Photo Editing With Pic Scanner Gold

Photo editing tools in Pic Scanner Gold are quite amazing. You can use them to edit scanned photos, as well as those imported from Photos app. Here are a few fun examples of photo editing – try out these tools if you haven’t already.

Splash tool – selective recoloring

Splash tool is used for selective recoloring. Select a photo, then tap Splash. The photo will turn B&W. Now choose either smart color or free color mode, and use your finger to restore color only to the parts you want. Use eraser to remove any unwanted coloring. This kind of photo editing is great for focusing viewers’ attention on one or two specific items in a photograph.

Frame your photos

Frames add body to your photos. Our photo editing toolkit includes a selection of beautifully designed frames and borders to enhance your photos before you post them on Facebook or other social media. Go to Edit > Frames, then tap either Original or Signature range. Try out the various options available. When you find the right one, tap Apply.

Embed text in photos

Text in photos: There are two ways to add text to photos:

1) Caption: Tap Captions icon (to the right of Edit) > Add date, place, other info. This info can be viewed as an overlay over the photos from within the app, and also in Shareable Albums. It cannot be exported, but is non destructive i.e. not embedded in photo.

2) Text: Use this to EMBED text on a photo (As in a poster). Edit > Text > type whatever you want > Done > drag the text anywhere, or resize / rotate it as needed > Apply > Done.

Pic Scanner Gold includes many other photo editing tools, such as overlays, memes, vignette, effects (filters), and adjustments for lighting, color, focus etc. Explore and thou shalt be rewarded with beautifully revitalized memories.

(Note that after you finish editing photos, you need to tap Apply to see how your edits will look, and then Done to save those edits. Once you tap Done, the changes become irreversible – so before doing it, make sure you are happy with them.

Any questions, email us or message us via Facebook (www.facebook.com/picscanner)

Pic Scanner to Pic Scanner Gold Migration

Upgrading from Pic Scanner to Pic Scanner Gold? Obviously you would like to transfer all your scanned photos, albums and captions to the new app. It’s easy.

Pic Scanner – Migrating from old to Gold

There are two ways to do it. Which one is better for you will depend on how many scanned photos you have in Pic Scanner.

For light users:

If you have up to 250 photos in Pic Scanner’s Cropped gallery, proceed as follows (Expected transfer time: 1 minute):

1) Download Pic Scanner Gold on the same device as Pic Scanner.

2) With both apps installed, launch Pic Scanner (old app). Tap Menu > Migrate. All cropped photos, albums and captions would be compressed. After a moment, sharing options would be shown. Select Pic Scanner Gold.

3) Pic Scanner Gold will open, and everything will be saved in it.

4) Check Photo Gallery and Albums in Pic Scanner Gold to ensure everything looks good. After this, you can delete the old app to free up space on your device (Please note that Originals will not be transferred.)

For heavy users:

If you have too many photos and albums, your iPhone or iPad may not have enough processing power to handle such a large data transfer, and the app may fail. If this happens, please proceed as follows (Expected transfer time: 10 minutes):

1) Create a folder named Pic Scanner Temp on your computer’s desktop.

2) Connect your device (iPhone or iPad) to computer with USB cable. Launch iTunes on computer, and select your device [See (1) below]

3) Click Apps in iTunes sidebar on the left [See (2) below]. Then in the right pane, scroll all the way down to File Sharing section (3). Locate and click Pic Scanner (4). The right side will show some folders and files e.g. original_images, splitted_images, etc. Select them all, and drag them into Pic Scanner Temp folder on desktop.

4) In Pic Scanner Temp folder, click on splitted_images folder. Check that your photos are in it, then delete original_images folder.

5) In iTunes on the computer, click Apps in left sidebar, then scroll down the right pane to File Sharing (Same as in step 3 above). Click Pic Scanner Gold. The right side will show some folders.

6) Select all folders and files in Pic Scanner Temp folder on the computer. Drag and drop them alongside the existing folders in iTunes Pic Scanner Gold folders (Care: Don’t drag Pic Scanner Temp folder into iTunes: only the files and folders within it.) In the warning pop-up box [See (5) below], check mark the Apply to all box, and click Replace. Voila! You are done!

7) Launch Pic Scanner Gold on your device. Check that all photos, albums and captions are there. Now you can delete Pic Scanner (the old app) to avoid duplication and free up space on your device.

Any problems, drop us a line. We think you will enjoy your move from Pic Scanner to Pic Scanner Gold!

Pic Scanner Gold Restores & Preserves Memories [Review]

Pic Scanner Gold App for iOS Restores & Preserves Memories

What is Pic Scanner Gold?

Photography went digital at the turn of the 21^st century, but most of us still have printed photos stashed somewhere around our homes. Scanning photos isn’t the most exciting way to spend the weekend; so these precious mementos of our past stay tucked away – out of sight, out of mind.

