Top 6 Free Scanner Software for Windows 10 in 2022

Like it or not, there is a trend of digitalizing almost everything in recent years, which is happening on both developed and developing countries. One of the most popular applications of digitalization is scanning physical books or documents into PDF documents. All the process can be done without a real and expensive scanner but only a free scanning software and the camera in your computer or existing pictures. In this article, we are going to introduce the top 6 free scanner software for Windows 11/10/8/7 as well as a useful mobile scanner app for Android devices.

Why Use Free Scanner Software?

People usually use the scanners for scanning the important and confidential documents for multiple reasons. This follows the process of digitalization.

1. Scanners are used to exclude the burden of physical documents and they can be safely secured in the computers.
2. It also frees people from waiting in the long queues for getting the photocopy of the documents, now they can be scanned and used.
3. Scanner software can auto generate a digital file of the original document, which saves people a lot of time comparing with typing every word manually in computer.
4. Some scanner software can convert scanned image into readable and editable documents.

Make sure you know how to recover files in Windows 10 before destroying the physical documents. In case you accidentally lose the scanned digital files in the future, the best data recovery software and photo recovery software could be a lifesaver.

Following the same context, here mentioned are some of the scanner software that can be used on Windows 10 for scanning the documents.

Note: Most of the following top free scanner software for Windows 10 need the Camera app in order to work normally. Check how to fix Windows 10 camera not working.

1. Office Lens – Best Free Scanning Software for PC & Mobile Device

Office Lens, the official scanner software of Microsoft, is referred as one of the best free scanner software for Windows 10. It enhances and trims the picture of prints, whiteboards and business cards, then saves the scanned files to local storage as picture, PDF, Word or PowerPoint file, or to OneDrive as cloud backup. This free scanner software can be accessed in Microsoft Store as well as mobile app stores.

It proves itself best in performance as it enhances the productivity. Now Windows 10 users can easily map out their ideas, save them in OneDrive and share the important documents in the form of PDF. Business cards, whitepapers, other information can be scanned and stored. It works best with the languages i.e. English, German, Spanish and Simplified Chinese.

2. PDF Document Scanner – Best Free Scanning Software for PDF

Compatible with Windows 10 operating system, PDF document scanner comes with number of wide applications. This easy-to-use free scanner can adjust the document in the frame and capture an image, which is then saved in storage and converted in PDF. These PDF can be used as digital copies and excludes the hard copies of documents. The digital copies are then saved in either the cloud storage or other external sources.

3. HP Scan and Capture – Best Free Scanning Software for HP Product

HP Scan and Capture is a free utility for Windows 10. It can scan both the readable documents and images. This free scanner can detect HP devices connected to the same Windows 10 computer so that HP users can easily scan manage documents. However, it can also work without additional device. Once activated, the documents and images can be scanned and framed for basic editing. The scanned copy is saved as PDF in local storage. Have too many files in hard disk? See how to free up space on Windows 10.

4. PaperScan – Free Scanner Software for Windows 10 with Multiple Functions

Controlling the all nearby scanning devices, PaperScan is compatible with Windows10. It also provides the flatbed and document feeder support. One can easily use the already existing PDF and images for scanning and editing. It helps to adjust and enhance the image quality by auto-deskew, and remove punch holes and borders as well as detecting and removing blank pages.

This free scanner software displays information on the basis of resolution, size and color mode of the image. Once scanned, the file can be stored as PDF, PDF with encryption, TIFF, JPEG, PNG and even JBIG2. This scanner software comes with three editions: Pro, Home and Free. Unlike some other so-called free apps, which are full of ads or incomplete functions, you can complete all the basic tasks with PaperScan free edition worry-free.

5. NAPS2 – Best Free Scanner for Windows 10 with OCR

It is an open source software that is capable of scanning the documents and images with physical scanning hardware. It can convert scanned files into various targeted formats i.e. PDF, TIFF, JPG and PNG. Taking only 1.6M of your disk storage, the software is compatible with Windows 10 to work at maximum. Along with OCR tools, the free scanner helps to extract the text from scanned documents.

6. Windows Scan – A Free Scanner by Microsoft Corporation

This is a simple scanner software for basic requirements. If you have a scanner, Windows Scan will make it easy to scan documents and pictures and save them where you’d like. Whether you’re scanning a photo from the flatbed or scanning multiple pages by using a document feeder, the Scan app is the perfect assistant. Please note that some older scanners are not compatible with Windows Scan, and thus cannot be used in conjunction with the Scan app.

Bonus Tip:

Speaking of usability and convenience, mobile apps have put up the winning margin so large that a lot of PC scanner programs have not been updated since years ago. The best part of mobile scanning apps is that they are usually free for using basic features, though containing ads. Besides, mobile scanner apps are updated much more frequently according to feedbacks from thousands of real users.

CamScanner is a top-rated scanner app available on Google Play Store. You can use it to print out any documents with a nearby printer and fax them to over 30 countries and regions. You can choose to subscribe to get unlimited access to all features, or stick with the basic version and get the simple task done for free.

Bottom Line

With the above best 6 free scanners for Windows 10 computer and an extra scanner app for Android, we can easily make a proper choice whenever we need to scan physical documents into digital files for various purposes. If you know some better free scanning software for Windows 10 or want to know the best free scanner for a specific case, feel free to discuss with us in the comment.

By Jihosoft
Last updated on August 3rd, 2022