Well yes you can not use a scanned pdf. It has to be the real created electronic pdf. But that is only to transfer the prior year tax return into a new blank tax return. But transferring from a pdf only transfers basic info like your name, address, ssn and prior AGI.
Where are you seeing that you can use a pdf to import 1099 info? Can you post a screen shot? And JPG, PNG? Never heard of that.
