Looking for recommendations - let's talk about document storage

[billfoster]

So I'm looking for a good self-hosted document store. Right now I'm just keeping them in my owncloud tree, which is cool for anything I'm actively working on, but for archival I'm not real happy with it as a solution, mostly because it clutters up my sync tree and I simply don't need archives synced between devices.

So far I've been looking at Alfresco CMS, Ambar, and Paperless. I'm definitely open to other suggestions.

I'm looking for a handful of features.

Critical

Organization - a folder structure at minimum

OCR for scans

Searchability - based on both filenames and document contents

Self-hosted

Native Linux server ("native" meaning "built for Linux", not "must be written in a language that compiles to native bytecode")

Important

Organization - ideally, both by date and category, e.g. folders for dates and some sort of a tag system for categories

Either application-level implementation of file access protocols (e.g. FTP, SMB; Alfresco does this) or on-disk storage mirroring the application-level folder layout so I can just throw (e.g.) an FTP daemon and samba on top (like how owncloud/nextcloud stores its files).

A decent web UI, functionally speaking - aesthetics are nice, but I really care more about usability

Docker images

Nice to have

Sample Kubernetes deployment so I don't need to write my own

Integration with scanning software (like Paperless has)

Multitenancy

Lightweight

Thanks in advance for any recommendations

[jllort]

First of all, must consider if you must go to the professional edition or community edition ( I'm not only talking about OpenKM -> I'm talking about any software ) -> how many documents do you expect to upload in a day, week, month -> what is your initial repository and expected repository increasing in per year. How many concurrent users, and how many writers are readers -> basically I would like to have an idea about the dimensions of your problem. The question in deep is to identify if you need professional support because of your data etc... or not.

In the case of OpenKM, there're a lot of differences between CE and professional edition ( take a look at this 3 minutes video https://www.openkm.com/openkm-remastered_player.html )

The reason why professional edition and CE are so different is because open source licenses do not protect the code and can easily be copied by our competitors ( happens in past and will continue happening in the future, be stupìd one time maybe it is enough ).

Choose DMS is a complex decision in the organization because usually a lot of systems depend on it and it is not quite easy to migrate data etc... it is like a long lifetime marriage

Only I will provide three ideas about what you should have in mind
* Some DMS like us provide a system to export the repository ( folder, files, and metadata in a plain json file -> that means you are not a prisoner in the application and always will have a way to escape -> that it is important because most of the application have REST or SOAP API -> build a client to move data from there, etc... it is not always easy, I talk based in my experience migrating data from other DMS to OpenKM ).
* Finally do not set the focus on all the features have the application, set the focus on what you need. Maybe you do not need a Ferrari, maybe a green car is enough for your needs.
* Not all the DMs solve the problem in the same manner, basically are two great families, one's like us what works in the concept of taxonomy ( three where nodes go) and others what works in concept like cabinets ( boxes where you put documents by type and retrieve data based in searches ). My suggestion is to talk with sales managers of the DMS companies, explain your problem and let them explain how this problem is solved in their DMS.

[arshi]

First of all, must consider if you must go to the professional edition or community edition ( I'm not only talking about OpenKM -> I'm talking about any software ) -> how many documents do you expect to upload in a day, week, month -> what is your initial repository and expected repository increasing in per year. How many concurrent users, and how many writers are readers -> basically I would like to have an idea about the dimensions of your problem. The question in deep is to identify if you need professional support because of your data etc... or not.

In the case of OpenKM, there're a lot of differences between CE and professional edition ( take a look at this 3 minutes video

The reason why professional edition and CE are so different is because open source licenses do not protect the code and can easily be copied by our competitors ( happens in past and will continue happening in the future, be stupìd one time maybe it is enough ).

Choose DMS is a complex decision in the organization because usually a lot of systems depend on it and it is not quite easy to migrate data etc... it is like a long lifetime marriage

Only I will provide three ideas about what you should have in mind
* Some DMS like us provide a system to export the repository ( folder, files, and metadata in a plain json file -> that means you are not a prisoner in the application and always will have a way to escape -> that it is important because most of the application have REST or SOAP API -> build a client to move data from there, etc... it is not always easy, I talk based in my experience migrating data from other DMS to OpenKM ).
* Finally do not set the focus on all the features have the application, set the focus on what you need. Maybe you do not need a Ferrari, maybe a green car is enough for your needs.
* Not all the DMs solve the problem in the same manner, basically are two great families, one's like us what works in the concept of taxonomy ( three where nodes go) and others what works in concept like cabinets ( boxes where you put documents by type and retrieve data based in searches ). My suggestion is to talk with sales managers of the DMS companies, explain your problem and let them explain how this problem is solved in their DMS.

The way you have explained, it is very funny and attractive. And the video you provided through the link is also helpful.

[mikerose]

In a world spilling over with abundance, we organized quality items sacrosanct with multi-purposes to support the specialty of claiming less. How to Make a cat Bandana