Cannot straighten scanned documents in HP App

[dkreulen]

The "straighten" function in the HP app works just as terribly as it did in the HP Smart. How do you make it work?

[Kuroi_Kenshi]

Hi @dkreulen,

Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Thanks for reaching out!

We're thrilled to have the opportunity to assist you and provide a solution.

I understand you’re having trouble with the “Straighten” feature in the HP app when scanning documents — it’s not aligning or correcting the pages properly. Let’s go through a few steps to improve how the straighten tool works and get cleaner, properly aligned scans.

a. Check Lighting and Background

Place your document on a contrasting, flat background (e.g., white paper on a darker surface).

Ensure even lighting — no shadows or glare on the document edges.

Uneven lighting or background patterns can confuse the app’s edge-detection algorithm, causing poor straightening.

b. Align the Document Properly on the Scanner Bed

Place the document snugly against the alignment guides on the scanner glass (usually the top-left corner).

Avoid placing the sheet slightly tilted — the app’s straighten tool can correct small angles but not large misalignments.

c. Use the HP Smart App’s Crop Tool Instead

After scanning, choose Edit → Crop & Rotate.

Manually adjust the corners to straighten the image yourself — this gives more control than auto-straighten.

Then, click Apply to save the corrected version.

d. Update the HP App / HP Smart App

Go to your App Store or Microsoft Store and check for updates to the HP app.

The straighten function relies on image-processing updates that are regularly improved in newer versions.

e. Adjust Scan Settings

Before scanning, select Document → PDF → High Quality (300 DPI or higher).

Higher DPI captures clearer edges, making the straighten tool more accurate.

I hope this helps.

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Best regards,

[dkreulen]

The problem is with the Straighten "tool" that appears at the bottom of the page in the Edit mode/crop function. A slider appears which suggests that by rubbing right or left with the pointer along the tick marks, the page being edited will rotate on its axis to straighten it. (This is a chronic problem with my HP9020 document feeder--it rarely feeds the paper squarely over the scanner despite my repeated attempts to load it straight.) This slider did not work reliably in HPSmart and also does not is the HP App. I use other apps where this type of function works well e.g. Forscore. To deal with this issue I save the document from the HP App and then open the document in my PDF program where it straightens automatically when it's OCR'd.

[Kuroi_Kenshi]

Hi @dkreulen,

Thanks for your clarification and for sharing your workflow!

I completely understand the frustration — the slider-based “Straighten” tool in both the HP Smart and HP App can sometimes be unreliable, especially with slight misfeeds from document feeders like your HP 9020. Unfortunately, this is a known limitation of the HP apps’ current image-processing algorithm, and we don’t have a setting to improve the slider’s precision beyond what you’ve already tried.

Your approach of exporting the scan and using a PDF program that auto-straightens via OCR is a practical workaround and likely the most consistent solution at this time.

Thank you for sharing your experience, and I hope this workaround keeps your workflow smooth.

Best regards,