Docspell to Paperless-ngx Import Script

This script is designed to import files from a Docspell export into Paperless-ngx. It processes the metadata files and their associated attachments that can be exported from Docspell, uploading them to a Paperless-ngx instance.

Prerequisites

• Deno installed on your system
• A Paperless-ngx instance set up and running
• Docspell export (metadata.json and associated attachments, see below)
• Environment variables set up (see below)

Installation

• Clone the repository or download the latest code here
• Copy .env.example to .env and set the values (see below)
• Prepare the input folder with the Docspell export (see Docspell Export below)
• Run the script with Deno (see Usage below)

Environment Variables

The script requires the following environment variables (copy .env.example to .env and set the values):

Environment Variable	Description
INPUT_FOLDER	Path to the folder containing Docspell export files (default: './input')
PAPERLESS_HOST	Hostname of your Paperless-ngx instance
PAPERLESS_PORT	Port of your Paperless-ngx instance
PAPERLESS_PROTOCOL	Protocol to use (http or https, default: 'http')
PAPERLESS_API_TOKEN	API token for authentication with Paperless-ngx, you can create (or re-create) an API token by opening the "My Profile" link in the user dropdown found in the web UI and clicking the circular arrow button.
PAPERLESS_STORAGE_PATH_ID	ID of the storage path in Paperless-ngx, if you only have one storage path, you can use 1
DOCSPELL_CATEGORY_NAME	Name of the category in Docspell as it is in the category field of the metadata.json files (sadly this is locale dependent, so you might need to adjust it)
DOCSPELL_DOCUMENT_TYPE_NAME	Name of the document type in Docspell as it is in the documentType field of the metadata.json files (same as above)

Docspell Export

The Docspell export can be done using the docspell cli as described here. Copy the items folder to the input folder of this script.

Usage

To run the script, use the following command:

deno run --allow-env --allow-read --allow-write --allow-net main.ts

Notes

• To prevent multiple imports of the same document, the script renames metadata.json to metadata.json.done after a successful import. If you want to reimport a document, you have to rename it back. You can use the undo.ts script for this.
• The script assumes that the documents are stored in the input folder in the same folder structure as they are in the Docspell export. If they are in a different folder structure, you have to adjust the script.