Connect everything: documents from inbox, scanner and storage, plus API and AI assistants

Result first: Documents arrive on their own

Hello and welcome to the PaperOffice AI Academy. In this video, we connect PaperOffice to the outside world: your email inbox, your scanner, your storage locations, and AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT. Invoices arrive via email, scans are at the copier, contracts are in a cloud. Downloading and uploading everything individually costs you time every day. First, the result. Nobody uploaded these invoices. PaperOffice retrieved them from the email inbox itself, and the last document came directly from the scanner. Here is how you set it up: First, connect the source, then a connector determines where the documents go. After that, we will cover your own storage, API keys, and AI assistants.

Chapter 1: The principle: Storage Mount and Connector

Every connection starts under Document AI, Storage Mounts. A Storage Mount is the access to a source, such as an inbox, a folder on a server, or cloud storage. When creating, you first select the purpose. As an import source, PaperOffice retrieves files. As your own storage, PaperOffice stores your documents there. This choice cannot be changed later.

Chapter 2: The Email Inbox

Let’s start with the mailbox to which your suppliers send their invoices. We select Email as the connection type. Then the login credentials for the mailbox: server, user name and password. The encrypted connection is already enabled, and the inbox is being read. With Test Connection, PaperOffice immediately checks whether everything is correct, and only in read-only mode. Nothing changes in the mailbox during this process. The connector turns this into a workflow. It monitors the source and saves every new document to the workspace you specify. Now for the Connector. It gets a name, the source is our mailbox, and as the destination we select the Workspace Inbox. Under Action, you specify how often the mailbox is checked, at most every five minutes. PaperOffice retrieves only unread emails and marks them as read afterward. The emails themselves remain in the mailbox. With Start scan, we retrieve the invoices immediately instead of waiting for the next check. And here they are: three invoices, straight from your inbox. The AI-DMS processing will read them right away.

Chapter 3: The Scanner

For your scanner, there is a dedicated option called the Scanner Endpoint. PaperOffice provides secure access for this purpose. Click Activate Endpoint, and PaperOffice displays the credentials. Enter them in your scanner. It is best to use SFTP. Older scanners that only support FTP receive a dedicated FTP access for this purpose. Here too, a Connector brings the scans into the Workspace inbox. It is important to have scheduled polling enabled. When turned on, PaperOffice checks the scanner folder at the set interval and automatically retrieves new scans. To demonstrate this, we will retrieve the scan immediately by clicking Start scan. And there it is, without having to go through a computer.

Chapter 4: Folders and cloud storage

Connect folders on servers and in the cloud in the same way: via SFTP for example a NAS or a Linux server, along with Amazon S3 and compatible storage and WebDAV, for example Nextcloud. We connect a folder on our own server via SFTP: address, user name, password and the folder from which PaperOffice reads. Test Connection also only reads here. Nothing changes on the server. A connector retrieves the files into the Workspace Inbox. The files themselves remain on the server. Invoice, delivery note and freight invoice are here, and AI-DMS reads them out right away.

Chapter 5: Your Own Storage (BYOS)

If you want your documents to be stored on your own hardware, use your own storage, also known as BYOS. For this, we connect a second folder on our server as your own storage. Then PaperOffice encrypts each file with your own password. Download it immediately as a file and store it securely. You choose the storage location when creating a Workspace, and this choice is final.

Chapter 6: API Keys

For your own programs and automations, there are API keys. You can find them on the right under API and Developer. When creating, you select the type: an API key for servers and services or a personal token that allows AI assistants to work for you via MCP. You can copy the key at any time from the list of API keys. Treat it like a password. How to connect n8n, for example, is shown in a separate video.

Chapter 7: Claude and ChatGPT

The fastest way to connect AI assistants is via Set up PaperOffice, located on the right under Help and Learning. For Claude, copy the server address and create a personal token. Then add PaperOffice to Claude as a connector. In ChatGPT, you enable developer mode, which typically requires a paid ChatGPT plan. Then, enter the server address and confirm the login. For Cursor and other MCP programs, the dialog displays the appropriate steps right away. In summary: a storage mount connects the source, and a connector brings the documents into the right workspace. Invoices from your mailbox and scans from your scanner arrive automatically. With your own storage, your files stay on your hardware, and through API keys and MCP, your programs and AI assistants work directly with PaperOffice. Until next time in the PaperOffice AI Academy.