> The easiest way to deploy paperless is docker compose
Ok, that's a first red flag.
And "docker compose up" is the easiest way to deploy things these days in general. That's got nothing to do with this software specifically.
You don't want to use paperless-ngx for editable stuff really. You want to use it for stuff like bills, invoices, and business records.
Once it's in paperless, it's searchable and you don't have to worry about where it is. As long as the scan is good it will grab the OCR and then you can search for things like account number. My uncle basically scans everything bill related into his instance and then shreds the paper.
You can also tag documents and search by tag. Also since it's a web app if you can do the self-hosted thing it works well on the phone.
I got a Brother ADS-4300N to use with p-ngx, works very well and also is way faster than the usual document scanners on MF printers (duplex is done in one pass, for example)...
set up was straightforward and the functionality is great