Find documents in paperless-ngx. Combine full-text search with structured filters. query uses the full-text index and supports the advanced syntax: invoice AND (acme OR globex), type:invoice tag:unpaid, correspondent:university, created:[2005 to 2009], added:yesterday, produ*name, custom_fields.name:"Contract Number", custom_fields.value:policy, notes.note:reminder. Date keywords: today, yesterday, "previous week", "this month", "previous month", "this year", "previous year", "previous quarter". Matching is word-order-independent and accent-insensitive. Use title_contains/content_contains instead for plain substring matching, or more_like_id to find documents similar to a known one. Tag/correspondent/type filters take ids — get them from paperless_list_objects. Returns names resolved, not raw ids.

Fetch one document by id: metadata with names resolved, plus its extracted text, notes and custom field values. Use this after paperless_search_documents to read a document’s contents.

Save a document’s file to local disk and return the path. Use kind: "original" for the file as uploaded, "archive" for the OCR’d PDF paperless generated, "thumbnail" for a small preview image. Read the extracted text with paperless_get_document instead when you only need the words. Writes are confined to PAPERLESS_DOWNLOAD_DIR.

Upload a local file into paperless-ngx for consumption (OCR, tagging, filing). The file must live in one of the directories this server is allowed to read (PAPERLESS_UPLOAD_DIRS). Returns the consumption task id; consumption is asynchronous, so set wait_seconds to poll until it finishes and get back the created document id. Any field left unset is filled in by paperless’ own matching rules.

Change one document’s metadata. Only the fields you pass are touched. tag_ids replaces the whole tag set, while add_tag_ids/remove_tag_ids adjust it relative to what is already there. Pass clear_correspondent/clear_document_type/clear_storage_path to unset a field.

Apply one operation to many documents at once. Supply only the parameters the chosen method needs. Runs asynchronously on the server. delete moves documents to the trash and requires confirm: true.

Ask paperless what it would file a document as, based on its trained matching. Returns suggested correspondents, tags, document types, storage paths and dates. Useful before paperless_update_document.

List, add or delete the free-text notes attached to a document.

List the objects documents are filed under, with their ids and document counts. Call this first when you need an id for a tag, correspondent, document type, storage path or custom field — the document tools take ids, not names. Also reaches saved views, users, groups, mail accounts, mail rules, workflows and share links.

Create a tag, correspondent, document type, storage path or custom field. Matching algorithm: 0 none, 1 any word, 2 all words, 3 exact, 4 regex, 5 fuzzy, 6 auto (trained classifier). Storage paths need a path template such as {{ created_year }}/{{ correspondent }}/{{ title }}. Custom fields need a data_type (string, url, date, boolean, integer, float, monetary, documentlink, select).

Rename or reconfigure an existing tag, correspondent, document type, storage path or custom field. Only the fields you pass are changed.

Permanently delete tags, correspondents, document types or storage paths. Documents themselves are not deleted, but they lose the association. Requires confirm: true.

Totals for the whole library: document count, documents in the inbox, characters indexed, counts of tags/correspondents/document types, and a breakdown by file type. A good first call to see how big the library is before searching it.

Health of the paperless-ngx install: version, database and index status, Redis/Celery connectivity, plus the API version this server is talking to. Use this to check connectivity and diagnose failures.

Inspect paperless’ background tasks — document consumption, index rebuilds, and so on. Use this to follow up on an upload: pass the task_id returned by paperless_upload_document to see whether consumption succeeded and which document it produced.

Escape hatch for any paperless-ngx REST endpoint the other tools do not cover — workflows, share links, mail rules, trash, document merge/rotate/edit_pdf, permissions, and so on. path is relative to /api/, e.g. documents/12/history, trash, share_links. Trailing slashes are added automatically. Browse the full schema for your server at <paperless-url>/api/schema/view/. Prefer the purpose-built tools when one fits; they return smaller, name-resolved output.