Is there an app for it?

You bet there is! More than one, in fact. Read this review from thebiggbuzzblog.com to learn more.

Bottom line? “The newest, and arguably the most interesting addition to this category, is Pic Scanner Gold.” says, thebigbuzzblog.com

iPhone app gives treasured photos new life [Review]

The influential iOS and Apple blog Cult of Mac reviews Pic Scanner Gold – and loves it!

“Pic Scanner started to win me over to the idea that you could make a viable copy of an old photograph with your smartphone when I reviewed it along with two other scanner apps for Cult of Mac in 2014.”

Fast forward to 2016, and “What’s new is the Gold in the name, which goes to the value of the features that have been added since App Initio Ltd introduced the app’s predecessor.”

Read the full review here.

How to Save Photo Albums to iCloud

Pic Scanner Gold lets you share and save photo albums to iCloud – as well as Dropbox, Google Photos and many other free cloud services. Archiving photos to your preferred photo storage service ensures that photos are safe even if your iPhone or iPad is lost or broken.

This post explains how to save photo albums from Pic Scanner Gold to iCloud, Dropbox or your computer:

Save photo albums to iCloud

1) Start in Photo Gallery or on Album screen

2) Long-press thumbnail of a photo to be exported. It gets check marked. Tap more thumbnails to select multiple photos, or Select all for full album

3) Tap Export > Show all > iCloud Photo Sharing > type album’s name in Shared Album field > Post

4) To view the album, go to Photos app > tap Shared tab (bottom center) > Choose album.

More info on how to use iOS photo sharing in this excellent post from iMore.

Save photo albums in Dropbox

1) Navigate to Photo Gallery or Album screen.

2) Tap Select (or long-press thumbnail of a photo) to enter photo picker mode. Tap thumbnails of all photos to be exported. Or Select all for full album

3) Tap Export > Select Dropbox. Once photos are saved, go to Dropbox and create a new folder. Drag all photos into this folder and rename the folder as desired.

Save photo albums to computer

1) Navigate to Photo Gallery or Album screen.

2) Tap Select (or long-press thumbnail of a photo) to enter photo picker mode. Tap thumbnails of all photos to be exported. Or Select all for full album

3) Tap Export > Photos. This will save the selected pictures to Photos app. If you have iCloud/Photostream enabled, the photos will also sync via iCloud to your Mac etc.

Pic Scanner Gold – Help and Troubleshooting

Who ever heard of a user guide for a Swiss Army knife? But worry not, we have compiled a fairly thorough quick-reference list of FAQ for Pic Scanner Gold. If your question isn’t covered here, do email us – we will respond right away, and will also add it here so it can help others.

PIC SCANNER GOLD – HELP AND TROUBLESHOOTING

Scanning photos
Automatic cropping
Editing photos
Saving and sharing photos
Creating and managing albums
ShowTime (Slideshow)
Buying and updating
Goodies
General

Scanning Photos

Why does Pic Scanner Gold want permission to use Camera and Photos? We use the camera to scan photos, and need access to Photos app when you save photos to it, or want to import photos into Pic Scanner Gold. This does not compromise your privacy.

Scans are blurry. Camera won’t focus: Camera is designed to auto-focus within a second of pointing it at the photos being scanned. If not, tap the screen to focus.

Scans don’t look bright or sharp: Just follow these 4-5 illustrated tips and you will get pro quality, high-resolution scans. If you are using iPhone 6 / iPad Air or newer devices, also check that High Resolution Mode is enabled (Menu > Info & Settings > Quality Control).

Why is scanning process different from that in Pic Scanner? Pic Scanner Gold is faster and more streamlined! It also shows you how each photo is cropped and saved. Do a few practice scans, and you’ll love it.

What is the blinking circle in middle of the scanner screen? A leveling tool. If you put photos on a level surface, the iPhone or iPad should be parallel to them while scanning. The thick part of the circle shows which side needs to be lowered. When the device is roughly level, ‘OK’ flashes in the circle. You can turn off this tool in Menu > Settings.

I have scanned many photos. Now I get a message to delete original photos. What is this? Just an alert that the app is using a lot of space, and you could free it up by deleting unneeded Originals (Gallery > tap Originals > select and delete uncropped images). If you want to keep them, tap Menu > Settings & Info > Space control > move slider to the right.

Automatic Cropping

Where are cropped photos saved? In Photo Gallery. From any screen, tap Menu button (top left) > Gallery. Do remember to periodically back them up to your computer or a cloud service.

