The Adobe Scan Android app is being updated with a new feature meant to introduce a number of Acrobat and Photoshop-like capabilities to the mobile tool, Adobe said Tuesday. The functionality is coming in the form of Modify Scan, a service for managing existing scans that supports adding, deleting, and reordering individual pages, in addition to being able to re-clean and re-crop one’s scans hosted by the Adobe Document Cloud. Up until now, such major modifications required re-scans or exporting scanned documents into tools such as Photoshop and Acrobat.
Replacing a poorly scanned page can now be done from within the app without redoing the entire project thanks to Modify Scan, whereas more advanced algorithms meant to facilitate scans in low-light conditions are also part of the package following the update. Should the Android app detect suboptimal circumstances for scanning, i.e. taking images of documents, it may automatically turn on the flash of one’s device. Additionally, Adobe equipped the tool with more intelligent image processing capabilities which should allow it to be even better at lightening up the darkest shadows so as to avoid scenarios wherein document scans end up being unclear because of crushed blacks. Adobe didn’t clarify how the new low-light detection works, though it likely utilizes an ambient light sensor that can now be found on the vast majority of contemporary Android smartphones and tablets. Select flagship models such as the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S9 lineups are even equipped with two such modules, one on each side of the device.
The development marks the first major addition to Adobe Scan in 2018, with the San Jose, California-based company rolling out a multitude of such significant updates to the app over the course of the last year. Most recently, Adobe Scan received robust search tools meant to accelerate the process of document discovery, with the latest upgrade also being largely aimed at improving the management part of the equation, indicating Adobe is already largely satisfied with the performance of the core functionality of the app and is now primarily looking to improve it with additional functionalities instead of reworking it.