Paperless-ngx

Paperless-ngx is a document management system that transforms your physical documents into a searchable online archive. Scan documents, extract text via OCR, automatically categorize and tag them, then shred the originals. Your filing cabinet goes digital.

Key Features

Powerful OCR: Tesseract-based optical character recognition extracts text from scanned documents and images. Search inside PDFs, even handwritten notes become somewhat searchable.

Automatic Classification: Machine learning suggests tags, correspondents, and document types based on content. The system learns from your corrections and improves over time.

Full-Text Search: Find any document instantly. Search by content, tags, correspondent, date range, or document type. Your entire archive becomes instantly accessible.

Email Integration: Automatically consume attachments from designated email accounts. Forward receipts and statements to Paperless-ngx for automatic processing.

Mobile Scanning: Use the companion app or any scanning app to upload directly. Snap a photo of a receipt—Paperless-ngx handles the rest.

Dashboard & Workflow: Inbox view shows newly consumed documents needing review. Saved views and filters create custom document workspaces.

Document Retention: Set retention policies for automatic deletion of old documents. Comply with data retention requirements automatically.

Why Self-Host Paperless-ngx?

Bank statements, medical records, tax documents—these contain your most sensitive personal information. Cloud document services process this data on their servers, subject to their privacy policies and potential breaches. Paperless-ngx keeps everything on your own hardware, encrypted and private.

Deployment

Paperless-ngx runs as a Docker stack with Redis and PostgreSQL (or SQLite for smaller deployments). A network-attached scanner or smartphone app feeds documents into the consumption directory. Moderate CPU power handles OCR; extensive archives benefit from faster storage for search indexing.

Backups are critical—your digital archive represents years of important documents. Automate regular backups of the media directory and database to offsite storage. The export function creates portable document bundles if you ever need to migrate.