Papermerge

Papermerge is a powerful open-source document management system specifically designed to transform physical paperwork into organized, searchable digital archives. Created for anyone dealing with receipts, invoices, contracts, tax documents, or any paper-based information that needs long-term storage and quick retrieval, Papermerge combines automatic OCR text extraction with intuitive organization tools to create a personal document repository that works like a search engine for your files. Unlike cloud-based document services that charge monthly fees and store your sensitive documents on third-party servers, Papermerge runs entirely on your infrastructure, giving you unlimited storage capacity and complete privacy for confidential business records, personal documents, and archived correspondence.

Common Use Cases

Small business owners use Papermerge to digitize and organize invoices, receipts, contracts, and business correspondence, creating searchable archives that make tax preparation and audit compliance straightforward by instantly finding any document from years of business records. Legal professionals deploy Papermerge for case file management, scanning court documents, contracts, and client correspondence into organized folders with full-text search, enabling quick retrieval of specific clauses or case references across thousands of pages. Accounting firms leverage Papermerge to manage client tax documents, receipts, and financial records, organizing files by client and year while using OCR to search for specific transactions or vendor names across entire document collections. Individuals adopt Papermerge for personal document organization, scanning utility bills, insurance policies, medical records, and warranty documents to create a paperless home office where any document can be found in seconds rather than digging through filing cabinets.

Key Features

• Automatic OCR text extraction for PDFs and scanned images
• Full-text search across all document content and metadata
• Tag-based organization with custom metadata fields
• Folder hierarchy for structured document organization
• Multi-user support with role-based permissions and access control
• Document version control tracking changes over time
• Automatic thumbnail generation for visual document browsing
• Bulk document upload and batch processing
• Web-based interface accessible from any device
• REST API for integration with scanning applications
• Document metadata editing and custom field definitions
• PDF merging, splitting, and page reordering capabilities
• Advanced search with filters by date, tags, and metadata
• Document preview without downloading files
• Scanner integration for direct upload from network scanners

Why deploy Papermerge on Hostinger VPS

Deploying Papermerge on Hostinger VPS ensures your sensitive documents—financial records, legal contracts, personal information, and business correspondence—remain completely private on your own infrastructure instead of being stored on third-party cloud services where they could be subject to data breaches or unauthorized access. The VPS environment provides dedicated storage capacity that scales with your document archive, eliminating monthly storage fees that cloud document services charge while allowing unlimited documents without per-page or per-gigabyte pricing concerns. With dedicated server resources, OCR processing runs efficiently on your VPS CPU, ensuring fast text extraction even for large batches of scanned documents without competing for shared cloud processing resources. You gain complete control over backup schedules and data retention policies, critical for compliance with legal document retention requirements or industry regulations like HIPAA or GDPR that mandate specific data handling procedures. The self-hosted architecture enables custom integrations with existing business systems, document workflows, and scanner hardware through Papermerge's REST API, while persistent volumes protect your document archive and database with regular backup capabilities under your direct control rather than depending on cloud service backup policies.