The Complete Guide to Self-Hosted Document Management

Every business drowns in paper at some point. Receipts, invoices, contracts, permits, insurance documents — they pile up in filing cabinets, desk drawers, and email inboxes. Finding anything takes forever. Losing something costs real money.

Self-hosted document management solves this permanently. Here's how to set it up.

What is Paperless-ngx?

Paperless-ngx is an open-source document management system. You feed it documents (scan, email, upload, or photograph) and it:

1. OCRs the text — makes scanned images searchable
2. Classifies automatically — identifies the document type, vendor, and date using AI
3. Tags and organizes — applies rules you set or lets AI suggest categories
4. Makes everything searchable — full-text search across every document you've ever stored

Think of it as Google for your filing cabinet, except it runs on your own hardware and your documents never leave your building.

Why Self-Hosted?

Cloud document storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, SharePoint) works, but:

• Privacy: Your financial documents, contracts, and customer data live on someone else's servers
• Cost: Business plans cost $15-30/user/month and add up fast
• Lock-in: Try exporting 10,000 documents from Google Drive. It's painful.
• AI features: Cloud providers charge premium for AI classification. Paperless-ngx does it free.

The Setup (15 Minutes)

If you're using a pre-configured stack like Nimbus Online, Paperless-ngx comes ready to go. If you're setting it up standalone:

1. Install Docker on your computer
2. Create a docker-compose.yml file with the Paperless-ngx services
3. Run `docker compose up -d`
4. Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser
5. Start scanning documents

Pro Tips for Maximum Efficiency

Email forwarding: Set up a dedicated email address (docs@yourbusiness.com) that forwards to Paperless. Every receipt or invoice you receive by email gets automatically ingested.

Mobile scanning: Use your phone camera to scan paper documents. The Microsoft Lens app (free) creates clean PDFs that Paperless processes perfectly.

AI classification: Configure Paperless to use AI models for automatic classification. It learns from your corrections and gets better over time.

Custom fields: Add fields like "Total Amount," "Due Date," or "Project Name" so you can filter and report on your documents.

Automated workflows: Set rules like "Tag all documents from 'Home Depot' as 'Supplies' and assign to the 'Operations' category."

Connecting to Your AI Assistant

The real power comes when your document management system is connected to an AI assistant. Instead of logging into Paperless and searching manually, you text:

"How much did I spend on supplies last quarter?"

The AI searches Paperless, finds all documents tagged as supplies in the date range, extracts the amounts, and sends you a total. That's the difference between a tool and a system.

Getting Started

The fastest way to get a fully configured Paperless-ngx with AI integration is through a platform like Nimbus Online. It comes pre-configured with AI classification, email forwarding, and WhatsApp integration — ready to use in minutes, not hours.