I scanned a photo but it said, ‘Nothing saved’. Why? If the photo is saved in Originals but not Gallery, it wasn’t scanned properly. Here’s how to avoid this. For now, re-scan the photo, or crop it manually from Originals screen, using Trim

Cropping is wrong: See this post for illustrated tips on how to get accurate auto-cropping. You can also manually crop photos from Originals

Can I disable automatic cropping? Auto cropping is a big effort-saver. If you follow the tips in this post, cropping will be very accurate. If you really must use un-cropped photos, transfer them from Originals to Gallery screen (Select > Move).

Can I add pictures from Photos app to Pic Scanner Gold for editing or putting in albums? Of course. In Photo Gallery, tap Import and select the photo to be fetched.

Editing Photos

I rotated a photo and then edited it. But my changes were not saved. Save the photo after rotating, then tap Edit to edit it – and tap Save again when done editing.

What do the various editing tools do? I am confused by some of the names. For a complete guide to Pic Scanner Gold’s editing suite, please click here.

Saving & Sharing Photos

How to save scanned pictures to Photos app or Dropbox? Tap Select on Gallery screen > select thumbnail(s) > Export > From sharing options, select Photos, Dropbox or others.

How to share photos from Originals screen? On Originals screen, tap Select > choose photos > tap Move. Photos are saved on Photo Gallery, and you can share them.

I want to save 150-200 photos to Photos app or Dropbox, but it’s either very slow or does not save all of them. Try transferring in batches of 40-50 when saving on-device (Photos app) and 20-30 over the Internet (Dropbox, Facebook etc.)

How to export albums together with captions? You can share mini-albums: Create an album, add captions, then in Goodies, select Shareable Albums. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Where are the photos I uploaded to Dropbox? In Dropbox > App > Pic Scanner folder.

How to transfer scanned pictures to computer? In Photo Gallery, tap Select > choose photos > Export > In sharing options, select Photos. If you have iCloud / Photostream enabled, photos will automatically sync to iCloud and your computer.
Does Pic Scanner work with OneDrive, Google Drive, Google Photos, Box and other cloud services? Tap Select on Gallery screen > select thumbnail(s) > Export > Sharing options > Show all > Choose your preferred cloud service (Must be installed on your device).

Trying to post 50 photos to Facebook but can’t. Why? Facebook imposes a limit of 30 photos (or 29 photos + 1 video) on posts from other apps.

Google+ says Pic Scanner Gold wants to know your age and email address. Why? Google allows app developers access to such user information, but we respect your privacy and never access this data. Please see our privacy policy for further assurance.

Creating & Managing Albums

How to create albums and save photos in them? There are two ways:

Method 1. Create new album: Gallery screen > Albums > Create new album > Type name of album > Save > Empty album is created. To add photos, tap the empty album > Add photos > Cropped (On top of Albums screen) > Select photos > Done. Photos will be added.

Method 2: Gallery screen > Tap photos to be put in the album (They’ll get tick marked) > Add > Add to New Album > In pop-up box, type name of album > Save > Album will be created.

How to add more photos to an existing album? Gallery screen > Select > Select photos > Add > Add to existing album > tap on the desired album.

I am adding photos to albums. How do I know which photos have already been added and which I haven’t? In Gallery, select all the photos you want added to album > Albums > Add to existing > Select album. This will add only photos that aren’t already in the album, without duplicating those you had added earlier.

How to delete an album? On Albums screen (The one that shows album covers i.e. names and number of photos in each album), swipe left on the album to be deleted > Delete.

How to make photos into a photo book or calendar? Save photos to Dropbox or computer, then upload them to your preferred photo service’s website. If you have their app installed, you may directly upload photos by tapping ‘More’ in sharing options, and then selecting their app.

ShowTime (Slideshow)

How to play/mute music during the slideshow? Tap the screen while slideshow is playing. A bar appears. Tap the loudspeaker button to toggle sound on/off.

How to create a slideshow using some scanned and some already-digital photos that are on my iPhone/iPad or computer? Method 1: Save photos from Pic Scanner Gold to Photos app on your iPhone or iPad, and sync to computer > Open iPhoto, and follow this easy tutorial. Method 2: Import photos from Photos app into Pic Scanner Gold > Create an album containing scanned as well as imported photos > ShowTime.

Buying and updating

How much does the app cost? Pic Scanner Gold costs US$4.99 (or your currency equivalent, as determined by the App Store.) This one-time charge enables unlimited use of all standard features of the app.

Can I try out the app before buying? Pic Scanner Gold requires an upfront purchase, but if you are not fully satisfied with the app, you can get a full refund. You could also download Pic Scanner free, our basic app that allows 12 scans before purchase. However, Pic Scanner Gold is a much-enhanced version of the app, with many more features.

I already use Pic Scanner. If I buy Pic Scanner Gold, can I transfer photos, captions and albums from old to new app? Yes! Download Pic Scanner Gold on the same device. Launch Pic Scanner, tap Menu > Info & Settings > Migrate > Open in > Pic Scanner Gold. Check that everything has transferred over to Pic Scanner Gold. After this, delete Pic Scanner (or at least Originals) to free up space on your device and avoid duplication.

