NVIL // Scan TOOL-002 // Private document scanner
Scan documents.
Not your privacy.
Turn paper documents into clean PDF files directly in your browser. Point your phone at the page, capture, straighten, clean up, add more pages and download. Camera frames and scanned pages are processed on this device and are not uploaded to NVIL.
- Local processing
- No account
- No upload
- Free export
NVIL // Scan
Camera access
NVIL Scan needs camera access to photograph your document. Camera data stays on this device: frames are read into this page, never uploaded, and the camera stops the moment you leave the scanner.
This browser does not offer camera access here, so the scanner works from photos instead. Take a photo with your camera app and upload it.
Looking for a document
No pages yet. Scan a page with the camera or add an image from your device.
Page 01
How it works
Point. Capture. Download.
Open the camera
Allow camera access when you are ready. The scanner prefers the rear camera on a phone and looks for the edges of the page as you hold it over the document. On a computer, use a webcam or upload a photo.
Capture and correct
Capture the page. The four corners are detected and shown for you to check; drag any of them if the detection is off. The photo is then straightened so the trapezoid becomes a flat rectangle, and cleaned up so the paper reads white and the text dark.
Add pages and export
Scan the next page, reorder, rotate or rescan any of them, then create a PDF and download it, or open it straight in NVIL PDF to fill and sign. Single pages export as JPG or PNG.
What you can do
A scanner, not a photo.
Edge detection
The page outline is found in your browser from the picture itself: edges, the paper against the desk, and the shape that makes the most sense as a sheet. Manual corners are always one drag away.
Perspective correction
A page photographed at an angle is remapped to a flat rectangle, not just cropped, so lines run straight and the proportions are right.
Cleanup modes
Original, Color, Grayscale, Document and B&W. Document mode evens out the lighting, pulls the paper to white and keeps ink dark while stamps and signatures keep their colour, with a Low, Medium or High cleanup setting.
Multi-page documents
Scan a contract page by page. Thumbnails show the order; drag to reorder or use the Move buttons, rotate, delete, rescan one page, or add an existing photo into the same document.
PDF and image export
A PDF with your pages in order, sized to the document or to a Letter or A4 sheet, at a Standard or High quality. Any page can also be downloaded as a JPG or PNG. Free, no watermark.
Continue in NVIL PDF
Open the finished scan in NVIL PDF to fill fields, add text or sign it. The hand-off happens inside your browser; nothing is sent to a server on the way.
Privacy // local processing
Your scans never leave your device.
The camera stream, every captured frame, the corrected pages and the PDF exist only in this browser tab. Processing runs in a web worker served from nvil.co. While you scan, the only requests your browser makes are for the scanner's own code, and analytics receives event names with rounded page counts and file-size ranges, never an image, a file name or anything read from a document. Photos you upload are re-encoded before export, so camera make, GPS position and other embedded metadata do not travel into the files you download.
- Camera uploaded
- No
- Scans uploaded
- No
- Stored by NVIL
- No
- Account required
- No
- Processing
- Your device
- Export
- Free
Straight answers
What this version does not do.
- It does not read the text.
There is no OCR in this version, so the PDF is an image of each page and is not searchable. Text recognition that stays on your device is on the list; cloud OCR is not.
- Detection is a suggestion.
Edges are found from the picture. Low contrast between the paper and the desk, strong shadows or a page that runs off the frame can throw it off, which is why the corners are always adjustable by hand.
- Capture quality is the camera's.
Pages are captured at the resolution the browser's camera stream provides, which is enough for readable letters and receipts. For fine print, hold the phone closer and keep it still.
- Pages live in this tab.
Nothing is saved anywhere unless you download it. Reloading or closing the tab discards the document, and the browser warns you first.
Questions
Does it use my camera without asking?
No. The camera is requested only after you press Allow camera, and your browser shows its own permission prompt. The scanner stops the camera when you leave the camera view, switch tabs or close the page.
Where are my scans processed?
On your device, inside this page. The detection, straightening and cleanup run in a web worker in your browser. The PDF is assembled by pdf-lib, the same library NVIL PDF uses, also in your browser.
Is anything stored?
Not by the scanner. If you choose Edit in NVIL PDF, the finished file is placed in your browser's own temporary storage for the moment it takes to open the editor, which deletes it as it reads it. Anything left behind, for example if you closed the tab in between, expires within ten minutes.
What about the photo's location data?
Photos from a phone can carry EXIF metadata such as the camera model and GPS position. The scanner reads the orientation so the page is the right way up, then re-encodes every page from pixels, so that metadata is not in the exported files.
How many pages can I scan?
As many as your device's memory allows. Each page is kept as compressed images, and the tool warns you when a long document is getting heavy on a phone. Twenty-page contracts are routine on current phones.
Which browsers are supported?
Current versions of Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox on desktop and mobile. Camera access needs a secure connection, which nvil.co provides. The torch button appears only where the browser exposes it.