When I moved into my home, I immediately set up a digital archiving solution for all my mail and paperwork. The amount of paper that piles up can be overwhelming, but I found a great system using paperless-ngx software, a Brother ADS-2800W scanner, a NAS, and some custom rules. This allows me to toss almost all physical documents in favor of a searchable digital interface
The Setup
I use a Brother ADS-2800W scanner to scan documents directly to a folder on my NAS. This scanner is a powerhouse and integrates seamlessly with my network. I set up different profiles on the scanner for various document sizes. Now, with just a touch on the scanner’s screen, I can scan documents straight to my NAS, which is hardwired via Ethernet, making documents instantly available on my NAS and through paperless.
Organizing the Documents
This is where paperless-ngx shines. I run it as a Docker container on my NAS. Here’s how it helps:
Auto OCR: Paperless-ngx automatically processes each scanned document through OCR, making scanned images searchable.
Categorization Rules: I set up custom rules in paperless-ngx to categorize documents automatically. Tax documents are tagged as “Tax,” bank documents with the bank’s name, and utility bills emailed to me are loaded directly into paperless. Even if auto-categorization misses something, the software’s UX makes manual tagging easy. This makes finding documents later a breeze.
Correlation with Physical Binder
Sometimes, I still need physical copies. I maintain a physical binder and paperless-ngx helps correlate digital documents with binder pages. This feature eliminates the hassle of manual cross-referencing between digital and physical copies.
Efficiency and Peace of Mind
Using the Brother ADS-2800W scanner, my NAS, and paperless-ngx has streamlined my document management. I no longer worry about losing important documents or spending hours searching for them. Everything is neatly archived, categorized, and instantly accessible. For example, at tax time, I can quickly find all my medical receipts or bank statements.