Download and Run🔗

You can install via zip or deb archives. Please see the prerequisites first.

Using zip files🔗

1. Download the two files:

   • docspell-restserver-0.42.0.zip
   • docspell-joex-0.42.0.zip

2. Unzip both files:

   $ unzip docspell-*.zip
   

3. Open two terminal windows and navigate to the the directory containing the zip files.

4. Start both components executing:

   $ ./docspell-restserver*/bin/docspell-restserver
   

   in one terminal and

   $ ./docspell-joex*/bin/docspell-joex
   

   in the other.

5. Point your browser to: http://localhost:7880/app

6. Register a new account, sign in and try it.

Note, that this setup doesn't include watching a directory nor fulltext search. Using zip/deb files requires to take care of the prerequisites yourself.

Using deb files🔗

Please checkout this comprehensive guide for installing on a Debian system.

Packages are also provided at the release page:

• docspell-restserver_0.42.0_all.deb
• docspell-joex_0.42.0_all.deb

The DEB packages can be installed on Debian, or Debian based Distros:

$ sudo dpkg -i docspell*.deb

Then the start scripts are in your $PATH. Run docspell-restserver or docspell-joex from a terminal window.

The packages come with a systemd unit file that will be installed to autostart the services.

Running🔗

Run the start script (in the corresponding bin/ directory when using the zip files):

$ ./docspell-restserver*/bin/docspell-restserver
$ ./docspell-joex*/bin/docspell-joex

This will startup both components using the default configuration. Please refer to the configuration page for how to create a custom config file. Once you have your config file, simply pass it as argument to the command:

$ ./docspell-restserver*/bin/docspell-restserver /path/to/server-config.conf
$ ./docspell-joex*/bin/docspell-joex /path/to/joex-config.conf

After starting the rest server, you can reach the web application http://localhost:7880/.

You should be able to create a new account and sign in. When creating a new account, use the same name for collective and user and then login with this name.

Upgrading🔗

Since downgrading is not supported, it is recommended to backup your database before upgrading. Should something not work as expected, restore the database backup and go back to the previous version.

When using the zip or deb files, either install the new deb files via your package manager or download and unpack the new zip files. You might want to have a look at the changelog, since it is sometimes necessary to modify the config file.

Backup & Restore🔗

There are several supported databases but PostgreSQL is recommended for Docspell.

First to prevent any currently queued data from being lost, it's good practice to shutdown docspell-joex and docspell-restserver system services before taking a database backup of Docspell. In order to stop Docspell, you need to perform these on the system that docspell is running on.

sudo systemctl stop docspell-joex
sudo systemctl stop docspell-restserver

Next, you can become the postgres user or database admin user on your PostgreSQL server/microservice and backup the database. Note that this will take some time to complete depending on the size of your database. We'll assume in our guide example that docspelldb is the name of your database:

pg_dump docspelldb > docspelldb_backup.sql

Optionally, once the docspell backup is complete you can use rsync or scp to send docspelldb_backup.sql to a backup server. Now that you have known backup(s) of Docspell's database, you may one day have to restore this backup.

Let's test try restoring it. You can start a PostgreSQL shell by using the psql command as the postgres user or a PostgreSQL admin account. If the database is corrupted or still exists, you will first need to remove it. Warning: By performing this next step you are deleting your database.

DROP DATABASE docspelldb;

And now we'll create a new database for your backup to restore to. Optionally, you can add UTF-8 encoding for better multilingual support. This example will assume the owner of the database is named docspell.

CREATE DATABASE docspelldb WITH OWNER = 'docspell' ENCODING = 'UTF8' template = 'template0';

Now that we have a new database, we can restore the backup. Exit your database with \q and in bash execute the following commands as the postgres or admin user. This command will also take some time to complete.

psql docspelldb < docspelldb_backup.sql

Now your database should be fully restored from your backup! Let's go to the Docspell server and restart the Docspell services.

sudo systemctl start docspell-joex
sudo systemctl start docspell-restserver

If your database and owner are the same as your initial configuration, and you see your docspell data restored, you have sucessfully restored your PostgreSQL backup of Docspell manually.

Fulltext Search🔗

Fulltext search can also be powered by SOLR. You need to install solr and create a core for docspell. Then cange the solr url for both components (restserver and joex) accordingly. See the relevant section in the config page.

Watching a directory🔗

The dsc tool with the watch subcommand can be used for this. Using systemd or something similar, it is possible to create a system service that runs the script in "watch mode".