Both sides of an ID card on one A4 page

In short: photograph the front, then the back — two photos, one after the other. On the A4Norm page both sides land on one A4 page, front on top, at the card's real size. Then tap “Edit” under the result: a note “KOPIE” with the date goes under the card, and the fields the recipient does not need can be filled with black, right on your phone. Below is how, and what the law says about it.

One page instead of two files also helps whoever reads it: nobody has to work out which back belongs to which front.

Which documents this works for

Anything the size of a bank card (the ID-1 format, 85.6 × 54 mm):

• an identity card, such as the German Personalausweis;
• a residence permit card (elektronischer Aufenthaltstitel);
• a card-format driving licence;
• a bank card or a health insurance card (Gesundheitskarte).

A passport is not a card. Its data page is a page in a booklet. Photograph the whole open spread: it lands on one A4 page as a colour copy. More in the guide to photographing documents.

How to take the photos

1. Put the card on a dark, plain surface — a desk, a folder, a piece of cloth. A pale card on white paper loses its edge, and the edge is how A4Norm finds the card.
2. Photograph the front. The whole card in frame with a margin around it, no lamp glare on the laminate. Hold the phone roughly parallel to the card.
3. Turn it over and photograph the back. Straight away, as the next photo: A4Norm pairs a card with the card in the following photo.
4. Open the A4Norm page, tap "Add photos or PDF" (on Android, "Choose photos") and choose both — or take them right there. Then "Make the PDF".

A4Norm usually tells the front from the back by itself, by the holder's photo. On a card without a photo, such as a bank card, it goes by the order of the photos, so take the front first.

Both sides can also go into one photo, side by side. Leave a gap between them then: two cards touching along an edge look like an open booklet.

Forgot the back? Tap "More photos" under the finished PDF and take it (a photo from the gallery: "More" → "Add pages from photos"), then "Add to the PDF" — as long as the front is the last page, the back lands on the same page, under it.

The card comes out as a colour copy: the background, the security print and the photo are not whitened, only the light is evened out. And it comes out at its real size — print the PDF on A4 without scaling and the copy matches the card.

A copy must look like a copy

For the German ID card this is written into the law. § 20(2) PAuswG: a Personalausweis may be copied only by its holder or with the holder's consent, and so that the copy is "eindeutig und dauerhaft als Kopie erkennbar" — clearly and permanently recognisable as a copy. For the German passport, § 18(3) PassG says the same.

How exactly, the law does not say. The explanatory memorandum to the law (BT-Drs. 18/11279, pp. 27–28) gives two examples: a copy in shades of grey, or a clearly visible "Kopie" on it. Either one is enough. The interior ministry's Personalausweisportal advises the same and adds: mark the copy with its purpose and the date, for example "Nur zur Vorlage bei … am …".

What you may cover

Blacking out data is the holder's right, not a duty — the same memorandum says so. The portal's advice:

• Above all the access number and the document number. The access number (Zugangsnummer, CAN) is six digits on the front. The document number (Dokumentennummer) is on the front and once more in the machine-readable zone on the back. Cover them unless a law requires them for the specific purpose.
• Name, date of birth and place of residence are often enough. Height, eye colour, signature and the machine-readable zone can usually be covered too.
• If in doubt, ask whoever wants the copy which data they actually need.
• The photo only when it is not needed. The data protection commissioner of North Rhine-Westphalia (LDI NRW) suggests covering it too. But whoever checks your identity usually needs exactly that photo.
• What is covered must not be readable or recoverable. The portal warns that the data has to be deleted, not merely laid over, as some programs do.

These rules are written for German documents. § 20 PAuswG and § 18 PassG do not apply to a foreign passport or a residence permit card, but the same precautions do no harm.

When not to cover anything: banks and notaries

Banks, notaries and others who check identity under the anti-money-laundering act have, under § 8(2) GwG, the right and the duty to copy the document. They often need a full copy — no note, nothing covered, sometimes in colour. Send them the scan without the edits, and if in doubt, ask first.

How to do it with A4Norm

Tap "Edit" under the finished PDF. "Output" → "Note" already says "KOPIE" — add who the copy is for, for example "KOPIE für die Krankenkasse"; the date is added for you. Choose "Black and white" under "Output" → "Colour" unless the recipient needs a colour copy. Tap "Black out" in "Remove" and drag the box over the access number and the document number, a second one over the machine-readable zone. "Done" — and "Send" now sends the marked copy.

A made-up specimen card, the scanner's real output: the scan on the left, after “Edit” on the right

The boxes are filled solid black in the page image itself: A4Norm draws the page anew and puts only that into the PDF, so nothing is left under a box in the file. The scan without the edits is kept alongside — for the bank, one tap brings it back. Step by step — placing and adjusting a box, zooming into the card, changing the page order and where all of it is kept — in the guide "Mark a scan as a copy and black out data".

The manual way

If you would rather not have the field in the photo at all, the paper ways still work:

• A strip of paper over the field. Lay a small strip of opaque paper on the card so that it covers the access number, and write “KOPIE” on it. Keep it inside the card, clear of its edge: A4Norm finds the card by its outline. If the card did not come out as a straight card at its real size, move the strip and take the photo again.
• Via a paper copy. Make the PDF, print it, black out what is not needed with a thick marker, write “KOPIE” and photograph the sheet again. Slower, but it is what the portal recommends when in doubt about digital tools.

The photo of your ID stays with you

On the A4Norm page the photo is processed right in the browser, on your phone. Neither the photo nor the PDF goes to my server or to a cloud — check it in airplane mode. After the first visit the page also works offline, and you can install the scanner on your phone like an app.

A photo taken with the phone camera, however, usually stays in the gallery — and, if backup is on, in the cloud. When the copy is no longer needed, delete the photos and the PDF: the portal advises destroying ID copies as soon as their purpose is served.

In Telegram the same scanner opens in the bot @a4norm_bot with the "Scanner" button at the bottom left, and the photo stays on your phone there too. Only the finished PDF can pass through my server — if you tap "Send to chat"; the server does not keep it, but the ID copy then sits in your Telegram chat, and that is one more place to delete it from later.

What this copy is not

• Not a replacement for the original. Where the document has to be shown, you need the document.
• Not a certified copy. If a beglaubigte Kopie is required, a PDF will not do.
• Not a guarantee that the recipient accepts the file. That is their decision.

An ID copy rarely travels alone: an application to the Ausländerbehörde or for naturalisation comes with a dozen other documents. How to put them together within the portals' limits is in a separate guide.