Files by Google could finally become a better document scanner

Edgar Cervantes / Android AuthorityTL;DR We conducted a teardown of the Files by Google app and found a handy improvement coming to the document scanner. The app will let you save documents in JPEG or PDF formats, after previously only offering PDF support. The app will also let you rename saved files and choose a location to save these scans. Google offers the handy ability to scan documents with your phone camera via either Google Drive or the Files by Google app. This is great if you need to get a digital copy of personal documents, receipts, or other papers. However, it looks like the file manager is getting a small but helpful addition in this regard.You’re reading an Authority Insights story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won’t find anywhere else.We dug into a recent version of the Files by Google app (version 1.12100.954147356.0-release) and enabled the option to save scanned documents as a JPEG. Check out the screen below.AssembleDebug / Android AuthorityThis is a handy addition as the document scanner in Files by Google was previously restricted to saving scans in the PDF format. Meanwhile, Google Drive’s scanner has long offered the option to save documents in either format. Either way, saving multi-page documents as a JPEG results in separate image files for each page.The option can be found on a new screen that now appears after scanning a document in the Files app. This screen is in line with the Drive app and lets you choose between PDF and JPEG formats, rename the file, and choose a saved location. By contrast, the current Files by Google app skips this screen altogether and automatically saves your scanned documents in the PDF format in Files by Google > Scanned. So even the new screen alone is a useful addition to the file manager.This isn’t a game-changing feature, as you could always switch to the Google Drive app if you really wanted to save a scanned document in JPEG format. But we’re glad to see this work-in-progress feature anyway because it should make life easier if you don’t want to upload the scanned document to the cloud.⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.