Paperless-ngx: Difference between revisions

Paperless-ngx
Latest release	2.20.6
Status	Active
Operating System	Cross-platform
Platform(s)	Docker
Language(s)	Python, TypeScript
License	GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
External links
Website	paperless-ngx.com
GitHub	paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx
Bug tracker	GitHub Issues
Documentation	Paperless-ngx Documentation

VisualWikitext

Latest revision as of 15:41, 18 October 2026

Paperless-ngx is a community-supported open-source document management system that transforms your physical documents into a searchable online archive, allowing you to reduce paper clutter.

Setup

The following example configuration will enable Paperless locally

❄︎ /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

environment.etc."paperless-admin-pass".text = "admin";
services.paperless = {
  enable = true;
  passwordFile = "/etc/paperless-admin-pass";
};

After applying the configuration you can access the instance via http://localhost:28981 and login with username admin and password admin. Another example below could be used on a server with an actual URL and some extra settings.

services.paperless = {
  enable = true;
  consumptionDirIsPublic = true;
  address = "<machine ip>";
  settings = {
    PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_IGNORE_PATTERN = [
      ".DS_STORE/*"
      "desktop.ini"
    ];
    PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE = "deu+eng";
    PAPERLESS_OCR_USER_ARGS = {
      optimize = 1;
      pdfa_image_compression = "lossless";
    };
    PAPERLESS_URL = "https://paperless.example.com";
  };
};

After the installation, you can set an admin user yourself via the following command on the server

sudo paperless-manage createsuperuser

Maintenance

Paperless-ngx comes with some management commands that can be used for various maintenance tasks. On NixOS you can invoke these commands with paperless-manage in the following way:

Export / Backup

Creating backups of your data (incl. settings and database) can be configured and automated with services.paperless.exporter. If needed you can also manually trigger an export with document_exporterfor example:

sudo -u paperless paperless-manage document_exporter /var/lib/paperless/export <arguments>

Import

The document_importer takes your previously created export and imports it into paperless:

sudo -u paperless paperless-manage document_importer /path/to/export <arguments>

More commands

Check official documentation for more management commands and further explanation.

FAQ

Why is Paperless being rebuilt from source, even if there is a version in the package cache?

If you have set PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE, the tesseract OCR engine and consequently paperless-ngx are recompiled for your specified languages.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{application infobox
+  |name=Paperless-ngx
+  |type=Container
+  |image=Paperless-ngx-logo.svg
+  |firstRelease=March 2022
+  |latestRelease=2.20.6
+  |status=Active
+  |license=GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
+  |os=Cross-platform
+  |platform=Docker
+  |programmingLanguage=Python, TypeScript
+  |website=[https://paperless-ngx.com paperless-ngx.com]
+  |github=paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx
+  |bugTracker=[https://github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/issues GitHub Issues]
+  |documentation=[https://docs.paperless-ngx.com Paperless-ngx Documentation]
+}}
 [https://paperless-ngx.com Paperless-ngx] is a community-supported open-source document management system that transforms your physical documents into a searchable online archive, allowing you to reduce paper clutter.
@@ Line 7: / Line 23: @@
    passwordFile = "/etc/paperless-admin-pass";
 };}}After applying the configuration you can access the instance via http://localhost:28981 and login with username <code>admin</code> and password <code>admin</code>.
+Another example below could be used on a server with an actual URL and some extra settings.<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
+services.paperless = {
+  enable = true;
+  consumptionDirIsPublic = true;
+  address = "<machine ip>";
+  settings = {
+    PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_IGNORE_PATTERN = [
+      ".DS_STORE/*"
+      "desktop.ini"
+    ];
+    PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE = "deu+eng";
+    PAPERLESS_OCR_USER_ARGS = {
+      optimize = 1;
+      pdfa_image_compression = "lossless";
+    };
+    PAPERLESS_URL = "https://paperless.example.com";
+  };
+};
+</syntaxhighlight>After the installation, you can set an admin user yourself via the following command on the server <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
+sudo paperless-manage createsuperuser
+</syntaxhighlight>
+== Maintenance ==
+Paperless-ngx comes with some [https://docs.paperless-ngx.com/administration/#management-commands management commands] that can be used for various maintenance tasks. On NixOS you can invoke these commands with <code>paperless-manage</code> in the following way:
+==== Export / Backup ====
+Creating backups of your data (incl. settings and database) can be configured and automated with [https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=unstable&query=services.paperless.exporter&type=options services.paperless.exporter]. If needed you can also manually trigger an export with <code>document_exporter</code>for example:<syntaxhighlight>
+sudo -u paperless paperless-manage document_exporter /var/lib/paperless/export <arguments>
+</syntaxhighlight>
+==== Import ====
+The <code>document_importer</code> takes your previously created export and imports it into paperless:<syntaxhighlight>
+sudo -u paperless paperless-manage document_importer /path/to/export <arguments>
+</syntaxhighlight>
+==== More commands ====
+Check [https://docs.paperless-ngx.com/administration/#management-commands official documentation] for more management commands and further explanation.
+== FAQ ==
+=== Why is Paperless being rebuilt from source, even if there is a version in the package cache? ===
+If you have set <code>PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE</code>, the tesseract OCR engine and consequently paperless-ngx are recompiled for your specified languages.
+[[Category:Server]]
+[[Category:Web Applications]]

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