Board or screen

Board or screen is a camera for things that aren’t paper: a whiteboard at the end of a class, a flip chart in a meeting, a laptop screen, a TV or a projected slide. Paperwise straightens what you shoot and cleans it up for its kind, all on your iPhone.

What it is

The camera has a switch at the top: Whiteboard · Screen or slide. Paperwise remembers your last choice on this iPhone.

A blue outline follows the board or screen it finds in view. The shutter never fires by itself, because a board is often partly hidden by people or furniture.
Whiteboard pages start with the Whiteboard look: the board turns clean white, uneven light and reflections are flattened, faint traces of old marker go, and blue, red and green markers stay clearly blue, red and green.
Screen or slide pages start with Auto, which keeps the screen’s colours and makes it clearer. A dark slide stays dark. Paperwise also removes screen patterns: the rainbow waves and fine grid a camera picks up from a screen.
A screen is straightened to its real shape (16:9, 16:10, 4:3 or 21:9 when it’s close to one), so a slide becomes a slide-shaped page, not a slide floating on A4.

Each shot is added to the same scan, so a lecture’s boards become one document.

When to use it

The whiteboard after a class or a meeting, photographed from your seat at an angle.
A slide at a talk, or a chart on someone’s laptop.
A flip chart page before it’s torn off.

For paper, use Scan instead: it’s tuned for pages.

Step by step

Tap +, then under Capture tap Board or screen. Or tap Tools, then Board or screen under Capture.
Choose Whiteboard or Screen or slide at the top.
Point at the board or screen and wait for the blue outline to frame it. The hint at the bottom helps: “Fit the board in view” or “Fit the screen in view”.
Tap the shutter. Take as many shots as you need.
Tap Done (it shows how many pages you took). Review opens, the same screen as after any scan.
Check each page, change its look if you like, then tap Save.

The new document goes on the Work and school shelf, typed as Whiteboard or Slides. Its details line says “Whiteboard” or “Screen or slide”.

Helpful buttons on the camera

2× zooms in. On a screen, it often makes the patterns disappear before they’re captured.
Photos takes a picture you already have instead, in the same mode.
Close leaves the camera.

Hints you may see

“Step to the side to avoid reflections”: a light is reflecting off the board. Move a little to the side and shoot again.
“Move back a little or zoom in 2× to reduce screen patterns”: the camera sees a strong pattern on the screen.

Screen patterns on any page

On Review (and Edit → Crop, rotate and filter on a saved document), tap Filter. Under the looks there’s a Clean-up chip, Screen patterns:

Auto (the default): on for Screen or slide shots (“Auto (on)”); on other pages, only when Paperwise is sure it found a screen pattern (“Auto · Found”).
On: always clean this page.
Off: never clean this page.

Turn on Apply to all pages first to set every page at once.

Into a private vault

On Review, turn on Save to a vault before you save, as for any scan. Inside a vault, + → Board or screen scans straight into that vault. See Add things to a vault.

Free and Pro

Board or screen, the Whiteboard look and screen-pattern removal are free.

Privacy

Everything runs on your iPhone: finding the board, straightening it, the looks and screen-pattern removal. Nothing is sent to our server.
The camera preview is looked at in memory to draw the outline, and never saved.
Your shots follow the same rules as any scan: readable only while you scan, then encrypted by Paperwise with its own key when you save. A scan going into a vault can’t be screenshotted.

Tips

Shoot from as straight in front as you can. Paperwise corrects the angle, but small writing far away stays small.
Turn the room lights’ reflections away by moving sideways, not by using the flash.
When you share a board or a slide, the Share sheet starts on Fit to scan, so the PDF page has the same shape as the board or the screen.
The Whiteboard look is also in the look strip for any scan, and you can make it your default in Account → Scanning → Default look.

What if…

What if the outline doesn’t appear?

Paperwise couldn’t find a clear edge, which happens with frameless boards and walls. Take the shot anyway, then use Crop on Review to drag the corners into place.

What if some writing is missing?

Writing that a reflection washed out completely can’t be brought back. Take another shot from a little to the side.

What if a screen still shows waves?

Set Screen patterns to On for that page. Next time, step back a little or use 2×. Very fine patterns at the same size as small text can’t always be fully separated.

What if my slide came out grey or too bright?

Open the page on Review, tap Filter and try Original or another look.