I used the notes app to scan documents all the time. The pdf generated would normally be kilobytes, occasionally get into a mb or two. Ever since I updated to iOS 18, the files are huge, 40,50,60 mb or more. Even when I compress the file it’s still 5-10mb. Any idea why these scans are suddenly huge and what can I do to get it back to what it was?
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iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 18
I think I found the difference. Everything is scanning in full color now. When I tried a 3 page test scan it came in at 4.4 MB. Then I found the Filters icon (three interlocking circles). When I changed it to Black & White it was 75 K, but looked awful. I changed ti to Grayscale and it was 631 K and look like it used to.
Try that and see what your milage is.
Have you tried this?
Check scans you might have saved from before the update, you might find they’re large also. I THINK the problem lies between notes and email. Ie when I attach a scan to the email it normally compresses, that compression is happening intermittently at present.
I have updated iOS 18.2.1 (22C161) today and tested one Notes scan of 39.5mb, once attached to email 696kb.
I use the term “I think”, because I’m not an Apple tech and can’t be sure. I do not have the resources to test this issue fully or correctly.
New iOS 18.2.1 (22C161) update I think might have fixed the compression issue from notes scans to emails.
Had many discussions with Apple tech support on this and it is a mystery to them as well. Seems that the document scanner is really just taking a picture and calling it a scan. Or perhaps Tim Cook is trying to sell more iCloud storage. I know that my older iPhone takes smaller scans of the same document (even using the same IOS) which brings me back to the fact that it is simply an image/phone pretending to be a document scan.
Maybe if we complain enough, apple might get around to fixing this. As such it is not usable.
Not really the issue or solution. Yes scanning in grayscale helps BUT the file size is still massive compared with what it used to be and what other scanning software does (scannable). I believe the issue is that Apple is not really “scanning” the document, it is simply taking a photo of the document. This results in massive file sizes and of course the need to upgrade and spend more money on Apple iCloud services.
The scanned document in gray scale is even more disaster. It is increasing the size of the image. For example my default 2 page scanned document was 8 MB, with gray scale, it increased to 8.5 mb.
What is going on in Apple? please listen to the community
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I think I will skip using Notes App for Scanning documents in the future. Many another cloud providers do have apps that allow scanning and uploading documents. In my case an A4 page with text has ~ 500 kb. And I can also access those documents from other devices (be it Apple, Microsoft, Android or whatsoever). And I do not have to check/resize/cleanup scanned documents because auf unnecessarily huge file sizes.
A shame that Apple can't manage this...
Still does not work. It’s smaller than a document from notes, but no where near the size it used to be before iOS 18. If I scan a single document in files, it’s a couple mb, it used to be a couple hundred kb. When you scan in notes, you can save to files, then from files you can optimize the file size and it’ll shrink it down. When you scan in files it’s just doing that all at once. Files still way bigger than before.
I am so unbelievably frustrated by this new change. I have been using Notes for years to scan documents and it literally took me over 3 hours to scan and attach one 4 page PDF to an email. First, it was too large, then it would only send the first page. Apparently, in notes, you can no longer just click the share icon at the top of the phone screen. You have to select the down arrow on the note THEN select share, otherwise it will only send the first page via airdrop. I am ok with changes when they are good. This is horrible.
Ah... wrong page size, it is not 8 x 11 inches... Acrobat Reader would give an actual page size of ~ 24 x 34 inches.
Apple employees do not participate in these user-only supported public communities. If you want to inform the iOS/iPadOS Notes product team, then send them direct feedback.
Same issue. This is a BIG problem as I use this feature for work all of the time. There is a work around that is not efficient or doable in the long term. I can resave the document as a smaller size, but this is an additional step for multiple documents scanned daily. Also, switching to black and white does fix the size issue but the quality of the document is horrible and not usable!
Do better Apple and please fix this. Why do updates break things that were working fine...stop fixing it if it isn't broke! Thanks.
You are a lifesaver!!!! Changing to greyscale definitely looks better then black and white and allowed me to email without any issues! I use this daily for work as well. Apple does need to change it back though why fix something that wasn't broken to begin with...
Fix it or I’m permanently leaving Apple.
Whoever is responsible for this needs to be fired!
The countdown has begun. You have 30 days (12/6/24) to comply or I’m gone from Apple and moving to Android.
I use these phones for work. I have 165 employees on iPhones. No one is able to scan and email anymore. No matter what we try 30 pages is 24 MB in black & white.
FIX IT!!!
I agree it's a big problem , it use to be nice to scam 24 pages and be able to email them with a 2 MB file size, now if I "scan" three or four documents, it's 40 MB sometimes??? they had a good product and they ruined it for some reason it is unusable hopefully they will fix it or at least put it back to the way it was
Serious side the upgrade to 18 made pdf files too big for portal document submissions
I was in the process of applying for a visa in Greece all documents scanned before 18 were perfect
i was required to submit one final document . 10mb was the limit
mine went to 18 mb
i tried cutting corners
failed application due to scan
I now face a large lawyer fee and an early trip home to obtain more days under 90/180 day rule
Apple please fix scanning under ver 18 is not supported by Greek immigration Portal !!!! PDF uploads
Why are my document scans so large After iOS 18 update?
