Scan once, find forever
OCR extracts text from scanned documents. AI suggests tags, correspondents, and document types. Full-text search finds any document in seconds, even handwritten notes.
Scan, index, and archive all your documents automatically.
Paperless-NGX
Paperless-NGX transforms your paper documents into a searchable digital archive. Scan documents, let AI extract metadata and text, and find anything instantly with full-text search.
Paperless-NGX is an open-source project. We make it easier to deploy and manage, but all credit goes to the original developers. Learn more about the Paperless-NGX project →
OCR and full-text search across all scanned documents
Automatic tagging, categorization, and metadata extraction
Email import and mobile app for scanning on the go
What you get
All the features you'd expect, plus the control and privacy of self-hosting.
Automatic organization
Machine learning learns from your document organization and suggests tags automatically. Set up rules for automatic filing based on content, sender, or document type.
Import from anywhere
Scan with your phone using the mobile app. Forward emails with attachments. Upload PDFs via web interface. Watch folders for automatic import from network scanners.
What's included
Built-in safety features
Login integration, automatic backups, and monitoring come included. Everything runs on your server; we handle the setup and give you clear guides for when things go wrong.
Unified authentication
Single sign-on across all apps using Auth0. Sign in with GitHub, email, or passkeys. One account, all your apps—no need to create separate passwords.
Automatic backups with OCR data
Nightly encrypted backups include original documents, OCR text, and metadata. Export to PDF with searchable text layer for maximum portability.
Document retention and compliance
Set automatic deletion dates for sensitive documents. Audit logs track who accessed what. Export documents for compliance or legal discovery.
Resource requirements
Plan your deployment with these hardware requirements. All tiers include overhead for Docker and supporting services.
Medium Resource Usage
Minimum Configuration
Good for testing and small-scale use
- CPU
- 2 cores
- RAM
- 2GB
- Storage
- 20GB + document archive
- Capacity
- 1-10 users
Recommended
Production Configuration
Best performance and user experience
- CPU
- 4 cores
- RAM
- 4GB
- Storage
- 100GB + document archive
- Capacity
- 10-50 users
Important notes
- OCR is CPU-intensive during document processing
- Storage grows with document library (PDFs, images)
- PostgreSQL database requires 1-3GB for search indices
- Redis used for task queue (allocate 256MB)
How it works
Here's how everything fits together. All the setup files are in the docs if you want to customize things.
How it's accessed
Web interface available via automatic SSL certificates. REST API for integrations and mobile apps. Secure tunnel access from anywhere.
Document processing
OCR runs in background with Tesseract. Machine learning models suggest tags and metadata. Redis queue manages document processing jobs.
Storage and search
PostgreSQL stores metadata and search indices. Original documents stored on disk with optional compression. Full-text search powered by PostgreSQL.
Get started in three steps
Use the portal to deploy your app, set it up, and start using it—all through your web browser.
01
Enroll your device
Download the agent installer from the portal dashboard. The installer handles Docker setup and connects your device to your UnboundBytes account automatically.
02
Deploy Paperless-NGX
Select Paperless-NGX from the application catalog, choose your deployment target, and click deploy. The portal configures everything—OCR, database, and SSL certificates.
03
Start scanning
Access your Paperless instance at {yourname}.unboundbytes.com/paperless. Upload documents via web or download the mobile app to scan with your phone's camera.
Common questions
Still have questions? Join our community chat or check out the support page for more help.
What languages does OCR support?
Paperless supports 100+ languages via Tesseract OCR. English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and many others are supported out of the box.
Can it read handwriting?
Sometimes. OCR works best with printed text. Clear handwriting may work, but accuracy varies. The full-text search will still find keywords that OCR detected.
How do I bulk import existing PDFs?
Upload via web interface, or set up a consumption folder and drop files there. Paperless automatically processes new files and moves them to the archive.
Learn more
Check out the docs, upstream projects, and support channels.