Conference networking, twenty business cards in your pocket. Back at the hotel, you want them as PDFs for your CRM or a follow-up email log.
Photograph properly
Flat surface, even lighting, card filling the frame. Use a document scanner app for auto-cropping (iPhone Notes' scan, Adobe Scan, Microsoft Lens, Google Drive scan).
For double-sided cards, take both sides. For purely informational cards (one side has the logo, other has the contact details), you may only need the detail side.
Convert and add to CRM
Drop card photos into Flint's Image to PDF. One card per page, or one PDF per card depending on what your CRM accepts.
Most modern CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive) accept PDF attachments on contact records. Some have built-in business-card OCR that extracts contact details from images — worth checking before manually converting.
OCR for searchable contacts
After PDF conversion, run OCR to make the card text searchable. Now you can find "Sarah" or "Acme Inc" by searching the PDF instead of clicking through every record.
For bulk OCR on many cards, batch tools save time over per-card conversion.
Or skip PDF entirely
If your only goal is contact capture, dedicated business-card apps (CamCard, Microsoft Lens) photograph and OCR in one step, then send to your contacts directly. PDF conversion is the right path when you specifically need a PDF as a record.
FAQ
Will my CRM read the PDF?
Most CRMs attach PDFs as documents. For automatic field extraction, some CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot Sales) include card-scanning features.
One PDF for all cards or one per card?
Depends on your workflow. One per contact is cleaner; one combined PDF is faster to produce.
Can I use this for digital cards?
Yes — vCard files convert differently (text), but PDF screenshots of digital cards work the same way.
What about HEIC photos?
Convert the HEIC directly; Image to PDF accepts HEIC.
Pocket of cards, archived properly. Convert your business cards to PDF and import.