How 2...Turn your camera phone into a portable scanner

Etan Horowitz | Sentinel Staff Writer

January 26, 2008

ScanR lets you use your cell phone's camera to scan receipts, business cards and other documents and upload them to the Web so you can manage them later.

For best results, use a cell phone with at least a 2-megapixel camera. ScanR offers five free uploads per month and you can pay for more. To use the service you must be able to send picture messages or e-mails from your phone. Standard messaging rates apply.

1. Go to scanr.com and click on "Sign Up." Fill out the blank fields, check the box to agree to the terms of service and click "Sign up."

2. Take a picture with your camera phone and send it to the appropriate e-mail address: bc@scanr.com for business cards, wb@scanr.com for dry-erase boards or whiteboards and doc@scanr.com for documents.

You can also take a picture with your digital camera, upload it to your computer and e-mail it to the appropriate scanR e-mail address. If you need help, read the tips for taking pictures on the scanR Web site.

3. Wait for the automated message from scanR to arrive on your cell phone, go back to your computer and enter the activation code from the message into the blank field and click "Activate." You are now able to scan and upload pictures from your cell phone to the scanR Web site.

4. You'll get another message on your phone letting you know that the image you scanned and sent to scanR has been saved in your account on the scanR Web site. You can view every image you send to scanR by clicking on "My Scans." You can also have scanR fax your image scans by sending images to docs@scanr.com and putting the fax number in the subject line of the message.

5. Once your scans are uploaded you can download the images in several different formats including as PDFs, text files or even as a vCard so you can import a contact into your address book without having to type in the information from the business card. If you want to receive e-mail copies of your uploads, log into your ScanR account, click on "My Account," then click on "Settings" and turn e-mail delivery on by clicking on "Edit."