Where Does Paperless-ngx Store Documents and Database?
Paperless-ngx Docker volumes for media, data, consume and export plus config files.
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Paperless-ngx splits state across Docker volumes: media holds documents and thumbnails, data holds the SQLite database and index, consume stages inbound scans, and export carries backups. Settings come from docker-compose.env beside the compose file.
A backup needs media plus data plus the env file together. Documents without the database lose tags and correspondents; the database without media points at ghosts.
Where Paperless-ngx stores this, by platform
/var/lib/docker/volumes/paperless_media/_data
Default host path of the paperless_media volume with documents and thumbnails. Sibling volumes paperless_data (db.sqlite3, index), paperless_pgdata or dbdata for external databases, plus ./consume and ./export binds and docker-compose.env for settings. Confirm with docker volume inspect since binds change everything. Use the document exporter for portable backups.
Frequently asked questions
How do I back up Paperless-ngx?
Archive the media and data volumes plus docker-compose.env with the stack stopped, or run the document exporter for a portable dump. Both halves must restore together.
Where do inbound scans go?
Into the consume bind, defaulting to ./consume next to the compose file. Files vanish from consume once imported into media.
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