Adobe Systems Inc. is extending its Sensei artificial intelligence to mobile devices.

The technology giant today introduced an app called Scan that harnesses the device’s computer vision capabilities to let users digitize physical documents. Like other tools in the category, it provides the ability to capture the contents of a record using a smartphone or tablet camera. From there, the machine learning algorithms behind the scenes convert the raw photograph into a form that can be managed more easily. 

The process starts with an auto-crop mechanism filtering out the background so that only the document remains. Scan then uses a “perspective correction” tool to change the display angle if necessary, removes any shadows that might impede reading and digitizes the text. The latter step involves converting the document into a PDF that Adobe claims has all the features as a file originally created in the format.

Text captured with Scan can be edited, searched and synced to a company’s backend analytics infrastructure for analysis. Adobe sees the app coming handy for digitizing not only regular documents but also practically any other physical record that contains some form of writing.

Workers who take frequent business trips, for instance, could use Scan to bring travel receipts into their firm’s expense management system. Records can alternatively be saved on Adobe Document Cloud, which provides a file locker similar to those offered by the likes of Google Inc. and Dropbox Inc. The latter company introduced a similar document scanning last year as part of an effort to set its service apart.

The launch of Scan should help Adobe even the playing field. It’s part of a broader effort by the company to increase the appeal of Document Cloud amid competition not only from the major file-sharing providers but also startups. One of the fastest-growing players in the latter camp is PandaDoc Inc., which raised $15 million in funding last week as part of a round that included Microsoft Corp.’s investment arm.

Scan is available for free on Android and iOS. 

Image: Adobe