A lot of children's artwork now lives on a parent's phone. The fridge only holds so much, so you take a picture and let the paper go. The photos pile up. Then a grandparent asks to see them, and the files won't open on their computer.

The reason is usually the file format. iPhones save photos in a format called HEIC, which takes up less space than the older JPEG format. Apple made it the default in 2017. iPhones and Macs read it without trouble, but a Windows computer needs extra software from the Microsoft Store before it can open one.

A PDF gets around this. It opens on almost any device, and it can hold many pictures in one file, a little like a book. This HEIC to PDF guide goes through each kind of device step by step, and the iPhone steps are simple enough to share here.

Making the PDF on an iPhone

You don't need a special app.

  1. Open Photos and select the drawings you want to include.
  2. Tap Share, then Print.
  3. At the top of the next screen, tap the Share button.
  4. Choose Save to Files.

Each picture becomes its own page. From the Files app you can attach the PDF to an email or send it in a message.

A very long book can get heavy for email. Gmail, for instance, allows 25 MB of attachments, so a big collection may travel better as a shared link. If the grandparents prefer paper, the same PDF prints easily at home or at a local print shop, one drawing per page.

Tips for a nicer photo book

Photograph the artwork in daylight, near a window, with the paper lying flat. Overhead lamps tend to cast shadows across the page.

Crop each photo in the Photos app first, so the pages show the drawing rather than the kitchen table.

Consider a cover page. A photo of a handwritten title, such as "Drawings from this spring", makes the file feel like a real little book.

Keep the original photos as well. Converting changes how the pictures are stored, and some detail doesn't survive the trip.

If you use a Mac or a Windows computer

A Mac can make the same kind of PDF. Select the photos in Finder, Control-click, and choose Quick Actions, then Create PDF. The pages follow the order you click the photos in.

On Windows, install the HEIF and HEVC extensions from the Microsoft Store first. Then select the photos, choose Print, and pick Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer.

Grandparents rarely mind whether the photos are perfect. They want to see the drawings, and a single PDF makes that easy.