The scanner helper is not installed
This page cannot reach a scanner on its own. Chrome only hands scanner access to an extension, so there is a small companion extension that does nothing but find your scanner and pass the pages over.
On a Chromebook managed by Synergy this installs itself. If it is not here yet, sign out and back in, or give it a few minutes and press Check again. The steps below are only needed on an unmanaged Chromebook.
- Press the button above. It lands in My files › Downloads.
- Open the Files app and double-click scan-bridge.zip. ChromeOS opens it as a drive in the left sidebar rather than unpacking it.
- Inside it you will see one folder, scan-bridge. Click it once, press Ctrl+C, go to My files › Downloads and press Ctrl+V. This step matters: Chrome will not load the extension from the zip itself, only from a real folder.
- In the sidebar, click the eject arrow next to the zip to close it.
- Open a new tab, type chrome://extensions, and turn on Developer mode with the switch at the top right.
- Press Load unpacked, open Downloads, click the scan-bridge folder once to highlight it, and press Open. Do not go inside the folder.
- Come back to this tab and press Check again.
Chrome will warn about Developer mode every time it starts. That goes away if we publish the helper to the Chrome Web Store, or push it from the Workspace admin console.
This ChromeOS is too old
Scanning from inside the app needs ChromeOS 125 or newer. Update the Chromebook, or use the Automatic tab.
Scanner
No scanners found. Check it is switched on and plugged in, then press Look again.
Something missing or behaving oddly?
How to scan
Everything else this scanner offers
Whose file is this
Scanning
Waking the scanner
Pages in this file
Files being made
Keep scanning while these run. Each one downloads on its own as soon as it is ready. Leave this tab open until the list is clear.
This browser cannot watch a folder. Use Chrome on the Chromebook, or switch to the "One at a time" tab.
Step 1 — connect your scans folder
Pick the folder the Scan app saves into, usually My files › Downloads. You only do this once.
Chrome needs you to confirm access again after a restart.
Step 2 — turn on watching
While this is on, anything new in that folder gets converted automatically and the searchable copy lands in a Searchable subfolder. Leave this tab open while you scan.
Then just scan
- Open the ChromeOS Scan app and scan as you normally do.
- Save into the folder you connected above.
- Come back here. It is already converted.
Activity
Drop scans here
PDF, JPG or PNG. Add as many as you like.
Files
Working
Starting up
Done
Open one and press Ctrl+F. If you can find a word that is on the page, the text layer is there.
Drop every part here
Scan in as many passes as you need, then add them all. Put them in the right order below.
Order of the finished document
Drag a row, or use the arrows, to change the order. Anything already searchable is copied straight through without being read again.
Save as
Working
Starting up
Done
Drop a PDF that is too big
Already scanned, or made here earlier. Searchable text is kept.
Files
Size limit
Working
Starting up
Done
Build a report from the files you made
Point this at the folder your scans are filed in. Each folder inside it counts as one driver, however many documents are in there, and it works out who was scanned, how many documents each person needed, and when. Loose files that are not in a driver folder fall back to their own filename. Nothing is stored by this app, it only reads names.
This browser cannot read a whole folder. Use "Or choose files" and select the PDFs.