this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Paperless-ngx and seeking suggestions for getting into a decent workflow (discuss.online)
submitted 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) by kiol@discuss.online to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/40125235

Picked up an ix500 scansnap and wondering about suggested workflows for going paperless. My intention is to scan a bunch of documents, but haven't delved deeply into how this will actually flow on the software level. I know I'll need to OCR the scanned documents, and my base setup is:

  • Pi with SSD storage running compose version of Paperless-ngx to filesystem mounted folders.
    • Folders can also be accessed over Samba
  • ix500 statically assigned over wifi as network scanner.
  • A literal filing cabinet, for things I should keep physically.
  • Ubuntu computer for browsing

I feel a bit overwhelmed, but am excited to get started. Will be scanning personal document, work docs, whatever else I need to digitize and recycle. All suggestions appreciated!

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[–] fatcat@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Do not overthink it. Set up paperless, create a watched folder. Paperless does the OCR for you. Scan your stuff and check if it was scanned as you want it to be. If yes, drop it in the folder. Tag as you go, paperless will learn and tags will get more accurate. If something reaches a level where you can trust paperless to always tag it correctly, let it tag that type of thing completely automated.

And file away your scanned papers separately, because scanning old things takes a lot of time and will most likely not be done in a day or two. Even with a scanner which can pull through stacks of pages, you still have to check if every page really was scanned (scanners can pull in two pages at the same time, only one page will be scanned then) and you have to merge multi-page docs (or scan them that way immediately).

[–] dan@upvote.au 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 54 minutes ago)

And file away your scanned papers separately,

I'd recommend using ASN (archive serial numbers) for documents you store a physical copy of, following the recommended flow

I printed ASN QR code stickers, using the smallest Avery labels I could find (Avery 5267 in the USA, L4731REV-25 in Europe) along with their free online design app.

For documents I want to keep, I stick a QR code sticker on them before scanning. Paperless-ngx automatically detects the QR code and sets the ASN. I then file it away in a folder that's sorted by ASN. When I need to find the physical copy again, I first look in Paperless to find the ASN, then find the document in the folder (pretty quick since all documents are sorted).

You'll need to set the following settings:

PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_ENABLE_BARCODES=true
PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_ENABLE_ASN_BARCODE=true
PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_BARCODE_SCANNER=zxing

[–] a_fancy_kiwi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

And file away your scanned papers separately

This^. No matter how many layers of backups I have for paperless, I'm still keeping the most important physical documents in a file cabinet.