I photographed a paper invoice and the table shows around it. How do I crop to just the paper before turning it into a PDF?

Why the free ratio

An A4 sheet has a known ratio, but a phone photo of it rarely keeps it exactly: the distance from the phone, the angle and any curl in the paper all change its shape in the picture. With a fixed ratio you would leave a strip of table on one side or cut into the paper on the other. The 'Free' ratio in the Image cropper lets you move each edge on its own until it matches the page.

Steps

1. Open the invoice photo in the cropper. The starting box sits in the middle of the photo and covers 80% of its width and height.
2. Make sure the ratio is 'Free'.
3. Drag the middle handle of each edge to the paper's edge: top, bottom, right, then left. The middle handles move one edge without touching the others.
4. For more precision, type the values in the fields, or focus the box and nudge it with the arrow keys.
5. Choose 'Save as'. PNG keeps the text sharp with no loss; JPEG gives smaller files when there are many pages.
6. Download, then open Images to PDF and add the image with the rest of the pages.

In the fields, type the width and height first and then X and Y, so the box does not shrink when it would not fit from the position you type.

What the cropper cannot fix

• A tilted page: if the paper sits at an angle in the photo, any rectangle picks up small triangles of table in the corners. Straighten it first with the Image rotator and flipper tool, then crop.
• A shot taken at an angle: photograph a page from the side and it looks wider at the top or bottom. The tool does not correct perspective; the fix is to shoot from directly above.
• Shadows and lighting: cropping only removes edges. It does not brighten the page or remove a shadow across it.

Tips for a clear invoice photo

Lay the paper on a surface of a different color so its edges are easy to see when cropping. Shoot in daylight without flash, holding the phone parallel to the page. If the invoice is a long till receipt, do not force it into an A4 shape: crop it at its long shape and let the PDF tool place it on the page.