How to transfer Pic Scanner Gold to a new iPhone / iPad, along with the photos, captions and albums? It’s easy. See illustrated, step-by-step procedure here.

I deleted Pic Scanner Gold. Do I have to pay again for downloading it? Just go to the App Store, search for Pic Scanner Gold. Tap on the Download button (Cloud with downward arrow). The app will be installed without any charge to your account.

If I update to a new version of iOS or Pic Scanner Gold, will existing photos and captions be affected? As long as you don’t delete and reinstall the app, all cropped and original photos, captions and albums will remain intact.

I paid $2.99 for Pic Scanner. Why is there no special upgrade price for Pic Scanner Gold? Apple doesn’t allow such upgrade pricing. But trust us, you will find Pic Scanner Gold so worth it! If you don’t, you can get a full refund.

When I try to buy the app, it says “In App purchases are not allowed”. Why? You may have restricted in-app purchases. Tap Settings > General > Restrictions > Allowed Content > In-App Purchases > turn it ON (If you use restrictions to avoid inadvertent purchases, e.g. by children downloading games, remember to turn them on again afterwards.)

If I want the app on iPhone as well as iPad, do I have to buy twice? No: if both devices use the same Apple ID, you pay only once. If you bought the app on iPhone and now want to install on iPad, tap App Store icon on iPad. Search for Pic Scanner Gold, then click download button (Cloud with downward arrow). Pic Scanner Gold will be installed on iPad at no charge.

Goodies

How to make a shareable album with more than 12 photos? Larger albums with more designs and features are coming soon.

Trying to make a greeting card, but it doesn’t show the complete photo. Are you trying to fit a portrait photo in a landscape template, or vice versa? Try another template.

It says you can make ‘hundreds of variations’ of greeting cards. How? Once you have added a photo to a card template, move the slider to change the colors of the template.

General

Is the resolution good enough for printing photos? If you plan to make reprints, scan one photo at a time (not 2 or more at a time). This will give you sufficiently high resolution scans to make 240-300 PPI (pixels per inch) prints.
Trying to send message through contact form, but it says ‘Failed. Try again’. This can happen if you are not on wi-fi. To avoid this problem when away from wifi, go to Settings > Cellular, and ensure that Pic Scanner Gold is ON. Note that data charges may apply.

In which format are scanned photos saved? As JPEG (.JPG) files. Scans are optimized to give best quality (pixels) with the smallest file size (bytes).

I am out of space on my iPhone/iPad. What to do? Free up space by deleting unneeded original files. Tap Gallery > Originals > delete the original photos you no longer need.

Why do you recommend saving scans to Photos app and deleting originals from Pic Scanner? To save space. Original (uncropped) photos are only needed for manually cropping. Otherwise you can safely delete them.
Is it necessary to save scanned photos in Dropbox or computer? Yes. Archiving ensures that your photos stay safe even if you lose your iPhone or iPad – or accidentally delete Pic Scanner.
How to uninstall Pic Scanner Gold? Press and hold any app icon on your device for 2 seconds. All icons will get marked (x) and start jiggling. Tap (x) on Pic Scanner Gold icon, and confirm deletion. Note that this will permanently delete your scanned photos, albums and captions.

I deleted my scanned photos. Is there a way that to recover them? Yes, if you have backed them up to iTunes on your computer. Go to iTunes and see when the last back-up was done.

Procedure for restoring photos is similar to this.

Any other questions, problems or suggestions, email feedback @appinitio.com

Editing Photos With Pic Scanner Gold

“Breathe life back into old photos” is a tired phrase, but wait until you experience the magic of editing photos with Pic Scanner Gold.

Pic Scanner Gold includes one of the best photo editing tool kits to be found in iOS Photo apps. You can use it for editing scanned photos, as well as those imported from Photos app or the old Pic Scanner. Lots of tools to restore, enhance and embellish your treasured photographs.

Make great scans gorgeous

If you scan photos in accordance with our tips for high resolution scanning, you’ll get great scans – and you may not feel the need for any further retouching. But experiment a bit with some of these tools, and you will be rewarded with beautiful results.

These tools are intuitive enough, but if you need a ready reference, here is a quick guide.

Editing photos with Pic Scanner Gold

Edit button is located in the bottom navigation bar of ‘Review & Edit’ screen. This toolbar also has the following functions:

Rotate: Each tap rotates the photo by 90 degrees.

Like: Adds photos to the auto-created Favorites album.

Caption: Lets you add or amend when, where, who information.

Delete: Deletes the photo from Gallery as well as albums.

To start editing photos with Pic Scanner Gold, tap Edit button.

