Insert and manage media in text documents

Available in text documents on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Taking photos requires a camera and permission. Scan Text requires supported hardware and system features and is not shown on Mac. Media flows with the text rather than moving freely on a canvas.

Insert photos and videos

1. Place the cursor at the intended position and choose photos or videos from the add menu.
2. Select one or more items in the system photo picker, confirm, and wait for import.
3. Check that images are complete and videos have a preview frame.
4. Use a video’s controls to play it, then pause to continue reading.

Canceling the picker adds nothing. The text editor’s photo picker has different item-count settings from the canvas picker; do not apply the canvas’s “20 at a time” rule here.

You can also paste an image from the clipboard or drag one from a supported source. The source app must provide readable image data. Copying a webpage address is not the same as copying its image file.

Insert photos and videos

Place the cursor and choose Add Photo or Video to insert media between paragraphs. Tap to view the original image

Take a photo or scan text

Choose Camera from the add menu to take a photo and insert it into the document. Grant camera access on first use, then confirm the photo. If access was denied, follow the prompt to system settings and retry afterward.

Scan Text inserts recognized words from the camera. Place the cursor first, open Scan Text, then select and insert text using the system interface. Check the result and correct it like ordinary text.

Scan Text does not preserve a page image. To keep the paper’s appearance, use Scan an image on the canvas or Create a paged note by scanning.

Preview, copy, share, or delete media

Open an image or video’s context menu to preview, share, or delete it. Images also offer Copy. Closing a preview returns to the document, and canceling sharing does not remove the media. Delete first removes the media item from the text; use Undo immediately after an accidental deletion.

Media files are saved with the document. The app manages attachments that the text no longer references. Do not manually remove files from the document package to delete media. To preserve all attachments, export the native document.

Common questions

Scan Text is missing

Check the device, camera, and system support for text scanning.

Drag and drop failed

Try the system photo picker or copy the actual image.

I want to insert another file type

This guide covers the available photo, video, and Scan Text actions. These are different from canvas file attachments.