Merge branch 'dev' into chore/plugin-documentation

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug-report.yml

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ body:
         - [The installation instructions](https://docs.paperless-ngx.com/setup/#installation).
         - [Existing issues and discussions](https://github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/search?q=&type=issues).
         - Disable any custom container initialization scripts, if using
+        - Remove any third-party parser plugins — issues caused by or requiring changes to a third-party plugin will be closed without investigation.
 
         If you encounter issues while installing or configuring Paperless-ngx, please post in the ["Support" section of the discussions](https://github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/discussions/new?category=support).
   - type: textarea
@@ -120,5 +121,7 @@ body:
           required: true
         - label: I have already searched for relevant existing issues and discussions before opening this report.
           required: true
+        - label: I have reproduced this issue with all third-party parser plugins removed. I understand that issues caused by third-party plugins will be closed without investigation.
+          required: true
         - label: I have updated the title field above with a concise description.
           required: true

.gitignore

@@ -111,4 +111,3 @@ celerybeat-schedule*
 
 # ignore pnpm package store folder created when setting up the devcontainer
 .pnpm-store/
-.worktrees

docs/advanced_usage.md

@@ -723,6 +723,81 @@ services:
 
 1. Note the `:ro` tag means the folder will be mounted as read only. This is for extra security against changes
 
+## Installing third-party parser plugins {#parser-plugins}
+
+Third-party parser plugins extend Paperless-ngx to support additional file
+formats. A plugin is a Python package that advertises itself under the
+`paperless_ngx.parsers` entry point group. Refer to the
+[developer documentation](development.md#making-custom-parsers) for how to
+create one.
+
+!!! warning "Third-party plugins are not officially supported"
+
+    The Paperless-ngx maintainers do not provide support for third-party
+    plugins. Issues caused by or requiring changes to a third-party plugin
+    will be closed without further investigation. Always reproduce problems
+    with all plugins removed before filing a bug report.
+
+### Docker
+
+Use a [custom container initialization script](#custom-container-initialization)
+to install the package before the webserver starts. Create a shell script and
+mount it into `/custom-cont-init.d`:
+
+```bash
+#!/bin/bash
+# /path/to/my/scripts/install-parsers.sh
+
+pip install my-paperless-parser-package
+```
+
+Mount it in your `docker-compose.yml`:
+
+```yaml
+services:
+  webserver:
+    # ...
+    volumes:
+      - /path/to/my/scripts:/custom-cont-init.d:ro
+```
+
+The script runs as `root` before the webserver starts, so the package will be
+available when Paperless-ngx discovers plugins at startup.
+
+### Bare metal
+
+Install the package into the same Python environment that runs Paperless-ngx.
+If you followed the standard bare-metal install guide, that is the `paperless`
+user's environment:
+
+```bash
+sudo -Hu paperless pip3 install my-paperless-parser-package
+```
+
+If you are using `uv` or a virtual environment, activate it first and then run:
+
+```bash
+uv pip install my-paperless-parser-package
+# or
+pip install my-paperless-parser-package
+```
+
+Restart all Paperless-ngx services after installation so the new plugin is
+discovered.
+
+### Verifying installation
+
+On the next startup, check the application logs for a line confirming
+discovery:
+
+```
+Loaded third-party parser 'My Parser' v1.0.0 by Acme Corp (entrypoint: 'my_parser').
+```
+
+If this line does not appear, verify that the package is installed in the
+correct environment and that its `pyproject.toml` declares the
+`paperless_ngx.parsers` entry point.
+
 ## MySQL Caveats {#mysql-caveats}
 
 ### Case Sensitivity

docs/configuration.md

@@ -801,14 +801,11 @@ parsing documents.
 
 #### [`PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=<mode>`](#PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE) {#PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE}
 
-: Tell paperless when and how to perform ocr on your documents. Four
+: Tell paperless when and how to perform ocr on your documents. Three
 modes are available:
 
-    -   `auto` (default): Paperless detects whether a document already
-        has embedded text via pdftotext. If sufficient text is found,
-        OCR is skipped for that document (`--skip-text`). If no text is
-        present, OCR runs normally. This is the safest option for mixed
-        document collections.
+    -   `skip`: Paperless skips all pages and will perform ocr only on
+        pages where no text is present. This is the safest option.
 
     -   `redo`: Paperless will OCR all pages of your documents and
         attempt to replace any existing text layers with new text. This
@@ -826,59 +823,24 @@ modes are available:
         significantly larger and text won't appear as sharp when zoomed
         in.
 
-    -   `off`: Paperless never invokes the OCR engine. For PDFs, text
-        is extracted via pdftotext only. For image documents, text will
-        be empty. Archive file generation still works via format
-        conversion (no Tesseract or Ghostscript required).
+    The default is `skip`, which only performs OCR when necessary and
+    always creates archived documents.
 
-    The default is `auto`.
-
-    For the `skip`, `redo`, and `force` modes, read more about OCR
-    behaviour in the [OCRmyPDF
+    Read more about this in the [OCRmyPDF
     documentation](https://ocrmypdf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/advanced.html#when-ocr-is-skipped).
 
