User Guide — CardScan

What is CardScan?

CardScan helps you turn paper business cards into phone contacts in seconds. Take a picture, check the details, and save — no typing.

Getting Started

1. Open CardScan in your phone browser (see README for the URL).
2. Optional: Add to Home Screen for one-tap access later.

Scanning a Card

Take a new photo

1. Tap Take Photo.
2. Hold the card steady with good lighting (avoid glare).
3. Fill most of the frame with the card.
4. Wait while CardScan reads the text (usually 5–15 seconds).

Use an existing photo

1. Tap Choose from Gallery.
2. Pick a photo that clearly shows the card.

Reviewing Details

After scanning, you'll see fields such as:

• Full name, first & last name
• Job title
• Company
• Email
• Phone
• Website
• Address

Always review before saving. OCR can misread similar characters (0/O, 1/l) or miss fields on busy designs.

Tap any field to edit. Expand Raw scanned text if you need to copy something the parser missed.

Saving to Your Phone

1. Tap Add to Phone Contacts.
2. iPhone: In the share sheet, scroll to Contacts (you may need to tap More first). Or open the .vcf file from Downloads.
3. Android: Choose Contacts from the share menu, or tap the downloaded contact file.

The contact is added to your phone's address book like any other vCard.

Scan Another

Tap Scan Another Card to return to the camera screen.

Tips for Best Results

• Use bright, even light — desk lamp or daylight works well
• Place card on a plain dark or light background
• Keep the phone parallel to the card (not at a steep angle)
• For glossy cards, tilt slightly to reduce reflection
• Re-scan if more than one field looks wrong

Privacy

Your card photo is processed on your device. Images are not uploaded to a server. The OCR library loads from a public CDN on first use and is then cached by your browser.

Need Help?

If a card won't scan, try gallery upload with a sharper photo, or enter missing fields manually before saving.