Paperless-ngx

Paperless-ngx is a self-hosted document management system (DMS) focused on turning paper and digital files into searchable, organized records. It ingests documents from multiple sources, runs OCR and text extraction, and provides a web UI and API to manage, find, and automate document handling.

Key Features

• Automated ingestion (“consume” folder) plus upload via web UI and REST API
• OCR and text extraction for searchable PDFs/images (typically via Tesseract)
• Full-text search with filters (tags, correspondents, document types, dates, fields)
• Metadata model: correspondents, document types, tags, custom fields, and rules
• Email ingestion (IMAP) to automatically import attachments and assign metadata
• Document workflows: matching rules, automatic tagging, and metadata assignment
• Multi-user support with permissions/roles and an admin interface
• Preview and download originals/archived PDFs; versioned/organized storage
• Integrations via API and container-first deployment (Docker/Compose)

Use Cases

• Personal “paperless” home archive for bills, receipts, manuals, and letters
• Small office record-keeping with consistent naming, tagging, and search
• Automatic import pipeline from scanner + email for invoices and statements

Limitations and Considerations

• OCR quality and language support depend on installed OCR language packs and scan quality
• Accurate auto-classification relies on well-tuned matching rules and consistent inputs

Paperless-ngx is well-suited for users who want reliable OCR-backed search, structured metadata, and automated ingestion to maintain a long-term, searchable archive. Its strong import options and rule-based processing make it practical for both home and small-team document workflows.