[DOCS]: How to add local folder (Docker volume mount) as document source in Workspace?

[witzker]

Description

Hi AnythingLLM community,

I'm setting up AnythingLLM using the latest Docker image via Docker Compose on an Ubuntu VM. My goal is to use documents stored on my Synology NAS, which is mounted into the VM via NFS.

My setup:

Synology NAS share mounted via NFS to /mnt/nas_docs on the Ubuntu VM host.

The relevant volume mount in my docker-compose.yml for the anythingllm service is:

volumes:

• /mnt/nas_docs:/app/server/storage/documents/nas_docs:ro
  Use code with caution.
  Yaml
  I have verified that the mount works on the VM host (ls -l /mnt/nas_docs shows files) and adjusted NAS/host permissions (chmod 755).

Ollama is running in a separate container and configured correctly within the AnythingLLM workspace settings.

My Problem:
I cannot find the option in the AnythingLLM web UI to add the existing folder /app/server/storage/documents/nas_docs (which represents my NAS share inside the container) as a document source for my workspace ("K.I-Docs-NAS").

Clicking the "Upload/Manage Documents" icon (⬆️ icon next to the workspace name) only shows options to upload individual files or drag & drop.

Clicking "+ New Folder" inside that dialog only allows creating a new empty folder within AnythingLLM's storage.

The "Data Connectors" tab only shows external sources like GitHub, YouTube etc.

Question:
Where in the UI should I look to select and sync an existing local directory from within the container (specifically /app/server/storage/documents/nas_docs) as a document source? Is there a specific button or menu I'm missing?

Thanks for your help!

[timothycarambat]

Document uploading must be done via the UI/API - you cannot attach a folder into the storage and expect those files to be available for RAG, since all documents need to be processed by the collector to parse + format them into the proper format to be consumed and upserted to the local vector db.

So in this case, you dont need to virtual mount anything. If your client has access to the file, you can select it to be uploaded and the file will be passed over the wire to the backend and parsed without Anythingllm ever having to reach out and access the NAS.

[lesfuller]

I am new to ALLM, and so this may sound like a silly question, but just what is "+ New Folder" used for then? I am trying to upload technical docs that remain constant and available for various workspaces and I though this might be the answer.

[timothycarambat]

@lesfuller

I am new to ALLM, and so this may sound like a silly question, but just what is "+ New Folder" used for then? I am trying to upload technical docs that remain constant and available for various workspaces and I though this might be the answer.

New folder is how you can partition uploaded documents in the uploader UI, this is not a representation of your filesystem. However we are going to support filestorage mounts to the container soon to alleviate this confusion

[lesfuller]

Great, thanks for the quick reply, looking forward to that.

[whattheschnell]

Any update on incorporating that? If i'm running anything remotely, I want to be able to upload via local file path, rather than only being able to upload from the remote device

[heartacker]

I want this indeed, any update , my brother

[heartacker]

I deploy this to my nas, I want my doc being rag.thank you all the time