Organizing Documents
Papermerge organizes documents around the category — what kind of document you’re storing. A category is more than a label: it carries the metadata fields, retention period, and filing rule that apply to every document of that type. Tags add a lighter, cross-cutting way to label documents.
The category: your organizing unit
Section titled “The category: your organizing unit”Traditional document management systems organize documents by what they are (document types) and what information they contain (metadata). Papermerge follows this approach — the category is a first-class citizen, not an afterthought.
Where Papermerge differs: most DMS platforms make classification mandatory and push folder browsing into the background in favor of search and filtering. That works well once everything is classified, but it adds friction when you just want to store a file quickly or navigate a familiar structure.
Papermerge lets you do both. It relies on categories for efficient organization, and it still gives you the look and feel of traditional file-and-folder browsing.
A category defines what kind of document you’re storing: Invoice, Contract, Receipt, Employment Record. Every document belongs to a single category, and assigning one brings along everything the category defines.
What a category defines
Section titled “What a category defines”Metadata fields, retention, and filing rules are all configured once on the category — never per document.
Metadata fields
Section titled “Metadata fields”Metadata is the structured information about a document: invoice number, date, amount, vendor, contract parties. Unlike free-text content, it’s stored in typed fields that can be searched precisely and used for automation.
The category determines which fields a document has; you fill in the values. When you assign a category, its fields appear automatically.
Retention
Section titled “Retention”A retention period is the minimum time a document must be kept before it can be deleted. Every document inherits the retention period of its category.
Filing rules
Section titled “Filing rules”A filing rule decides which folder a document is stored in — and can rename it too. You set it up once; from then on, assigning the category to a document files it in the right place automatically.
Additional organization
Section titled “Additional organization”Categories are the foundation, but Papermerge also supports tags for lightweight, cross-cutting labeling.
Tags are flexible labels you can attach to any document. Unlike categories (one per document), a document can have any number of tags.
Use tags for:
- Workflow status:
to-review,approved,urgent - Temporary groupings:
q1-audit,project-alpha - Cross-cutting concerns that don’t fit in metadata
How it fits together
Section titled “How it fits together”A typical invoice in Papermerge might use several of these at once:
| Method | Example |
|---|---|
| Category | Invoice |
| Metadata | Number: INV-2024-042, Issue Date: 2024-03-15, Amount: €1,250 |
| Retention | 5 years, counted from the “Issue Date” metadata field |
| Filing rule | /Finances/{{year}}/ |
| Tags | reviewed, q1 |
The category defines the document’s structure. Metadata captures the specific
details. Retention sets how long it must be kept. The filing rule files it under
Finances/2024/ for you — no manual step — and tags let you group it across
categories.