Beyond One-Touch PDF: PFU Launches 'ScanSnap Cloud+' to Transform Paper from 'Preserved' to 'Utilized' with AI

PFU Limited (President and Executive Officer: Eiji Hirahara, hereinafter 'PFU') announces the launch of 'ScanSnap Cloud+', a new core cloud service for ScanSnap, starting today, July 14, 2026. Alongside this, the company is updating its mobile app 'Mobile ScanSnap Home' with a new feature called 'ScanSnap Camera,' enabling users to capture paper documents using their smartphone cameras.

ScanSnap has long refined the experience of digitizing paper with 'simple one-touch' scanning. 'ScanSnap Cloud+' is a new service that expands this value beyond mere storage to active utilization. Whether scanned via a scanner or smartphone camera, paper information instantly becomes 'searchable, organized, and actionable.' This service delivers a new PDF experience (Note 1).

The service is offered as a paid plan within the 'ScanSnap Cloud' ecosystem, which integrates with the ScanSnap series (Paid: from ¥980/month; 1-month free trial available for S Plan).

The AI feature 'ScanSnap AI' enables OCR including handwritten text, intelligent file naming based on document content, and generates PDFs that link to next actions such as calendar event registration or email creation. This eliminates the post-scan burdens of 'searching, thinking, and organizing' all at once (Note 2).

Additionally, the new 'ScanSnap Camera' feature applies AI-based corrections such as shadow removal and flattening to documents captured with a smartphone camera (Note 3). This achieves scanner-quality digitization even in locations without a physical scanner.

By combining PFU's long-standing image processing technology with AI-powered document understanding, ScanSnap is evolving from a paper digitization tool into a comprehensive service that supports information utilization beyond scanning. It transforms paper information from something 'preserved' into an 'immediately usable asset,' offering a new way to leverage information regardless of location or device.

Information Utilization Powered by 'ScanSnap Cloud+'

The 'one-touch to PDF' experience that ScanSnap has perfected over 25 years has brought the ease of digitizing paper to countless users. ScanSnap Cloud further connected the process from scanning to cloud storage, creating an environment where paper information can be digitally utilized.

However, there remained room for improvement in the convenience of quickly finding stored information and linking it to immediate next actions.

'ScanSnap Cloud+' was created to drive the next evolution in information utilization starting from scanning.

Scan meeting handouts, and the next appointment is delivered ready for calendar registration. Handwritten notes become instantly searchable by keyword. The same applies to documents captured with a smartphone. Whether on business trips or at home—information is already organized the moment it's scanned.

Not 'preserved,' but 'used.' 'ScanSnap Cloud+' makes scanning the starting point of information utilization in everyday life.

The New PDF Experience Enabled by 'ScanSnap AI'

'ScanSnap AI,' integrated into 'ScanSnap Cloud+,' understands document content to create new PDFs that are easier to search, organize, and act upon. AI takes over the manual tasks after scanning.

OCR Support for Handwritten Text

Handwritten text on receipts or notes is now recognized and made searchable just like printed text.

Handwritten notes and documents become easier to find via keywords, enhancing usability.

Create PDFs That Link to Calendar, Email, and Next Actions

The system detects information such as dates, email addresses, and QR codes within documents, generating PDFs that enable calendar event registration, email creation, or access to linked URLs—facilitating immediate next actions. Scanning is no longer the end; it becomes the beginning of action.

AI Understands Documents to Generate Optimal File Names

Building on traditional auto-naming, AI now intelligently assigns appropriate file names based on document content. This eliminates the effort of naming files at save time and searching for them later.

Paper information is retained in a form that is 'always accessible and immediately usable.' And this experience extends to recipients as well.

Even without using ScanSnap, recipients can instantly move to calendar registration or email creation with just one click upon receiving the file.

The New Scanning Experience Opened by 'ScanSnap Camera'

'ScanSnap Camera' is a new feature accessible through the 'Mobile ScanSnap Home' app. It digitizes meeting materials, documents on the go, or paper mail at home with scanner-quality results using a smartphone camera. Even without a scanner nearby, you never miss the moment you want to 'capture now.'

Basic features like orientation correction and automatic color detection are available for free. When combined with the AI features of 'ScanSnap Cloud+,' the output quality reaches ScanSnap standards. Paper information becomes valuable data, usable from anywhere.

AI Flattens Folds and Distortions

AI corrects distortions caused by folds or paper curvature, transforming paper documents into clear, readable image data.

AI Automatically Removes Shadows

Shadows commonly caused by smartphone photography are automatically suppressed by AI, preserving document information clearly.

Smartphone Photos with Scanner-Like Quality

Background removal, orientation correction, and automatic color detection—leveraging image processing technologies developed through the ScanSnap series—ensure documents are saved in a clear, well-organized format.

Data captured via 'ScanSnap Camera' can be combined with 'ScanSnap AI' features such as handwritten OCR and file naming to be instantly 'searchable and ready to use.' This creates an environment where paper information can be utilized anytime, anywhere, regardless of scanner availability.

Service Structure

ScanSnap Cloud offers a free plan with basic features such as printed text OCR, automatic sorting, and cloud service integration, and a paid plan 'ScanSnap Cloud+' that enables ScanSnap AI features and AI corrections for ScanSnap Camera. 'ScanSnap Cloud+' offers three plans: S, M, and L (S Plan: ¥980/month, M Plan: ¥1,980/month, L Plan: ¥2,980/month, all inclusive of tax). A one-month free trial is also available for the S Plan.

Free Plan

- Direct integration from ScanSnap to various cloud services - Automatic sorting to cloud services based on four document types

Paid Plan 'ScanSnap Cloud+'

- Supports AI feature 'ScanSnap AI' (handwritten OCR, AI file naming, link-enabled PDF generation) - Supports AI corrections for 'ScanSnap Camera' (shadow removal, flattening)