[GH-ISSUE #524] Full Restore Backup #404

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-02-25 21:31:51 +03:00 by kerem · 3 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-25 21:31:51 +03:00

Owner

Originally created by @PicklesIIDX on GitHub (Feb 12, 2023).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/ciur/papermerge/issues/524

How can I perform a full backup of papermerge (accounts, documents, tags, metadata) and restore it?

I tried figuring this out but hit a dead end. I saw in the docs that the backup utility (https://docs.papermerge.io/Installation/backup.html#backup-utility) does not backup metadata and tags. So I attempted to backup the directories wholesale. I'm using docker so I backed up each volume. Then I simulated a catastrophic failure by setting up a whole new installation of papermerge. I restored the volumes by copying the contents to the new volumes. While the copy completed successfully, the documents were not visible in the new instance. I dug into the media directory and saw that documents are stored by user GUID. I tried to just rename those directories to match the GUID of the user created for the new instance, but it still did not work.

I do see some issues (https://github.com/ciur/papermerge/issues/508, https://github.com/ciur/papermerge/issues/519) that describe backup and restore work, but it's unclear if this will support my use case (e.g. tags).

What's currently supported for backup functionality?
What's currently planned?
Was I close with my attempt? Is there something I can do manually to restore my instance?

Originally created by @PicklesIIDX on GitHub (Feb 12, 2023). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/ciur/papermerge/issues/524 How can I perform a full backup of papermerge (accounts, documents, tags, metadata) and restore it? I tried figuring this out but hit a dead end. I saw in the docs that the backup utility (https://docs.papermerge.io/Installation/backup.html#backup-utility) does not backup metadata and tags. So I attempted to backup the directories wholesale. I'm using docker so I backed up each volume. Then I simulated a catastrophic failure by setting up a whole new installation of papermerge. I restored the volumes by copying the contents to the new volumes. While the copy completed successfully, the documents were not visible in the new instance. I dug into the media directory and saw that documents are stored by user GUID. I tried to just rename those directories to match the GUID of the user created for the new instance, but it still did not work. I do see some issues (https://github.com/ciur/papermerge/issues/508, https://github.com/ciur/papermerge/issues/519) that describe backup and restore work, but it's unclear if this will support my use case (e.g. tags). - What's currently supported for backup functionality? - What's currently planned? - Was I close with my attempt? Is there something I can do manually to restore my instance?

kerem closed this issue

2026-02-25 21:31:51 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-02-25 21:31:51 +03:00

Author

Owner

@ciur commented on GitHub (Feb 13, 2023):

Which version you have in mind? 2.0 or 2.1?

@ciur commented on GitHub (Feb 13, 2023): Which version you have in mind? 2.0 or 2.1?

kerem commented

2026-02-25 21:31:51 +03:00

Author

Owner

@PicklesIIDX commented on GitHub (Feb 14, 2023):

I'm good either way. I'm still evaluating papermerge and haven't committed.

@PicklesIIDX commented on GitHub (Feb 14, 2023): I'm good either way. I'm still evaluating papermerge and haven't committed.

kerem commented

2026-02-25 21:31:51 +03:00

Author

Owner

@ciur commented on GitHub (Dec 29, 2023):

Backup/Restore is documented here: https://docs.papermerge.io/3.0/backup-restore/

@ciur commented on GitHub (Dec 29, 2023): Backup/Restore is documented here: https://docs.papermerge.io/3.0/backup-restore/