Digital documents such as PDFs offer versatility and convenience that can't be matched by paper-based documents. Digital format is also best in terms of presenting and protecting your file. To convert your paper-based documents to digital files, you'll need to use a scanner to produce a PDF version of your physical documents. We'll cover how to do that, and the top 5 best free scan to PDF tools that are currently on the market in the article below.

Everyone loves to hear about a free scan to PDF software that will make your life easier at home or in the office. However, while most of these free scan to PDF software will help you create high-quality output PDF files for free, there may still be some malware issues or viruses associated with them. We've collected a list of the safest programs to use below. Here are the top 5 free scan to PDF software that are currently available on the market.

1. WPS

WPS  is the most advanced and the best PDF scanner app that will make sure that you get the best results. This scanner also offers PDF scanner OCR meaning that the image that has been created as a result of scanning can also be used for the OCR functionality. This PDF scanner free download software is easy to use with multiple settings and intuitive features to help you produce quality PDF files within minutes.

Pros:

Functions range from simple to the most advanced.Scan the PDF and perform the OCR function to change the image to an editable file.OCR text recognition and conversion of multilingual documents.

Cons:

Cannot embed video files while creating PDFs

2. Advanced Scan to PDF Free

Advanced Scan to PDF Free is a popular tool for scanning physical documents into PDF for free. It is different from other free applications, and it packs a decent number of advanced features that enable you to modify the scanned PDF files in many different ways. For instance, the application allows you to customize the size of the page and modify the compression type when setting up the scanning profile.

You can also add digital signatures and passwords to protect your files, which offers a nice touch for the average user.

3. Free Scan to PDF

When you conduct a simple search on the internet for Free Scan to PDF software, you'll likely be bombarded by a huge database of results. This specific tool is the brainchild of FreeAudioVideo Software, a website that hosts a large collection of free apps. As its name suggests, Free Scan to PDF is a free app currently available for Windows.

Like many free applications in its class, as a simple app in both presentation and function, Free Scan to PDF gives users a set of standard features for both pre-and post-scanning, including tools like page management, cropping, rotating, selecting, and copying. You can even edit the metadata of the PDF, share the scanned PDF files via email, dropbox, and protect your PDF files with passwords and digital signatures.

4. NAPS2

NAPS2 (Not Another PDF Scanner 2) is a very useful PDF scanner that has many useful features – all for free. NAPS2 doesn't come with a sleek user interface or a detailed user guide that many of us would expect with other similar tools.

NAPS2 is very simple-to-use. To scan, you simply select a custom scanning profile, choose a destination folder, scan and save them as PDF. The scanning profiles on the app can be customized based on the scanning sources, document size, resolution, and other settings that make it quite easy to use the scan to PDF freeware.

5. Scan2PDF

Scan2PDF is another simple but efficient scan to PDF freeware that lets you scan paper documents into a variety of formats, including PDF. The application is free software for Windows systems. It gives users a shortlist of extra features, which is quite generous for a free application.

You can combine multiple scans into a single PDF file, and this feature is usually only available on paid applications. You can even rearrange the page order of the combined file, rotate the pages, and import additional files from your hard drive to add to your merge list.

Overall, if you don't scan a ton of papers on a daily basis, it will work well as a scanning tool for you.

6. Quick Scan

Quick Scan allows you to scan documents quickly and easily on Windows-based platforms for free. Quick Scan offers both speed and simplicity, as well as functionality, making it the best free scan to PDF software for the average users.

The application is most notable for its various color modes, including RGB, black and white, and grayscale. You can select the color mode you want for your PDF file depending on the quality and speed required. For instance, if you choose the RGB mode, you can get the highest quality output but it scans quite a bit more slowly than black and white, which is probably of lower quality but produces scanned PDF files more quickly and with better font clarity.

Free Trial PDF Scanner of WPS Office

WPS - PDF Editor provides the most useful toolkit for scanning to digital PDF from physical documents directly. Once the PDF is created, you can use the OCR feature to recognize scanned content and convert the scanned PDF into texts so it is editable and searchable.