The current photo opens in the Editor. Scroll the bottom navigation bar to see the top-level tools. More tools can be accessed by tapping these buttons.

The top level tools are:

Enhance: For one-touch optimization of photos, with 5 preset modes: High-definition, Landscape, Portrait and 2 more

Crop: Trim your photo to any aspect ratio: preset or custom. Use it to improve composition and visual impact.

Lighting: The original photo was too dark? You didn’t scan in good light? Use this tool to adjust brightness, contrast, highlights and shadows.

Rotate: Rotate photo left or right (90 degrees at each tap), flip vertical or horizontal, or straighten photos. To use Straighten tool, press the double-sided arrow icon at bottom center of the photo, and drag it a wee bit to the left or right. Used most often to level the horizon in photos, it can also be used to give an interesting, artistic slant to a photo.

Effects: 12 amazing filters. See your photos in a completely different light!

Color: This useful tool lets you adjust the saturation, warmth, tint and fade levels. It can be quite useful for old photos that are discolored or have unwanted color casts.

Sharpen: This tool is best used AFTER you finish editing a photo, as the final step in the editing process. This is a tool where less is more. Do not over-sharpen!

Frames: Photos looking too plain? Add a funky digital frame to make it Instagram-ready.

Overlays: Want to make your photo in circular, diamond or grid shape? Use this tool. The shapes are a bit limiting and could be improved, but hey! It’s not bad.

Text: This one is really cool: Overlay text on photos. Type in the text box, tap Done, then drag the text anywhere, reorient or resize it. Change font or color. Fun!

Meme: Add fun blurbs to pictures, on top and bottom, for sharing.

Focus and blur: Linear and radial focus modes. Ability to blur out lines/wrinkles and subtly soften edges.

Vignette: Give photos a vintage look. As much or as little as you want.

Blemish removal (for old stains or dirt marks)

Splash: Selectively recolor your photos. Addictive! See an example here.

Draw: Select drawing tool and color, and use your fingertip to draw on the photo.

The best way to learn about editing photos with Pic Scanner Gold is to dive straight in, try out each tool, and save changes when happy with the results. Enjoy!

Don’t yet have Pic Scanner Gold? Read all about it here, then download it here. If you are an existing Pic Scanner user, you can transfer all cropped photos, albums and captions to Pic Scanner Gold in less than two minutes!

Two Great Apps To Scan Photos With iPhone or iPad

Do you know why your printed photos are lying forgotten in albums, cherished memories in shoe boxes, and your desk drawers are cluttered with old snapshots? Because it’s a royal pain in the butt to scan photos. Even if you have just a handful of picture albums, it can be a week’s toil to scan photos using an old-fashioned desktop scanner.

So is there no fast and easy option to scan photos?

There are two great apps for it

Probably the best iOS app for scanning photographs

Best iPhone/iPad app to scan photos?

To quickly scan, organize and share old photos, get Pic Scanner. A much-praised photo scanner app for iPhone and iPad. It eliminates the need to pry photos out of albums. Or scan photos and manually crop them one by one. It lets you scan photos, crop, enhance and save them in one easy step. With one tap on an iPhone or iPad. With a little practice, you can scan photos at resolution that exceeds that of an iPad’s Retina screen. Pretty good for a handheld photo scanner that doesn’t break the bank!

Here’s how it works: Place up to four photos, slightly separated (and if scanning an album, a page laid flat), and “scan” with the app. Pic scanner intelligently detects, automatically crops and individually saves all the photos. You could scan your entire photo collection in an afternoon – not spend days or weeks wrestling with scanners and photo editing software.

Once you are done scanning photos, Pic Scanner provides easy-to-use tools to edit photos. You can rotate photographs that weren’t scanned upright. Use built-in filters to see your scans in a different light (You’ll see what we mean, when you try them out:) Don’t forget to add captions – an exclusive feature that lets you add date, place and other details to scanned pictures. Adding these details helps preserve memories, and also makes it more fun looking at scanned photos.

Pic Scanner also lets you create beautiful in-app albums. So it’s a breeze to organize photos by event, year or in any other way you want. You can do it in a matter of minutes.

Download Pic Scanner Free

If you are prepared to spend a couple more dollars, go for Pic Scanner Gold – an all-in-one app that not only scans multiple photos at a time, but also provides many more ways to enjoy and share your prized photos. For example, you can easily create slideshows, animated albums, greetings cards and other “Goodies”. Pic Scanner Gold also includes a powerful photo editor with 19 advanced editing tools. Find out more about this app at www.picscannergold.com, and download it at https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1124131441

Pic Scanner Gold is probably the most advanced photo scanner app for iPhone and iPad.

