be on, on both devices. Bluetooth is the one people switch off and forget.
  • Wake the phone. Unlock the iPhone and keep it close to the Mac, then try the command again.
  • Use a real folder. The command creates a file, so it needs a place where a file can be created. Views such as Recents are search results, not folders, and do not offer it.
  • Restart both. If everything looks right and the phone still does not react, restarting the Mac and the iPhone is the dull fix that usually works.

Getting the scan to the person who asked for it

A scan is almost never for you. It is for a landlord, an accountant, a school or an HR portal, which means the folder it landed in is a stop along the way.

Ledge makes that last leg short. Drag the new PDF up to the notch at the top of the screen and let go; it lands on a shelf that drops from the notch and stays there. Switch to wherever it is going, open the shelf with Option-Space or a click on the notch, and drag the PDF off. Dropped on a chat app, it uploads. Dropped on a Finder window, the file itself moves into that folder, which is how you file it with your records afterward. You never choose a format; each destination receives the form it can use.

The shelf earns its place most when you scan in batches. Ten receipts scanned one at a time become ten PDFs. Gather them on the shelf as they arrive, then hand them over together once the message or the upload page is ready, instead of going back to the folder ten times. Getting a file into a web upload field fast covers portals and forms, and how to attach a file to an email in one drag covers Mail.

To be plain about the limits: Ledge does not scan, does not talk to your iPhone and does not carry files between devices. Continuity Camera does the scanning and gets the PDF onto the Mac; Ledge only holds the file once it is there. It does not read or index what is in the scan either. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and on a Mac without a notch the shelf sits at the top center of the screen.

That matters for the sort of thing people scan. Passports, tax forms and signed contracts should not pass through a service you did not choose. Ledge has no account and no cloud, and files never leave the Mac through it. The scan goes to the one place you drop it.

Questions

What format is the scan?

A PDF, with every page from one scanning session in a single file. If you want a picture instead, choose Take Photo from the same menu and an image file is saved in the folder.

Can I add a page to a scan later?

Yes. Scan the extra page as its own PDF. Open both PDFs in Preview with View > Thumbnails showing, and drag the new page from one sidebar into the other. How to drag a single page out of a PDF on a Mac explains the thumbnail sidebar in more detail.

Is the text in the scan searchable?

The PDF holds pictures of the pages. On recent versions of macOS, Preview can often recognize the text in those pictures so you can select and copy it, but accuracy depends on the quality of the scan. Check anything you copy.

Does this work with an iPad?

Yes. The menu lists any nearby iPhone or iPad that meets the requirements, and the steps on the device are the same.