How to scan documents so the portal accepts them the first time

Upload failures are almost always mechanical, not substantive. Sizes, formats, lighting and the framing mistakes that make a perfectly valid document unreadable.

In short

Upload failures are almost always mechanical. PDF for multi-page documents, JPG for single pages, each file under the stated size, and the document photographed flat in even light. Open what you uploaded and read it before you submit.

The specifications to hit

• Format: PDF for multi-page documents, JPG for single pages and the photograph.
• Size: under 2 MB per file. A phone photo is often 4-6 MB and has to be compressed.
• Resolution: 200-300 dpi. Higher just inflates the file without helping the reader.
• Colour: scan in colour. A greyscale scan of a stamped document can lose the stamp.

How to photograph a document properly

Use a scanner app rather than the camera. It squares the page, removes the background and compresses sensibly. Lay the document flat in daylight, keep your own shadow off it, and check that all four corners are inside the frame before you save. A document photographed at an angle reads as a distorted document, not a scanned one. The three that get rejected. A shadow across a corner, a cropped edge that cuts off a stamp or signature, and a glare patch over the photograph on an ID. All three are invisible on a phone screen and obvious to the officer opening the file.

Multi-page documents

Combine the pages into a single PDF in the right order rather than uploading page two as a separate file. Separate files get attached to the wrong field. If a Khatauni or property paper runs long, include the pages that carry the name, the holding and the official seal.

Check the upload, not the file

After each upload, open the preview the portal offers and read it as the officer would. That ten-second check is what separates a file that clears verification from one that comes back a fortnight later.