Pages and Text

Every scanned document opens on one screen with two views: Pages, to look at the paper itself, and Text, to read and copy what’s written on it. The text is recognised on your iPhone.

What it is

When you open a document you see, from top to bottom:

The title. Tap it to rename the document.
A meta line: a small type tag (for example “Bill”), an AI badge if AI has read the document, then the number of pages and the date, such as “2 pages · 27 Oct 2026”. A document marked Never send to AI also shows “No AI” here.
A link row, only while a share link to this document is live: “Link · expires in 3 days · 2 of 5 opens left”, with Turn off.
Pages | Text, a two-way switch.
Below the pages, a short summary, key facts and tags, when the AI helper has read the document (Pro).
A floating toolbar at the bottom: Edit, Markup, Ask, Share and ••• (More).

When to use it

To check a scan: is every page there, sharp and the right way up?
To read a long document comfortably, or zoom in on small print.
To copy an account number, an address or a whole page of text into another app.
To send the text alone, as a plain .txt file.

Step by step

Open a document

On the Vault, tap a shelf, a folder, All items or a search result.
Tap the document.

If the document is an ID, a medical paper, a bank statement or a tax paper, Paperwise asks for Face ID first, whether or not the app lock is on. See Protected documents, Never send to AI and Hidden.

Look at the pages

Make sure Pages is selected.
Swipe left and right to move between pages. Under the pages you see “Page 2 of 5”.
Tap a page to open it full screen. Pinch to zoom in, then tap the close button (×) in the corner to go back.

Signatures and annotations you added with Markup are drawn on the pages, in the full-screen view too.

Read and copy the text

Tap Text.
The text of each page appears in order. With several pages, each has its own heading (“Page 1”, “Page 2”, and so on).
To copy part of it, touch and hold a word, then drag the handles.
To copy everything, tap Copy all. You see “Copied”.
To send the text as a file, tap Share .txt and pick an app or a person.

While Paperwise is still reading a fresh scan, you see “Reading the text on your pages…” and grey placeholder lines. This usually takes a few seconds.

Read handwriting with AI (Pro)

The text Paperwise recognises on the iPhone is good with print and weaker with handwriting. With Pro and the AI helper on (it’s off on new installs; turn it on in Account → AI helper), you can ask AI to read the pages again:

Tap Ask, then Read handwriting. You can also tap Read again with AI (handwriting) at the bottom of the Text view.
The first time you use AI on this document in a session, a sheet explains what is sent. Tap Continue to go ahead, or Cancel.
When AI is done you see “Text updated”, and the Text view shows the new reading.

The Read again with AI (handwriting) button doesn’t appear while the AI helper is off, or when the document is marked Never send to AI. In the Ask menu, Read handwriting is always listed; with the AI helper off, tapping it shows “AI features are off. Turn them on in Account → AI helper.”

Summary and key facts (Pro)

If the AI helper named and sorted the document, a card under the pages shows a short summary and key facts, such as an amount or a due date. Tap a fact to copy it. Tags appear below the card.

Free and Pro

	Free	Pro
Pages view, full screen and zoom	Yes	Yes
Text recognised on the iPhone, Copy all, Share .txt	Yes	Yes
Read handwriting with AI	No	Yes
Summary, key facts and AI naming	No	Yes

Privacy

Page clean-up and text recognition run on your iPhone. They work offline and send nothing.
Everything Paperwise stores on your iPhone (pages, thumbnails and the database of titles, text, notes and tags) is encrypted with its own key, kept in this iPhone’s Keychain for this device only. Readable copies exist only while you view, edit or share. For papers that need more, use Hide: Hidden adds keys only Face ID, your Hidden passcode or your recovery key open.
Read handwriting is the exception, and only when you start it: the stored page images go to our server and on to our AI provider (OpenAI) to be read. Before AI first reads a document we tell you it isn’t fully private. OpenAI doesn’t train on this data, but under its standard terms it may keep requests for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring. A document that has used AI shows a small AI badge.
When you tap a key fact, the copy stays on this device (no Universal Clipboard) and is cleared after 60 seconds. Copy all also stays on this device (no Universal Clipboard) and is cleared after 10 minutes, long enough to paste it. Text you select and copy yourself uses the normal iOS clipboard.

Tips

The vault’s search looks through this same text, so a document you can read in Text is a document you can find.
To fix a crooked or dark page, use Edit → Crop, rotate and filter. See Edit pages.
To send a PDF whose text can be selected, use Share → Searchable PDF (Pro). See Searchable and password PDFs.

What if…

What if a page says “No text found on this page”?

Paperwise found no readable text, which is normal for a photo or a blank page. For a page with writing on it, try a sharper scan: Edit → Crop, rotate and filter, then Retake. For handwriting, try Ask → Read handwriting (Pro).

What if a page says “Paperwise couldn’t read this page”?

Text recognition failed on that page. Retake the page or scan it again in better light. More help in Scanning and text problems.

What if a page shows “Not cleaned up yet”?

The page is still being cleaned up, or clean-up stalled. Tap Retry next to the label. While pages are being cleaned up, the Share button is greyed out.

What if I don’t see Read handwriting?

It needs Pro and the AI helper turned on in Account → AI helper (it’s off on new installs). The button at the bottom of Text never appears for a document marked Never send to AI; in Ask, tapping it shows “This document is set to never be sent to AI.”