Tech Shortcuts for Life

Drive Scan Is the Best Google Feature You’ve Never Heard Of

Scan anything with the Google Drive app — if you use Android

Tech Shortcuts for Life is a weekly column from Thomas Smith on Debugger exploring the apps, automations, gadgets, and other tech tricks that can make your life more efficient.

I own a photography agency that digitizes historical archives. In my home office alone, I have $9,850 worth of scanners and other digitization equipment. Yet none of this high-end equipment ever allowed me to go paperless. Instead, it was a free app from Google that finally got me there.

If you use Google Drive to organize your digital documents (or your entire life), you already know how glorious it is. You get nearly free storage, Google’s world-leading search, and the ability to import documents from within Gmail or from your desktop. But most users aren’t aware of one of Drive’s most powerful features, even though it’s existed since 2016: Google Drive Scan.

Open the Google Drive app on your Android phone and press the colorful, Google-y plus sign at the bottom right of the screen. You’ll see options for adding new documents to Drive, including the option to scan.