The Scan button and the + sheet

Everything you add to Paperwise starts from two buttons at the bottom of your lists: Scan and +. Scan does one thing, fast. + opens the Add sheet, where every other way in is laid out as a labelled tile.

What it is

On the iPhone, a small floating bar sits at the bottom of the Vault, every shelf, every folder and All items:

Scan: the blue pill. One tap opens the camera to scan a document. There’s no long-press menu and no hidden options; it always does the same thing.
+: the round button next to it (VoiceOver reads it as “Add”). It opens the Add to your vault sheet.

The bar steps aside while you’re selecting items, and comes back when you’re done.

What’s on the Add sheet

At the top is a large Scan document button (“Edges, clean-up and text, on this iPhone”). It does the same as the Scan pill. Below it, the tiles are grouped:

Group	Tiles	What each does
Capture	Photo	A plain photo, kept as it is. See Take a photo.
	ID card	Front and back of a card on one real-size page. See Scan an ID card.
	Book	One photo of an open book, split into two pages. See Scan a book.
	QR code	Reads QR codes and barcodes. See Read a QR code or barcode.
	Count objects	Pro. AI counts things in a photo. Only shown while the AI helper is on. See Count objects.
	Scan with iPhone	iPad only. Explains how a scan made on your iPhone reaches the iPad. See Scan with iPhone on iPad.
Create	Note	A new note. See Write a note.
	Checklist	A note that starts as a checklist. See Make a checklist.
	Card	A loyalty or membership card. See Add a loyalty or membership card.
Import	From Photos	Turns photos from your Photos library into a scan. See Import from Photos.
	From Files	Adds any file, kept as the original. See Import from Files.
	By email	Pro. Opens Forward by email, where you see, copy or set up your private address. See Forward by email.
Make from what you have	Merge scans	Combines scan documents into one, in the order you tap them. See Merge scans and convert a file.
	Convert a file	A document to Word, Excel or PowerPoint, or a PDF or Office file into a scan. See Merge scans and convert a file.

Tiles for Pro features show a small Pro label on the Free plan. Tapping one opens the plans screen.

When to use it

Tap Scan for paper: letters, receipts, forms, contracts.
Tap + for anything else: a photo, a card, a note, a file, or to work with documents you already have.

Step by step

Scan a page in one tap

Tap Scan at the bottom of the Vault (or any shelf, folder or All items).
The camera opens. Scan your pages, then save. See Scan a document.

Add something else

Tap +.
The Add to your vault sheet slides up. Tap a tile.
The sheet closes and the camera, picker or editor opens.

Where new items land

It depends on where you were when you tapped Scan or +:

Inside a folder: what you make goes into that folder. The sheet says so at the top: “New items go in” followed by the folder’s name. This applies to scans, ID cards, books, photos, notes, checklists, cards and imports from Photos or Files.
On the Vault, a shelf or All items: the new item goes into your vault, not into a folder. A shelf is a way of sorting, not a place, so scanning from the Money shelf doesn’t put the scan on Money by itself.

Paperwise then places it on a shelf by what it is: cards on Cards, notes on Notes, photos and videos on Photos and videos, other files on Files, ID cards on IDs and passports. A plain scan has no shelf until it has a type; you’ll always find it in All items. With Pro’s Name and sort new scans on, AI names and types new scans so they land on the right shelf. See Shelves.

On iPad

On an iPad in full screen or a wide window, there’s no floating bar. Scan and + sit in the navigation bar at the top of the list instead. You can also press ⌘N to scan. In a narrow window (Slide Over or a small Split View) the iPad uses the iPhone layout, floating bar included. See The iPad sidebar.

Inside Hidden

When Hidden is open, the bar changes: Camera opens the private camera and + offers Hidden’s own list (Scan document, From Files, Secure note, Move from Photos, Move from the vault…). Everything you add there goes straight into Hidden. See Add things to Hidden.

Free and Pro

Every tile is free except Count objects and By email, which are Pro. Word, Excel and PowerPoint conversion is free; the Keep the layout option for Word and Excel is Pro.

Privacy

Scanning, clean-up and text recognition happen on your iPhone. Adding something from the Add sheet doesn’t send it anywhere. Two tiles can send content off the phone, and both ask first: Count objects sends the photo to our AI provider, and Convert a file sends pages to our server when you make a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file (or, for an Office file your iPhone can’t convert into a scan, the file itself). See What AI sees and keeps.

Tips

If you scan the same kind of paper often, open its folder first and tap Scan there. It’ll be filed for you.
The empty Vault shows Scan and Add buttons in the middle of the screen. They do the same as the bar.

What if…

What if I don’t see Count objects?

It only appears when the AI helper is on. Turn it on in Account → AI helper. See Turn on the AI helper.

What if I don’t see Scan with iPhone?

That tile is on iPad only.

What if I long-press Scan and nothing happens?

That’s expected. Scan has no long-press menu. Use + for every other way to add.

What if my scan didn’t go into the folder I was looking at?

New items land in a folder only when you tapped Scan or + inside that folder. A scan you resume after Paperwise was closed goes into your vault. Move it with ••• → Add to folder.