Configuration File

Instead of passing a ton of options via command line, you can setup the configuration values in a file named paperless.rules.yaml. This file should live in your home directory.

How to create the config file

If you used the Paperless Installer, then this was already done for you.

There is a command that automatically creates the paperless.rules.yaml configuration file for you. It will also seed the settings in the file with the default global setting for each option. Run the following command to get this done.

$ paperless initconfig

NOTE: This process will not create any rules for you. Read on for information about creating your own rules.

How to edit your config file

Simply open the paperless.rules.yaml config file in your favorite text editor. This file resides in your home folder. There is also a convenient built in command that will open the file inside TextEdit for you.

$ paperless editconfig

Sample Configuration File

Here is a sample file to get you going. For information about the rules, check out the Rules documentation.

---
:ocr_engine: pdfpenpro6
:date_locale: us
:date_format: '%Y-%m-%d'
:date_default: filedate
:destination: '@Inbox'
:text_ext: txt md mmd
:simulate: false
:service: evernote
:rules:
 - 
   description: Date Rule
   scope: content
   condition: <date>
 - 
   description: Find my name anywhere and tag me
   scope: content filename
   condition: Joe Workman
   tags: geek joe
 - 
   description: Find American Funds and do things to it
   scope: content 
   condition: American Funds
   tags: retirement
   destination: /Volumes/MacRAID/Documents/Personal.dtBase2::/Retirement
   service: devonthinkpro
   title: '<match> Statement <date=%Y-%m>'

Configuration Options

• date_default

  If a date cannot be discovered within the document contents, then the date of the notes will default to either one of the following values.

  • filedate The last modification date of the file.
  • today Today's date.

• date_format

  The default format for the date when inserted using <date> configuration variable (more on this in the Rules section). The format follows the standard strftime formats.

  Default: %Y-%m-%d (2013-03-28)

• date_locale

  This defines the locale format for the date string. This is used when analyzing the document for the date. Is the date format backasswords like in the U.S. (12/29/2012) or normal like the rest of the world (29/12/2012).

  • us if you are looking for U.S. format.
  • euro if you are looking for the logical format.

• service

  The application where the document will be added to. The following services are currently available.

  • finder Save your documents on the OS X file system.
  • evernote Evernote is a great online service.
  • devonthinkpro DevonThink Pro has been a staple in the Mac community for years.

• destination

  Default destination to add your documents into. The value of this will vary based on the service that you are using.

  • Finder - The full path to the folder where you want the document to be stored.
    • Example: :destination: /Volumes/users/username/Documents/Archive
  • Evernote - The name of the notebook that you want to store the note into.
    • Example: :destination: Inbox
  • DevonThink Pro - This option is a bit more complicate because you need to define both the path to the database and the path to the folder. <database>::<folder>
    • Example: :destination: /Volumes/users/username/Documents/Database.dtBase2::/Archive/Folder

• ocr_engine

  Paperless can leverage several applications in order to OCR your document. The OCR process will only get kicked off for PDF documents.

  • none Disable OCR (default)
  • pdfpen6 PDFPen 6 is an awesome app from Smile Software.
  • pdfpenpro6 PDFPenPro 6 is their pro version.
  • pdfpen PDFPen (legacy v5.x version)
  • pdfpenpro PDFPenPro (legacy v5.x version)
  • devonthinkpro DevonThink Pro has been a staple in the Mac community for years.

• text_ext

  For non-file based services like Evernote, it can sometimes add non-common text based files as attachments instead of inserting the actual text of the document into the note. This setting defines a list of file extensions that you want to make certain get treated as text.

  Default: txt md mmd

Note: If markdown files are not added as text, then Paperless will convert them to HTML before adding them into Evernote.