PAPERLESS_FILENAME_FORMAT does not modify the files structure into folders
ngx (with Docker) on a Raspberry Pi5 with Trixies with success.
After, I uploaded a document, I can see a list of files in this location /paperless-ngx/media/documents/originals
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 166300 14 jan 19:59 0000001.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 453908 14 jan 20:09 0000002.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 171460 14 jan 20:25 0000003.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 632003 14 jan 21:33 0000004.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 218267 14 jan 22:02 0000005.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 354021 14 jan 22:12 0000006.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 248148 14 jan 22:20 0000007.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 244836 14 jan 23:11 0000008.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 768796 14 jan 23:19 0000009.pdf
I discovered, I can format a structure with the setting PAPERLESS_FILENAME_FORMAT.
This PAPERLESS_FILENAME_FORMAT={{created_year}}/{{correspondent}}/{{document_type}}/{{title}} should result with folders structure as: /2025/company/bill/filename.pdf
How I process
Installation of Docker (quick steps)
sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gpg
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian trixie stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
apt-cache policy | grep docker
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
sudo systemctl is-active docker
sudo useradd user docker
docker ps
Installation of Paperless
bash -c "$(curl --location --silent --show-error https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/main/install-paperless-ngx.sh)"
I mostly keep the default value excepted for the URL and the meida, data, db and consum folders where are located to the paperless root folder.
I uploaded some files then I tried to change the configuration with the goal to have a structure of my saved documents as I mentionned before
What I did and tried
I edited the file nano `paperless-ngx/docker-compose.env` and I added the setting PAPERLESS_FILENAME_FORMAT
PAPERLESS_URL=http://s.server.ch
PAPERLESS_TIME_ZONE=Europe/Zurich
PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE=fra
PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY='pEIWILLqchangedme3bX*k!siCHANGEMEK+ZBl|'
PAPERLESS_FILENAME_FORMAT={{created_year}}/{{correspondent}}/{{document_type}}/{{title}}
I saved and closed and I return to my uploaded document and I resaved it. I restarted my Raspberry
Error
I do not have any error, excepted that the listing files are the same
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 166300 14 jan 19:59 0000001.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 453908 14 jan 20:09 0000002.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 171460 14 jan 20:25 0000003.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 632003 14 jan 21:33 0000004.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 218267 14 jan 22:02 0000005.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 354021 14 jan 22:12 0000006.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 248148 14 jan 22:20 0000007.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 244836 14 jan 23:11 0000008.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 pierrot 768796 14 jan 23:19 0000009.pdf
My investigation
I found the following information
However, when changing
PAPERLESS_FILENAME_FORMATyou will need to manually run thedocument renamer
As I have a few experience, I searched how to us Management utilities https://docs.paperless-ngx.com/administration/#management-commands
and then I was not sure how to use it.
docker ps list me the following
88691b0f1fdd ghcr.io/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx:latest paperless-webserver-1
7baf29d6bb65 redis:8 paperless-broker-1
f9e74337bba7 postgres:18
I remembered paperless-webserver-1, paperless-broker-1 and paperless-db-1 under the column 'name'
then I run docker exec -it paperless-webserver-1 document_renamer
Then I thing good to run docker exec -it paperless-webserver-1 document_renamer
but sadly, nothing changed. The files are all listed in the same level, as shown before (no folder structure according to the setting.
I wonder, if someone has an experience with this topics and how can I adapted my setting according to that need.
Thanks