How to Scan and Organize Your Documents with Stack

What app do you use for reading PDF files on your phone? Though Acrobat and Foxit have lots of fans, the new solution by Google has lots of pros, being not just a PDF reader but a document organizer and a scanner. Its functionality allows it to have most documents you need in your phone.

What Does Google Try to Achieve with Stack?

Stack is one of Google projects developed under Google Area 120. This incubator focuses on ideas on which Google employees devote 100% of their time on their ideas supported under 20% Project. The motto of this PDF app is simplicity. It takes minutes to figure out how it works due to its intuitive interface and lack of unnecessary features.

How to Get Stack

1.     Go to Google Play and then find Stack by Google, and then install it

2.      Select the Google account you want to use with it, if you have more than one

3.     Allow the app to access media files on your device when prompted

4.     Select Allow if you want to add new documents to the app automatically (or Deny if not)

5.     Read the intro pages and tap Done.

Congratulations! You have Stack now and can try the way it handles your paper documents.

Scanning Documents with Stack

The greatest thing about Stack is that it’s the easiest to add a document that you usually would keep on paper, like a check, a receipt, an ID, or other document types. As you just install the app, it may be empty, with two main tabs: Home and All Documents. In the right lower corner, tap the “+” button and select the “Camera” option and tap Allow when prompted.

With the in-app camera, grab the document and scan it. After scanning, you can add a page by scanning another paper, adjust the color of the scan, crop, or rotate the document. Then save the doc and give it a name when prompted.

Organizing Documents with Stack

The most comfortable thing about Stack is its built-in sorting system. You can select relevant stack right after you create the document. It’s rather a tag system than a folder one, so one document can belong in multiple categories.

A great thing about these categories is that you can create custom ones. To edit the category list, tap “Edit” under your profile icon. There are two lists the app has to offer: Your Stacks and Suggested Stacks. To move a stack from one category to another, just tap it. Under the Suggested Stacks category, you can create custom stacks with custom names.

When you need to find a certain document, you can just look it up in a relevant category. But there is a built-in search system that utilizes data pulled from the documents. So, you can just enter the name or a keyword and narrow the list to several documents among which you find the relevant one.

Extras

Along with documents you scan with the app, you can add already existing PDF documents by importing photos of documents automatically. Toggling this option on will grant that whenever a document scan appears on your device, it’s automatically imported into Stack. Within the app, you can adjust its category and appearance.

As these documents are often very sensitive, the app has its built-in Face Lock or fingerprint protection in addition to what you already have in your phone. You can also easily secure all your documents by uploading them to Google Drive or delete all your data all with one button.

Stack My Bill Up!

Apps like Stack simplify the way you handle your documents that you often need. Are you already using it? Do you think that Stack handles documents better than other PDF apps? What do you think it lacks? Does it perform well with multi-page documents? If you have any experience with this app, share your impression in the comments!