School wants the homework, application form, or permission slip as a PDF. Your phone has JPG photos. That gap trips up students and parents constantly, and Android makes it slightly harder than iPhone, where the Files app can convert directly. On Android you need one extra step. Here are three ways to close the gap, and none of them require installing anything.
Method 1: Google Photos' Print Feature
No third-party app needed. If Google Photos is on your phone, you're set.
- Open Google Photos and find the photo you want to convert
- Tap the three-dot menu in the upper right corner and select Print
- As the printer, choose Save as PDF (Android's built-in virtual printer)
- Set the paper size (A4 is a safe choice) and the orientation
- Tap the download icon. The PDF lands in your Downloads folder
The catch: one photo per PDF. If your assignment spans several pages, you'd have to repeat this for every photo and merge the results afterward, which gets old fast. For multiple photos, method 2 is less work.
Method 2: An Online Tool in Your Browser
To handle several photos at once without installing anything, open the JPG to PDF tool in Chrome or any mobile browser.
- Tap Upload Files and select your photos from the gallery or file manager. Multiple selection works.
- Drag and drop to put the pages in order, cover page first
- Check that the orientation looks right, then tap Convert
- Download the PDF and attach it in Gmail or whichever app you use
A homework assignment of 3 to 5 pages goes through in one pass. Nothing to merge afterward.
Shot a photo sideways? Convert to PDF first, then fix the orientation with Rotate PDF. It supports 90°, 180°, and 270° and takes a few seconds.
Method 3: Scan First for Official Documents
For anything official, such as a copy of a household registration certificate or a signed permission slip, it's worth scanning instead of just photographing. The image comes out flatter and cleaner. Free options:
- Microsoft Lens detects document edges and corrects the perspective, so the shot looks like it came from a scanner
- Adobe Scan has a simple interface and outputs PDF directly
- Google Drive has a scanner built in: tap + in the bottom right, then Scan
These apps produce PDF files directly, so no conversion step is needed. If the resulting file is too large (many schools cap upload sizes), shrink it with Compress PDF before submitting.
Combining Multiple Documents into One PDF
Schools sometimes want everything in a single file: the completed assignment, a parent-signed slip, both sides of an ID card.
Convert each document to PDF separately, then combine them with Merge PDF. Upload the PDFs, drag them into order, merge, download. The whole thing works on your phone. No computer needed.
Before You Hit Send
Check the file size first. School email systems typically cap attachments at 5 to 10 MB, and phone photos are high-resolution enough that a direct conversion can blow past that. If it does, run the PDF through Compress PDF.
Rename the file to something the teacher can actually sort, like John_Smith_Grade2A_BookReport.pdf. A pile of files named document(3).pdf is nobody's favorite inbox.
Then preview the PDF once, in your phone's viewer or the browser, to confirm every page is right-side up and in order. Thirty seconds now beats an apologetic follow-up email later.
If the file is still too large for email after compressing, upload it to Google Drive and send the teacher a link instead. A link has no size limit.
The Short Version
Take the photos, upload them to JPG to PDF, download, send. Under three minutes. If there are multiple documents, add a Merge PDF step. That's the whole workflow, and it all happens in your mobile browser.