Installing

Installing DocBox

Download from the Releases page. Every file is named DocBox-<version>-<system>-<processor>:

Your computer	Download	Then
Windows 10 or 11	…-windows-x86-64.exe	Run it. It installs for your user only; no admin rights needed.
Windows, managed by IT	…-windows-x86-64.msi	The same app as an MSI package for deployment tools.
Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later), macOS 12+	…-macos-arm-64.dmg	Open it and drag DocBox to Applications.
Linux, any distribution	…-linux-x86-64.AppImage	chmod +x DocBox-*.AppImage, then run it.
Debian, Ubuntu, Mint	…-linux-x86-64.deb	sudo apt install ./DocBox-*.deb
Fedora, openSUSE	…-linux-x86-64.rpm	sudo dnf install ./DocBox-*.rpm

Intel Macs aren't supported: PaddleOCR publishes no Intel macOS build. Linux builds are x86-64 only for now.

"Windows protected your PC"

DocBox isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen doesn't recognise the installer. Click More info, then Run anyway.

"DocBox can't be opened" on macOS

DocBox isn't notarized by Apple yet. Try to open it once, then go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to DocBox.

The first launch

The installer is small (about 16 MB). The first time DocBox opens, it sets up its own private Python runtime, which takes a minute or two and needs an internet connection. It never touches any Python you already have. After that, DocBox starts in a few seconds.

Engines and models are downloaded only when you pick one, so DocBox takes up only as much disk as the models you choose.

Updating

When a new version is out, DocBox shows a bar at the top with a Download button that opens the Releases page. Install the new version over the old one: your engines, models, settings and read history are kept.

On 0.1.0? Version 0.1.0 looks for updates in a way later versions no longer publish, so it may not tell you about a new release. Download the new version from the Releases page once; from then on, DocBox tells you about updates itself.

Uninstalling

Whether your models, engines, read history and settings go too is up to you. Keep them and a reinstall picks them up where you left off.

• Windows: Settings › Apps › Installed apps › DocBox › Uninstall. The uninstaller asks whether to also delete downloaded models, engines, history and settings (on 0.1.1 the box says "Delete the application data"). Leave it unticked to keep them, or tick it to delete them. A silent uninstall (/S) always keeps them. If you installed the .msi, delete the data folder yourself.
• macOS: move DocBox from Applications to the Bin. Your data stays; to remove it too, delete the data folder.
• Linux: remove the DocBox package with your package manager, or delete the AppImage. Your data stays; to remove it too, delete the data folder.

The data folder for each system is listed in Troubleshooting and FAQ. If you also used the docbox command without the app, it may have its own folder: %LOCALAPPDATA%\docbox\DocBox on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/DocBox on macOS, ~/.local/share/DocBox on Linux.

Uninstalling never deletes the results you saved (Documents/DocBox unless you chose another folder), or Tesseract and Ollama, which are separate programs with their own uninstallers.