Where Does Microsoft Lens Save Scans?
Microsoft Lens saves whiteboard, document, and card scans to gallery, OneDrive, or OneNote per mode. Choose the destination before scanning.
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Lens routes scans by mode at capture time. Whiteboard cleanups, document PDFs, and business cards each default to different destinations across gallery, OneDrive, OneNote, and Outlook contacts. The choice happens before the shutter, not after.
That makes the destination setting the whole file story. For archival work pick OneDrive; for quick shares the gallery suffices. Exact behaviors may vary by version. Keep the lens clean; smudges blur exactly the text OCR needs. Action cards from whiteboards create tasks automatically.
Where Microsoft Lens stores this, by platform
/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Microsoft Lens/
Destinations set per scan mode before capture. Gallery copies stay local; cloud routes sync via Microsoft account. Confirm mode before batches.
Photos app > Lens scans (per save mode)
Same per-mode destinations as Android. Business cards sync contacts to Outlook when enabled. Reinstalls lose gallery-only scans.
Frequently asked questions
Where do Lens scans go?
Pick the save mode first: gallery keeps local copies while OneDrive and OneNote routes upload immediately. Batch scanning defaults to the last mode, so confirm it before conference marathons. PDFs assemble per session automatically.
Do scans sync between devices?
Yes with the same Microsoft account for OneDrive and OneNote destinations. Gallery-only scans stay per device. Business cards sync contacts to Outlook when that option is enabled.
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