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Troubleshooting
Scanner discovery problems, scan and feeder errors, and recovering your work.
No scanners found
If the device picker says No scanners found, work through this list — it resolves nearly every discovery problem:
Wake the scanner. Many scanners disable their network interface in deep sleep. Wake it from its own panel, then tap Refresh scanners in Neo.
Same network? Your iPhone/iPad and the scanner must be on the same local network. Watch out for separate guest Wi‑Fi, a 2.4/5 GHz split with client isolation, or VPN profiles that block local traffic.
Local Network permission. In the iOS Settings app, open Privacy & Security → Local Network and make sure PDFScanner Neo is allowed. Without it, discovery finds nothing — Neo will only offer the camera.
Does the scanner speak AirScan/eSCL? Neo uses the driverless AirScan/eSCL standard — most network scanners from the last decade support it. If another AirScan app (or a Mac’s driverless scanning) can’t see the scanner either, the scanner itself is the issue; check for a firmware update or an “AirPrint/AirScan” setting on the device. USB-only scanners are not supported.
Restart in this order: the scanner, then the app, then — if needed — the router.
Scan errors and what they mean
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| The scanner could not be reached on the local network. | Discovery worked earlier, but the connection now fails — usually sleep or a changed IP address. Wake the scanner and refresh. |
| The scanner did not respond in time… | Check that it is awake and reachable, restart it if needed, then try again. |
| The scanner did not return a page within … seconds. | The job stalled mid-scan. Check the scanner’s display, cancel any stalled job there, then try again. |
| The scanner is busy or unavailable. | Someone (or something) else is using it — many scanners handle only one job at a time. Wait a moment and try again. |
| The scanner requires authentication. | The scanner’s administrator has restricted scanning — check its admin settings. |
| The secure scanner connection failed. | The scanner’s HTTPS endpoint misbehaves (self-signed or broken TLS is common on older firmware). A firmware update on the scanner is the sustainable fix; restarting the scanner sometimes helps too. |
| The scanner returned HTTP … | An unexpected reply from the scanner’s firmware. Restart the scanner and try again; if one specific setting triggers it, try another resolution or source. |
Document feeder (ADF) problems
Feeder errors come from the scanner’s own sensors, and the message says exactly what it detected:
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| The automatic document feeder is empty. | Load paper and try again. With Source set to Automatic, Neo retries once on the flatbed instead. |
| Paper is jammed in the automatic document feeder. | Clear the jam and try again. |
| The automatic document feeder hatch is open. | Close it and try again. |
| …could not pick a sheet. / …picked multiple sheets. | Fan the stack, straighten it, reload — worn feed rollers make this more frequent. |
| …input tray is overloaded. | Remove some pages and scan in smaller batches. |
| The document is too long/short for duplex scanning. | The feeder’s duplex path can’t handle this paper size — scan those pages one-sided, or use Fake Duplex. |
Camera problems
- The document camera is unavailable on this device — the system document camera isn’t supported here. Use a hardware scanner instead.
- If the camera view never appears, check the iOS Settings app under Privacy & Security → Camera and allow PDFScanner Neo.
Opening and importing files
- A password is required to open this PDF — enter the PDF’s password when prompted; it is used once and never stored. If the password is correct but opening still fails, the file may use an unsupported encryption scheme.
- … is not a supported import file — Neo opens and imports PDF, PNG, JPEG and HEIC files.
- Open can only load one file at a time — Open replaces the workspace with a single file; use Import to append several files to an existing document.
Smart Save and Apple Intelligence
- Apple Intelligence is not available/enabled on this device — Apple Intelligence presets need a device that supports it and has it enabled in the iOS settings. Keyword-based presets work everywhere.
- Apple Intelligence is still preparing the local model — the on-device model is downloading; try again a little later.
- No save preset matched this document — no criteria matched and no usable fallback existed. Check the preset order and criteria under Settings → Save Presets, and make sure OCR ran so there is text to match.
- The save preset folder is not available — the preset’s destination folder was moved, deleted, or lives on storage that is currently unreachable. Edit the preset and choose the folder again.
My work disappeared after a restart
That’s by design — Neo starts every launch with an empty workspace. Tap the clock icon (Open Previous) to restore the previous session, including page, zoom and scroll position. See The scan workspace.
A processed page looks wrong
Select the page and choose Revert to Scanned Original — it returns to the exact scanner output, undoing crop, conversion and deskew in one step. Then reprocess with different settings, e.g. the Alternative Black and White Conversion for colored originals. See Cleaning up pages.
Purchase and Pro issues
- Subscription options could not be loaded — usually a connectivity hiccup between the device and the App Store; try again on a working connection.
- Pro not recognized after reinstalling or on a new device — see Free vs. Pro for restoring.
Still stuck?
Reach out through pdfscannerapp.com — include your scanner model and what the status line or alert said, and you’ll get a much faster answer.