Scan a book

Book saves you from photographing each page of an open book separately. Take one photo of the two facing pages and Paperwise splits it at the fold into two clean pages.

What it is

Book is a guided camera for open books, notebooks and magazines:

A wide frame with a dashed line down the middle shows where to put the spread and its fold.
From one photo, Paperwise makes two pages, left then right, in reading order.
The split and the clean-up happen on your iPhone.
The result is a normal two-page document: you can read its text, search it, edit it and export it like any scan.

When to use it

Recipes, a chapter you need for class, a page of a manual.
Notebooks and diaries that lie open.
Anything bound that you can’t feed through a scanner.

For a single loose page, use Scan. It handles one page at a time better.

Step by step

Tap + at the bottom of the Vault.
Under Capture, tap Book.
Open the book flat and hold your iPhone above it, in the same direction as the frame.
“Line up the fold with the dashed line.” Tap the shutter.
Paperwise shows “Splitting…” and then the two pages, Page 1 and Page 2.
Check them:
- Tap Save as document to keep them.
- Tap Retake to take the photo again.
The new document opens, with both pages.

You can also choose a photo of a spread you already took: tap Photos next to the shutter.

If you started from a folder, the document is filed there. Otherwise it goes into your vault and shows in All items.

Free and Pro

Book is free.

Pro: with Name and sort new scans on, AI names the new document and gives it a type, so it lands on a shelf (book pages go on Work and school). On the Free plan you’ll find it in All items.

Privacy

The photo is split and cleaned up on your iPhone. Nothing is uploaded to do it.
Text recognition also runs on your iPhone, after you save.
In your vault, the document is encrypted by Paperwise with its own key, kept on this iPhone only; Face ID guards the app when the app lock is on. Hidden adds keys only Face ID, your Hidden passcode or your recovery key open.

Tips

Press the book open gently so the pages lie as flat as possible near the fold.
Even light from above works best; avoid your own shadow across the pages.
To scan several spreads into one document, scan each spread with Book, then combine them with + → Merge scans. See Merge scans and convert a file.
To fix a page afterwards (crop, rotate, filter), open the document and use Edit. See Edit pages.

What if…

What if the split is in the wrong place?

Tap Retake and line the fold up with the dashed line. Hold the phone straight above the book, not at an angle.

What if splitting fails?

You’ll see a message and Try again. If it keeps failing, retake the photo with more light.

What if I closed the screen by mistake?

If the pages were ready, Paperwise asks Discard these pages? Tap Keep them to go back.

What if I only need one of the two pages?

Save the document, then tap Edit → Crop, rotate and filter, go to the page you don’t need, tap Delete and Save.