Looking for a free document manager / cataloging software

Software, Cloud and Development Software & Tools
1

Hi TE,
I am trying to find a software which can help create a searchable catalogue for scanned pdf documents (mostly legal). The features I am looking for:

  1. Should work on Windows
  2. Should have a GUI and should be able to work with locally stored files
  3. Should have option to add custom tags for searching
  4. Good to have: ability to extract searchable text automatically from the document with ocr.

The software should be functionally similar to a media manager (e.g. tiny media manager). Any suggestions?

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2

Not used it personally but -

Options open up if you go for web based ui and self hosted.

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3

paperless ngx

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4

was about to comment the same :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: this is the best one.

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5

I second this self hosted for a business and it’s very versatile

Ps:new paperless tagger just came out on r/selfhosted with AI tagging do check that out

6

Will check these out. Thanks for the suggestions!

7

There are many productivity tools, just search for one which best suits your need.
Example -

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I got a few references of these during my search, but these all seems to be paid versions. I was looking for a free option.

9

Couple more options you may find on this site- [awesome-self hosted](’

Document Management - awesome-selfhosted’

), [GH](’

GitHub - awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted: A list of Free Software network services and web applications which can be hosted on your own servers’

)

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10

paperless-ngx with paperless-ai

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11

Also checkout DocFetcher.

I use it on my desktop to search through pdf slide decks

12

Anyone using paperless ngx on windows?

I installed it on windows using docker

I am able to see one document which i uploaded using web app

How to import lot of files

13

I’m building exactly this for a legal usecase and would love to pick your brain to figure out the usecase better, and in turn to help you out. Are you a lawyer? DM and I can set you up to use it for free.

14

Surprised no one has mentioned obsidian.md, it has an amazing plugin system, you can customize and featurify it to your desires by using the free community plugins.

Had documents categorisation and tagging system, which can be extended further with plugins

It contains mostly markdown text files that are not tied to the app itself, you can use any app to view the files

Here are some of features that I make use

  • dump everything in obsidian
  • use omnisearch to ocr files/pdf/word/other forms that are indexed and made searchable in your local machine, ASFAIK, its indexing works on all devices and operating systems
  • sync everything across all my devices using a free plugin called - remotely save and Google drive - you can use any cloud provider or your own webdav/Samba server

Their are multiple plugins that do similar things, so you can pick and choose.

You don’t need to host it anywhere, install obsidian, add pdf files, install omnisearch plugin and let it index and start searching

If you still only want something that is windows only, try the free version of agent ransack

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15

Well if you are looking for an app, then GeniusScan is hands down the best.

16

Okay I’ve been tinkering with obsidian a little recently. And I didn’t know about this. Now, I am going to use it as my primary dump for most things. Thank you!

Edit: Does Remotelysave sync the indexing cache too? I can’t seem to search the indexed photos on my iphone for which sync has already created cache on pc.

17

I am not a lawyer

I am trying to save all my documents like payslips offer letters and other important documents at once place

so that i can be able to search it

18

You need to enable plugin folder sync as well I think, but that might end up causing troubles due platform differences.

I generally let each os, have its own plugins and themes rather than syncing them.

For indexing, I do the same, but if you have a lot of documents, it might be worthwhile to have a shared index which is kept insync

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