Where do scanned documents go on my phone?

Last reviewed: October 10, 2026 · Markdown version

A scan goes wherever the app that made it keeps things, so the first question is which app you scanned with. Apple's Notes keeps the scan inside the note; the Files app and Google Drive put it in the place you chose before tapping Save; Files by Google files it under Downloads in a folder called Scanned; and a Samsung camera scan is saved to Gallery. The steps for making a scan are on scanning documents with your phone; this page is about finding one afterwards.

You scanned with	Where the maker says it goes	Quickest way back to it
Notes (iPhone)	A PDF inside the note	Notes, View Attachments
Files app (iPhone)	The location you chose	Files, Recents
Google Drive app	A Drive folder (Location is optional)	Drive search
Files by Google (Android)	Downloads, in the Scanned folder	Documents, then Scanned
Samsung Camera	The Gallery app	Gallery

Scanned in Notes: it never left the note

Apple's scanning page ends its steps with one sentence: "The document is saved as a PDF in the note" (Scan text and documents in Notes using the iPhone camera, iPhone User Guide, read 10 October 2026). So there is no separate file in the Files app to look for. If you cannot remember which note it went into, Notes has a gallery of everything attached: above the notes list, tap the Folder Actions button, then View Attachments, which Apple says shows "thumbnails of photos, links, documents, and other attachments". From a thumbnail, "touch and hold attachment thumbnail, then tap Show in Note" to jump to it. Apple adds that "Attachments in locked notes aren’t shown" (Add photos, video, and more to notes on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 10 October 2026).

To get the PDF out of the note, Apple's page on PDFs in Notes says to tap the Menu button on the PDF and then choose an action to "Copy, share, rename, or delete the PDF". It does not spell out a step for saving the scan into the Files app, so the share option is the route to try (Work with PDFs in Notes on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 10 October 2026).

Scanned in the Files app: wherever you tapped Save

Apple's Files route asks the question at the end: "Choose a location, then tap Save" (How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad, Apple Support, read 10 October 2026). That article does not say what name the file is given if you accept the default, which matters, because the Files search box is for names: Apple's instruction is to "Enter a filename, folder name, or document type in the search field". If the name is no help, the same guide's other route is time: "To view recently opened files, tap Recents" (Find and view files and folders in Files on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, read 10 October 2026).

Scanned with Google Drive: in your Drive, not on the phone

Drive saves the scan to your Drive account. On Android its last steps are to "Create your own file name or select a suggested title", choose ".pdf or .jpg", and then "Optional: To select the Drive folder where you’ll save the document, tap Location". Google's page does not say which folder is used when you skip that optional step. If you set up the Drive scan widget instead, you "Choose the folder you’ll save documents inside" once, and its name shows on the widget (Scan documents with Google Drive (Android), Google Drive Help, read 10 October 2026). On iPhone the scan starts from "the Add and then Scan or the camera icon" and ends with the same naming step (Scan documents with Google Drive (iPhone), Google Drive Help, read 10 October 2026).

Finding it later is a Drive search. Google says "Your Drive searches include the titles and content of all files you have permission to access" (Search for files in Google Drive (Android), Google Drive Help, read 10 October 2026), so a word you remember from the page is worth typing as well as the title.

Scanned with Files by Google: a folder of its own

Files by Google is the one scanner here that keeps the result on the phone in a fixed place. Google's route to it is short: open Files by Google, tap Documents, then Scanned, a folder Google keeps inside your Downloads directory. A fresh scan also shows "under “Recents” on the app homepage", and if neither turns it up, "you can also type pdf in your search bar" (How to scan documents with Files by Google, Files by Google Help, read 10 October 2026).

Scanned with a Samsung camera: look in Gallery

On a Galaxy, the camera offers a Scan button when it sees a document, and after you tap Save, "The document will be saved in the Gallery app, where you can view it at a later time." Samsung's page also says the scan "can also be edited using the Samsung Notes app and exported as a PDF" (Scan and edit documents on your Galaxy phone or tablet, Samsung US, read 10 October 2026). The page does not name the file type of the copy in Gallery or which album it sits in, so if the scan is not among your recent photos, use Gallery's own search. A PDF made from it in Samsung Notes is a separate file, and My Files on a Galaxy is where to look for that one.

A scan saved as a picture is not a PDF

Two of these routes can leave you with an image rather than a document: Drive if you pick .jpg, and the Samsung camera's copy in Gallery. That changes what can open it and what can search it later. If you are building up a set of documents you will want to search, choose PDF where the app asks, and keep them together; where PDFs end up on a phone explains why scattered files are hard to search.

Where DocFind fits

DocFind searches the PDFs you add to it, so it suits the scans you have saved as PDF files. It can search scanned PDFs too: DocFind reads them on your device, then searches them like any other document, and matches found through OCR are labelled as such. Results show the file, the page, and the surrounding text, and tapping one opens that PDF at that exact page with your keywords highlighted. Searching, indexing, reading scanned pages and exporting all work with no internet connection.

What it will not do: it reads PDFs only, so a scan kept as a Gallery photo or a .jpg is outside it until it becomes a PDF. Handwriting is beyond it; printed text is what it reads. And its index lives on the one phone, iPhone or Android, rather than syncing between devices.