Share the memories

When you scan photos, a big benefit is that rare, one-of-kind photos suddenly become portable and shareable. You can’t lug all your old picture albums when you go for a school or family reunion, but once they are in your iPhone or iPad, they are always with you. Enjoy them with Pic Scanner’s built-in slideshow mode – the app even adds music.

Want to share your scanned photos with friends and family? That’s super-easy, too. Just select the photos, and Pic Scanner and Pic Scanner Gold let you instantly share them via Facebook, email, Twitter, Instagram, Messages or WhatsApp. You can even save the scanned pics to Photos app, your computer, iCloud or Dropbox.

Pic Scanner – Download on the App Store

Scan photos at high resolution

The newer iPhone models have sophisticated 12 megapixel cameras, older models have 8 MP. iPads have 5-8 MP cameras. Pic Scanner fully utilizes the technical wizardry Apple puts into these devices to produce high-resolution photo scans. This blog post provides tips on how to get the best image resolution when you scan photos.

Download and Try Pic Scanner Now

Free to try, unlimited scanning just $2.99

This app has been critically acclaimed by the likes of BBC, Cult of Mac, iPad Insight, The Guardian, Gizmodo and many other highly respected reviewers. You can now download it free on the App Store. Scan and share a dozen photos absolutely free. If you like it (We are sure you will:), buy the unlimited version for just $2.99 and scan photos to your heart’s content. This is a one-time purchase, and it allows you to scan photos on all devices linked to the same Apple ID.

Download Pic Scanner Free

Don’t use iPhone or iPad?

Do you know someone who has an iPhone or iPad – and might want to scan photos? Tell them about this app (Better still, invite yourself you a “scan photos party” – take along a couple of photo albums…and a bottle of wine! What’s better than spending an afternoon sharing wine and vintage memories with an old friend?

Pic Scanner Help and Troubleshooting

Pic Scanner Help & Troubleshooting guide provides answers to the most commonly asked questions. If your question isn’t answered here, email us at support (at) picscannerapp.com.

Important: Check that you have the latest version of iOS and Pic Scanner installed. For in-app tips, tap Menu button on Camera screen. For ready reference, print our 5 Minute Guide.

PIC SCANNER – HELP & TROUBLESHOOTING

App install & updating
Scanning
Cropping
Buying
Saving & sharing
Albums
ShowTime slideshow
General

APP INSTALL & UPDATING HELP

A1) I bought a new iPhone / iPad. Can I transfer Pic Scanner to new device, along with the photos, captions and albums? Of course. See illustrated, step-by-step procedure here.

A2) Will updating to a new version of iOS or Pic Scanner affect my photos? No. All photos, captions and albums will stay intact – as long as you don’t delete and reinstall Pic Scanner.

A3) I have many photos and albums in Pic Scanner. If I buy Pic Scanner Gold, can I transfer them to the new app? It’s easy and fast. With both apps installed on your iPhone or iPad, launch Pic Scanner and tap Menu button. Select Migrate. All cropped photos, albums and captions will be transferred to Pic Scanner Gold. After this you can delete Pic Scanner to save space on your device. If you have more than 200 photos, please see this post.

A4) The app is frozen. Double click Home button > You will see ’tiles’ of all open apps > Slide Pic Scanner tile upwards to close it > Press Home > Launch Pic Scanner. It will work normally.

SCANNING HELP

S1) Can’t scan. All I see is a white screen: You need to allow Pic Scanner access to the camera. Go to Settings > Privacy > Camera > Turn on Pic Scanner.

S2) Can’t save cropped pictures to Photos app: Go to Settings > Privacy > Photos > Turn on Pic Scanner.

S3) iPhone or iPad camera won’t focus, scans are blurry: Camera should auto-focus within a second of pointing it at the photos being scanned. Or just tap the screen to focus it.

S4) Scans look dull and of low resolution: Read this post for illustrated tips on how to get pro quality scans.

S5) Is Pic Scanner suitable for left handed users? Yes. On iPhone: With the phone in portrait mode, the scanner button is at the bottom; for landscape, hold the phone with Home button to the left, and the scanner button will also be on the left. On iPad: With iPad in portrait mode, the shutter button is on the right. Left handed users can get the shutter on the left side by turning the iPad upside down. For landscape, rotate the device until the button is at the bottom.

CROPPING HELP

C1) The photo I scanned isn’t on Cropped screen: Check Originals screen for uncropped photos. If the photo is on Originals but not Cropped screen, it wasn’t scanned properly. Also see this post on how to avoid wrong or no cropping. For now, re-scan the photo, or crop it manually by using Trim at the bottom bar of Originals screen.

C2) Cropping is wrong: See this post for illustrated tips on how to get accurate auto-cropping. You can also manually crop photos from Originals screen.

C3) Can I disable automatic cropping? Auto-cropping is a real effort-saver in Pic Scanner. If you follow the tips in C1 above, automatic cropping will be very accurate. If you have to use uncropped photos for editing/sharing, transfer them from Originals to Cropped screen.

