End of business trip, your wallet's full of receipts. The expense system wants PDFs. Scanning each one would take an afternoon. Phone photos plus PDF conversion does it in fifteen minutes.
Photograph receipts properly
Three rules. Flat: smooth the receipt against a flat surface — not your knee, not folded in your pocket. Lit: good ambient light, no shadow falling across the receipt. Aligned: roughly square to the camera, fill the frame.
If your phone has a document scanner mode (iPhone Notes' scan, Google Drive's scan), use it. It auto-corrects perspective and contrast.
Convert to one PDF
On phone: open Flint's Image to PDF in Safari/Chrome, pick all receipt photos from your Photos library, generate the PDF. Each photo becomes a page.
On desktop: AirDrop or sync the photos to your computer first, then drag them all into the converter. Same result.
Make the PDF searchable
After conversion, the receipts are images. For expense systems that text-search receipts, OCR the PDF. Most modern PDF tools include OCR — run it, save the searchable PDF.
Searchable PDFs let your finance team find the £4.20 coffee receipt by searching the merchant name. Saves their time, makes your reimbursement faster.
Backup the originals
Keep the photo originals (in your phone or a cloud backup) for at least 7 years for tax purposes. The PDF is the working copy for expense submission; the photos are the legal evidence.
For audited expense systems, the original date/time metadata on the photo is sometimes required as additional proof.
FAQ
Will the PDF be small enough to email?
Receipt photos at typical phone resolution give a moderate PDF — usually fine for email. Compress if needed.
Can I crop receipts before converting?
Yes — crop in Photos or your image editor first. Cleaner result.
OCR or no OCR?
If you'll search the PDF later, yes. If it's submit-and-forget, OCR is optional.
What about thermal-paper receipts?
Photograph quickly — thermal paper fades. Once photographed, the digital copy lasts forever.
Pocket of receipts, one PDF. Convert your receipt photos to PDF and submit by Friday.