Scanner & Software Recommendations
Paperless operates by watching a folder for new files so doesn’t care what scanner you use, but sometimes finding a scanner that will write to an FTP, NFS, or SMB server can be difficult. This page is here to help you find one that works right for you based on recommendations from other Paperless users.
| Brand | Model | FTP | SFTP | NFS | SMB | SMTP | API[1] | Recommended By |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brother | ADS-1000W | yes | CitizenStile | |||||
| Brother | ADS-1100W | yes | ytzelf | |||||
| Brother | ADS-1200W | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | christf linux, push-to-scan, FTP/SFTP/NFS/SMB/SMTP/api-upload via brscan-skey & script, see https://github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/discussions/3946 |
| Brother | ADS-1500W | yes | yes | yes | danielquinn | |||
| Brother | ADS-1600W | yes | yes | yes | holzhannes | |||
| Brother | ADS-1700W | yes | yes | yes | yes | holzhannes | ||
| Brother | ADS-2400N | yes | yes | yes | yes | oliboehm | ||
| Brother | ADS-2600We | yes | yes | yes | yes | nodecentral | ||
| Brother | ADS-2800W | yes | yes | yes | yes | philpagel | ||
| Brother | ADS-4300N | yes | yes | yes | yes | derlucas | ||
| Brother | ADS-4700W | yes | yes | yes | yes | ocelotsloth | ||
| Brother | MFC-J5910DW | yes | bmsleight | |||||
| Brother | MFC-J6920DW | yes | yes | sayael | ||||
| Brother | MFC-J6930DW | yes | ayounggun | |||||
| Brother | MFC-L2750DW | yes | yes | yes | muued | |||
| Brother | MFC-L5850DW | yes | yes | holzhannes | ||||
| Brother | MFC-5890CN | yes | yes | huettenwirt | ||||
| Brother | MFC-8950DW | yes | yes | yes | philpagel | |||
| Brother | MFC-9140CDN | yes | yes | Obidose | ||||
| Brother | MFC-9142CDN | yes | yes | REOLDEV | ||||
| Brother | DCP-L3510CDW | yes | yes | yes | puralpha | |||
| Canon | Maxify MB 5350 | yes[2] | yes | eingemaischt | ||||
| Canon | Maxify MB 5150 | yes[2] [3] | yes | mhelff | ||||
| Canon | MF633C/635C | yes | yes | yes | Skram-de | |||
| Canon | MF645Cx | yes | yes | yes | gruessung | |||
| Canon | MF754CDW | yes | lordleicester | |||||
| Doxie | Q2 | yes[4] | Unkn0wnCat | |||||
| Epson | ES-580W | yes | yes | yes | fignew | |||
| Epson | ES-C380W | yes | yes | yes | viktor-c | |||
| Epson | WF-7710DWF | yes | yes | Skylinar | ||||
| Epson | WF-4830 | yes | yes | Tomlawesome | ||||
| Epson | WP-4595 | yes | yes | yes | RunnerLexico | |||
| Fujitsu | ix500 | yes | eonist | |||||
| Fujitsu | N1800 | yes | yes | yes | thiemo | |||
| Fujitsu | S1300i | yes | yes | jonaswinkler | ||||
| HP | MFP M277 dw | yes | yes | yes | glassbox_sco | |||
| Lexmark | MB2442adwe | yes | yes | yes | tooomm | |||
| Kyocera | ECOSYS m6526cdn | yes | yes | yes | randrej | |||
| PFU Limited /Fujitsu/Ricoh | ScanSnap iX1600 | no | no | no | yes [5] | sort of [6] | no | jerodg |
[1]: Scanners with API Integration allow to push scanned documents directly to Paperless API, sometimes referred to as Webhook or Document POST, see API Scanning Setup.
[2]: Canon Multi Function Printers show strange behavior over SMB. They close and reopen the file after every page. It’s recommended to tune the polling and inotify configuration values for your scanner. The scanner timeout is 3 minutes, so 180 is a good starting point.
[3]: Older Canon MFPs like the MB5150 can only scan to SMBv1 shares. This is now no longer available or disabled by default in most modern OS and NAS systems. To still use these devices without compromising you main storage by enabling SMB v1 either use a smb proxy like scan-to-smb1 or a dedicated smb v1 docker image like maxify-smbv1.
[4]: The caveat is that support will not be provided at all (as it's unsupported feature by them), and it may disappear in a firmware update. HTTPS is also not implemented on the device despite what the UI may get you to believe. They have not plans on finishing the webhook feature according to Paul S aka CEO of Doxie & Co due to no demand to do so. CANNOT recommend as a result. - samip5/kryptonian
[5]: Requires Firmware 0P00 and ScanSnap Home v2.12.0 or newer (25July2023). Network Requirements
[6]: Can prepare an email for use with a desktop email application or requires signing up for a free ScanSnap cloud account and is limited to 300 emails/month; not explicitely SMTP or IMAP compatable.
You can use your phone to “scan” documents. The regular camera app will work, but may have too low contrast for OCR to work well. Apps specifically for scanning are recommended.
| Name | OS | FTP | NFS | SMB | SMTP | WebDAV | Paperless API | Recommended By |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genius Scan | Android, iOS | yes | yes | yes | yes | hannahswain | ||
| Microsoft Lens | Android, iOS | jonaswinkler | ||||||
| OpenScan | Android | benjaminfrank | ||||||
| QuickScan | iOS | yes | yes | yes (user/pass or token) | holzhannes |
On Android, you can use these applications in combination with one of the Paperless-ngx compatible apps to “Share” the documents produced by these scanner apps with Paperless.
On iOS, you can share the scanned documents via iOS Sharing to e.g. mail, WebDav or FTP apps to make them available in Paperless. Apple's Files app support connecting to network shares as well. There is also an iOS Shortcut that allows you to directly upload text, PDF and image documents available here. Please note, the shortcut only works for documents downloaded to iCloud / the device, in other words not directly from a URL.
Apps with Paperless API support can upload documents directly to Paperless without another application, just by providing the URL and credentials.
This sections contains information on how to set up scanners to post directly to Paperless API.
This part assumes your Doxie is connected to WiFi and you know its IP.
- Open your Doxie web UI by navigating to its IP address
- Navigate to Options -> Webhook
- Set the URL to
http://[your-paperless-ngx-instance]/api/documents/post_document/(HTTPS is not supported) - Set the File Parameter Name to
document - Add the username and password to the respective fields (Consider creating a user just for your Doxie) and click Submit at the bottom of the page
Congrats, you can now scan directly from your Doxie to your Paperless-ngx instance!