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Simplify document management by hosting Paperless-ngx on your home lab

Simplify document management by hosting Paperless-ngx on your home lab

Digital apps and platforms may have taken over the world, but that doesn’t mean organizing documents is less painful. Sure, you don’t have to worry about physical documents hogging up all your desk space. But sifting through numerous folders and emails in search of that one elusive file can be a real headache.




Thankfully, the computing world has a couple of document management tools that make arranging files a breeze. Paperless-ngx is one such app that’s miles ahead of its competitors, and here’s everything you need to know before integrating it into your home lab.

What is Paperless-ngx?

And why should you use it?

Browsing the documents stored in a Paperless-ngx container on Proxmox

In simple terms, Paperless-ngx is an application that combines data indexing features with OCR and email scanning, allowing you to not only convert your physical files into digital documents but also manage everything from a simple web UI. Being an open-source app that runs as a container, Paperless-ngx doesn’t cost a penny and can be hosted on low-power home lab setups.


One of the biggest advantages of the app is that you can search for a specific document by entering its contents, and Paperless-ngx will immediately retrieve the file from storage. Besides allowing you to attach custom notes to the metadata of your uploaded files, Paperless-ngx can run machine-learning algorithms to detect the characters and words in your photos, and even prevent duplicate files from occupying space on your server. Plus, you can set up an automatic import facility for multiple email addresses, share files between multiple correspondents, and automate document organization with the help of a simple trigger-action system. Combine these features with a solid UI and the secure, self-hosted nature of Paperless-ngx, and it’s easy to see why it’s the document management platform of choice for many home lab owners.


How to set up Paperless-ngx?

It’s surprisingly easy to install on Proxmox, but rather difficult on Windows

Like most self-hosted services, the complexity of installing Paperless-ngx depends entirely on your operating system. Contrary to what you may expect, Proxmox users have the easiest installation process for Paperless-ngx. Thanks to the ultra-useful Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts repository by developer tteck, you can install this tool by running the bash -c “$(wget -qLO – command inside the Shell of your Proxmox node. But since the script assigns a random password to the container, you’ll need to enter the cat ~/paperless.creds command to get the Username and Password to access the web UI.


On Debian, Ubuntu, and other Linux-based distros, you’ll need to install Wget and Docker by entering sudo apt-get install docker.io wget -y into the terminal. After that, you must add the Docker Compose plugin by running the following set of commands:

  • DOCKER_CONFIG=$DOCKER_CONFIG:-$HOME/.docker
  • mkdir -p $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins
  • curl -SL  -o $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  • chmod +x $DOCKER_CONFIG/cli-plugins/docker-compose


Once that’s done, you can run the bash -c “$(curl –location –silent –show-error script and follow the prompts to initialize a Paperless-ngx container.

If the Docker environment fails to initialize, you can fix the issue by runing the
sudo chmod 666 /var/run/docker.sock
command.


Sadly, installing Paperless-ngx is even more complex for Windows 11 users. The official method involves setting up Docker Desktop, which, in turn, requires you to go through the daunting process of installing WSL2. Thankfully, you can skip the long WSL2 setup procedure with the aid of virtualization. Once you’ve installed VMware Workstation Pro, VirtualBox, or any other Type-2 hypervisor, you can deploy a Linux-based virtual machine and follow the same procedure we highlighted in the previous section.

Simplifying document management with Paperless-ngx


I’ll admit that when I first heard about Paperless-ngx, I wasn’t as hyped up about the app as I was with Home Assistant or CasaOS. But once I’d installed it on my Proxmox server, I was blown away by its utility. From sharing my digitized notes with friends to storing my tax returns and warranty documents, Paperless-ngx quickly became an indispensable part of my home lab setup.

Even if it doesn’t sound all very useful at first glance, I really recommend giving Paperless-ngx a shot, especially if you’re on Proxmox. But for the lucky souls who are free from the curse of managing documents, there are plenty of other cool and useful projects you can build on your home lab.

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