BUYING HELP

B1) How much does the app cost? How to buy unlimited scanning? The free version of Pic Scanner allows 12 scans, so you can try it out before buying. A one-time $2.99 purchase enables unlimited scanning and sharing/saving – no recurring or hidden charges. Tap Menu button (Camera screen, top right) > Buy Unlimited.

B2) I have the free version. How to check how many free scans I’ve got left? Check the counter on top right (See photo: Here, 4 out of 12 free scans remain):

B3) Trying to buy the app, get “In App purchases are not allowed” message? You may have restricted in-app purchases. Tap Settings > General > Restrictions > Allowed Content > In-App Purchases > turn it ON (If you use restrictions to avoid inadvertent purchases, e.g. by children downloading games, remember to turn them on again afterwards.)

B4) Cannot purchase Pic Scanner. Help! In App Store, tap Settings > iTunes & App Store > Apple ID > Sign Out. Sign back in, relaunch Pic Scanner > Buy Unlimited.

B5) I bought the $2.99 version: For how long/how many scans is this valid? This is a one-time charge, and it enables unlimited scanning and sharing. No subscriptions, recurring charges or hidden fees!

B6) I paid for the full version. Now it shows only 12 (or less) free scans left. Did you delete and reinstall Pic Scanner, or install it on a new iPhone/iPad? Don’t worry, you don’t need to buy again. Tap Menu (Camera screen, top right) > Buy Unlimited > Restore Purchase. Unlimited use is restored: When you next scan a photo, the “You have x scans…” message will vanish.

B7) Do I have to pay separately for using the app on iPhone and iPad? No. If both devices are linked to the same Apple ID, you pay only once. If you buy the app on iPhone, the message Buy Unlimited vanishes after purchase. Download the free version on iPad > Tap Menu button on Camera screen > Buy Unlimited > Restore Purchase. Unlimited scanning is enabled.

SAVE & SHARE HELP

T1) How to save scanned pictures to Photos app or Dropbox? Tap Select on Cropped screen > select thumbnail(s) > Export > From sharing options, select Photos, Dropbox or others.

T2) How to share photos from Originals screen? On Originals screen, tap Select > choose photos > tap Move. Photos are saved on Cropped screen, and you can use them as you like.

T3) I want to save 150-200 photos to Photos app or Dropbox. Can I do it all at once? Transfer in batches of 30-40 when saving on-device (Photos app) and 15-20 over the internet (Dropbox, Facebook etc.)

T4) How to export albums and captions? This option is not present in Pic Scanner. Please consider upgrading to Pic Scanner Gold, which offers this and many other advanced features.

T5) Where are the photos I uploaded to Dropbox saved? In App > Pic Scanner folder.

T6) How to transfer scanned pictures to my computer? On Cropped screen, tap Select > choose photos > Export > In sharing options, select Photos. If you have iCloud and Photostream enabled, photos will automatically sync to iCloud and your computer.

T7) Does Pic Scanner work with OneDrive, Google Drive, Google Photos, Box and other cloud services? You can easily transfer photos from Pic Scanner to any such service by first saving them to Photos app (Camera Roll) on your iPhone or iPad, then syncing to your preferred cloud service. For iCloud, see T7 above. For OneDrive, follow these steps. Pic Scanner Gold users can directly transfer photos to the above-named and all other cloud services.

T8) Why doesn’t Pic Scanner have direct connections to all cloud services? So as to keep Pic Scanner uncluttered and easy to use. However, Pic Scanner Gold users can directly transfer photos to the above-named and all other cloud services.

ALBUMS HELP

A1) How to create albums and save photos in them? There are two ways:

Method 1. First create new album: Cropped screen > Albums > Create new album > In pop-up box, type name of album > Save > Empty album is created. Now add photos to it: Tap the empty album > Tap ‘Add photos’ > Tap ‘Cropped album’ (On top of Albums screen) > Select the photos you want to add to album > Done. Photos will be added to your album.

Method 2: One-step album creation: Start on Cropped screen > Tap the photos you want to put in the album (They’ll get tick marked) > Tap Add (bottom left) > Tap ‘Add to New Album’ > In the pop-up box, type name of album > Save > The album will be created.

A2) How to add more photos to an existing album? Start on Cropped screen > Select > tap to select and tick mark photos > Add > Add to existing album > tap on the album to which photos should be added.

A3) I am adding photos to albums. How to keep track of which photos I have added to the album and which I haven’t? In Cropped gallery, select all the photos you want to put in an album > Albums > Add to existing > Select album name. This will add only those photos that aren’t already there in the album, without duplicating those you had added earlier.

