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paperless

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Emacs-assisted PDF document filing

// repository documentation

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## Paperless - Emacs assisted PDF document filing

You've just scanned a stack of papers that have been cluttering up
your desk.  Now what?  Paperless mode is an Emacs major mode designed
to assist with the filing of scanned documents into a hierarchy of
folders.

![alt text](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/atgreen/paperless/master/paperless-shot.png "Screenshot of paperless mode")

Paperless mode provides PDF document previews, ido-based target
directory completion, and simple batch filing commands designed to
simplify and speed the filing of all of your scanned documents.

Here's how it works...

### Step 1

Scan your documents and dump them into a holding directory.  Set the
variable `paperless-capture-directory` to reference this directory.
Use `M-x customize-variable` to set this string.

### Step 2

Tell paperless-mode where to file the documents by setting
`paperless-root-directory` with `M-x customize-variable`, or you can
set both variables in your `~/.emacs/init.el` like so:

```lisp
(custom-set-variables
 '(paperless-capture-directory "/home/green/CAPTURE")
 '(paperless-root-directory "/home/green/Documents"))
```

Under `paperless-root-directory`, create a hierarchy of directories that
makes sense for you.  For example, you might create directories to
sort documents like so:

```
[paperless-root-directory]/Finance
                             /Taxes
                                /2015
                                /2016
                             /Insurance
                                /Car
                                /Home
                             /Work
                                /Expenses
                                   /2016-FOSDEM
                                   /20170102-NYC
                                   /20170202-SFO
                          /Medical
                             /Receipts
                                /2016
                                /2017
                          /Utilities
                             /Mobile
                             /Electricity
```

At the time of this writing, the author's directory tree contains over
620 folders.

### Step 3

Once loaded, start paperless with `M-x paperless` and you'll be
presented with the list of PDF files in `paperless-capture-directory`.
Use the `[SPC]` key to open PDF preview buffers.  The `-`, `+`, `=`
and `0` keys will adjust the scale of the preview, just as they do in
DocView or PDFView mode.  Use the `r` key to rename the file.  If you
omit a filename extention, paperless will append ".pdf" to your new
filename.  Use the `f` key to select the destination directory.  Use
the `d` key to mark the file for deletion.  Deletion always moves the
file to the system trash folder (emacs's `move-file-to-trash`).  Use
the `g` key to rescan the directory hierarchy under
`paperless-root-directory` for new or deleted folders.  Files aren't
renamed, moved or deleted until you select the `x` key.

### Org Mode Integration

Paperless features basic Org mode integration as well.  Org links
stored while in paperless mode point to the appropriate target file
location.  Be sure to `(require 'org-paperless)` to enable this
feature.

### Installation

Paperless requires Emacs 24.4, and is available in the
[MELPA](https://melpa.org) package repository.

To install from source, simply download this package to your local
filesystem, and add something like the following to your
~/.emacs/init.el:

```lisp
(autoload 'paperless "paperless" "A major mode for filing PDFs" t)
(add-to-list 'load-path
	     (expand-file-name "/home/green/git/paperless/"))
```

Don't forget to set `paperless-capture-directory` and
`paperless-root-directory` as per above.

Paperless requires [DocView](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Document-View.html) mode, which currently ships with GNU Emacs,
however it will always prefer to use [PDF Tools](https://github.com/politza/pdf-tools) if you have that
installed.

### Licensing

Paperless is provided under the terms of the 3-clause BSD license.
See paperless.el for details.

paperless

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