A4) How to delete an album? On Albums screen (The one that shows album covers i.e. names and number of photos in each album), swipe left on the album to be delete > Tap Delete.

A5) How to make my scanned photos into a photo book, greeting card or calendar? Save photos to Dropbox or computer as explained in T1 and T6 above, then log into your preferred photo printing website and upload the photos. Also read this blog post.

A6) How to rearrange the photos in an album or for showtime slideshow? This feature is not available in Pic Scanner (old app). Please check out our new app Pic Scanner Gold.

ShowTime SlideShow

S1) How to play/mute music with ShowTime slideshow? Tap the screen while slideshow is playing. A bar appears. Tap the loudspeaker button on it.

S2) Can I create a slideshow using some photos scanned with Pic Scanner, and others I have on my computer? Yes! Save the selected photos from Pic Scanner to Photos app on your iPhone or iPad, and sync to computer. Now open iPhoto, and follow this easy tutorial.

GENERAL HELP

G1) Is the resolution good enough for printing photos? If you plan to make reprints, scan one photo at a time (not 2 or more at a time). This will give you sufficiently high resolution scans to make 240-300 PPI (pixels per inch) prints.

G2) Trying to send message through the contact form, but it says ‘Failed. Try again’. This can happen if you are not on wi-fi. To avoid this problem when away from wifi, go to Settings > Cellular, and ensure that Pic Scanner is ON. Note that data charges may apply.

G3) In which format are the scanned photos saved? The pics are saved as JPEG (.JPG) files. Scans are optimized to give best quality (pixels) with the smallest file size (bytes).

G4) I have scanned many photos, and am running out of space on my iPhone/iPad. What to do? Free up space by deleting unneeded original files. Tap the Originals button on bottom left of Cropped thumbnails screen, and delete the original photos you no longer need.

G5) Why do you recommend saving scans to Photos app, then deleting originals from Pic Scanner? To save space. For each scan, we save the original photos. These are only needed if you need to manually crop any photos. Otherwise you can delete them safely.

G6) Is it necessary to save scanned photos in Dropbox or computer? Yes. Archiving scans in cloud or computer is a good idea so your photos stay safe even if you lose your iPhone or iPad – or accidentally delete Pic Scanner.

G7) How to uninstall Pic Scanner? Lightly press any app icon on your device for 2 seconds. All icons will get marked (x) and start jiggling. Tap Pic Scanner icon, and confirm deletion. Note that this will permanently delete your scanned photos, albums and captions.

G8) I deleted my scanned photos. Is there a way that to recover them? If you have backed them up to iTunes on your computer, yes. Go to iTunes and see when the last back-up was done. Procedure for restoring photos is similar to this. If you don’t have a back-up, you can’t get photos back. By default, we save photos in the app itself, not on a remote server. So when you delete the app, all of its contents get deleted. To prevent such accidents, you must periodically save scanned pictures to your computer or in Dropbox.

Any other questions, problems or suggestions, email feedback @appinitio.com

Hang Framed Photos Straight? Simple Trick.

How to Hang Framed Photos?

So you scanned your nostalgia-filled family photos, picked out the favorites, got reprints made, and lovingly framed them. Now all that’s left to do is hang them, but you have zero confidence in your ability to hang framed photos straight? Don’t worry, here’s how to go about it.

First things first: Decide where to put them up, and how to cluster them. Our Facebook page suggests some aesthetically pleasing ways to group photos, or you could search Google Images for “grouping framed photos”. Center the photos at eye level, say 5 feet above the floor. If they are in a seating area, keep the frames’ bottom edges 6-8 inches above the furniture.

Next, spread brown paper (or newspapers) on the floor, and arrange your frames on it exactly as you want them to go on the wall. With a pencil, trace out the frames’ outlines. Now remove the frames, and draw a horizontal line representing the center of your grouping of frames.

Now position this guide sheet on the wall, make the center line exactly horizontal with a spirit level, and tape the paper in position on the wall (Did you know your iPhone and iPad have a spirit level within the Compass app? If not, see this.)

Cut a length of painters tape equal to the width of each frame. If the frames have brackets at the back, run the tape over them and stick it across the width. If the frames have hanger wire, stretch the wire upwards to determine the point where it will hang, then run the tape over it and stick it across the frame’s width. Mark the tape where the screws should go. Remove the tape lengths from the frames, and paste them along the top edges of the corresponding frame outlines on the sheet on the wall.

(Photos: http://www.todayshomeowner.com)

Measure down from the marks on the painter’s tape to the points where the screws should be driven, and mark the exact spots with pencil. Drive in the screws, and then remove the paper. That’s it – sou are all set to put up your frames and enjoy them.

BTW, there’s a great new app that you should check out: PIC SCANNER GOLD. Learn more about this feature-filled app at www.picscannergold.com

From Pic Scanner Gold to Google Photos