-#### [`PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=<mode>`](#PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION) {#PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION}
+#### [`PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE=<mode>`](#PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE) {#PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE}
 
-: Controls when paperless creates a PDF/A archive version of your
-documents. Archive files are stored alongside the original and are used
-for display in the web interface.
+: Specify when you would like paperless to skip creating an archived
+version of your documents. This is useful if you don't want to have two
+almost-identical versions of your documents in the media folder.
 
-    -   `auto` (default): Produce archives for scanned or image-based
-        documents. Skip archive generation for born-digital PDFs that
-        already contain embedded text. This is the recommended setting
-        for mixed document collections.
-    -   `always`: Always produce a PDF/A archive when the parser
-        supports it, regardless of whether the document already has
-        text.
-    -   `never`: Never produce an archive. Only the original file is
-        stored. Saves disk space but the web viewer will display the
-        original file directly.
+    -   `never`: Never skip creating an archived version.
+    -   `with_text`: Skip creating an archived version for documents
+    that already have embedded text.
+    -   `always`: Always skip creating an archived version.
 
-    **Behaviour by file type and mode** (`auto` column shows the default):
-
-    | Document type              | `never` | `auto` (default)           | `always` |
-    | -------------------------- | ------- | -------------------------- | -------- |
-    | Scanned image (TIFF, JPEG) | No      | **Yes**                    | Yes      |
-    | Image-based PDF            | No      | **Yes** (short/no text, untagged) | Yes |
-    | Born-digital PDF           | No      | No (tagged or has embedded text)  | Yes |
-    | Plain text, email, HTML    | No      | No                         | No       |
-    | DOCX / ODT (via Tika)      | Yes\*   | Yes\*                      | Yes\*    |
-
-    \* Tika always produces a PDF rendition for display; this counts as
-    the archive regardless of the setting.
-
-    !!! note
-
-        This setting applies to the built-in Tesseract parser. Parsers
-        that must always convert documents to PDF for display (e.g. DOCX,
-        ODT via Tika) will produce a PDF regardless of this setting.
-
-    !!! note
-
-        The **remote OCR parser** (Azure AI) always produces a searchable
-        PDF and stores it as the archive copy, regardless of this setting.
-        `ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never` has no effect when the remote
-        parser handles a document.
+    The default is `never`.
 
 #### [`PAPERLESS_OCR_CLEAN=<mode>`](#PAPERLESS_OCR_CLEAN) {#PAPERLESS_OCR_CLEAN}
 

docs/development.md

@@ -370,121 +370,363 @@ docker build --file Dockerfile --tag paperless:local .
 
 ## Extending Paperless-ngx
 
-Paperless-ngx does not have any fancy plugin systems and will probably never
-have. However, some parts of the application have been designed to allow
-easy integration of additional features without any modification to the
-base code.
+Paperless-ngx supports third-party document parsers via a Python entry point
+plugin system. Plugins are distributed as ordinary Python packages and
+discovered automatically at startup — no changes to the Paperless-ngx source
+are required.
+
+!!! warning "Third-party plugins are not officially supported"
+
+    The Paperless-ngx maintainers do not provide support for third-party
+    plugins. Issues that are caused by or require changes to a third-party
+    plugin will be closed without further investigation. If you believe you
+    have found a bug in Paperless-ngx itself (not in a plugin), please
+    reproduce it with all third-party plugins removed before filing an issue.
 
 ### Making custom parsers
 
-Paperless-ngx uses parsers to add documents. A parser is
-responsible for:
+Paperless-ngx uses parsers to add documents. A parser is responsible for:
 
-- Retrieving the content from the original
-- Creating a thumbnail
-- _optional:_ Retrieving a created date from the original
-- _optional:_ Creating an archived document from the original
+- Extracting plain-text content from the document
+- Generating a thumbnail image
+- _optional:_ Detecting the document's creation date
+- _optional:_ Producing a searchable PDF archive copy
 
-Custom parsers can be added to Paperless-ngx to support more file types. In
-order to do that, you need to write the parser itself and announce its
-existence to Paperless-ngx.
+Custom parsers are distributed as ordinary Python packages and registered
+via a [setuptools entry point](https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/userguide/entry_point.html).
+No changes to the Paperless-ngx source are required.
 
-The parser itself must extend `documents.parsers.DocumentParser` and
-must implement the methods `parse` and `get_thumbnail`. You can provide
-your own implementation to `get_date` if you don't want to rely on
-Paperless-ngx' default date guessing mechanisms.
+#### 1. Implementing the parser class
+
+Your parser must satisfy the `ParserProtocol` structural interface defined in
+`paperless.parsers`. The simplest approach is to write a plain class — no base
+class is required, only the right attributes and methods.
+
+**Class-level identity attributes**
+
+The registry reads these before instantiating the parser, so they must be
+plain class attributes (not instance attributes or properties):
 
 ```python
-class MyCustomParser(DocumentParser):
-
-    def parse(self, document_path, mime_type):
-        # This method does not return anything. Rather, you should assign
-        # whatever you got from the document to the following fields:
-
-        # The content of the document.
-        self.text = "content"
-
-        # Optional: path to a PDF document that you created from the original.
-        self.archive_path = os.path.join(self.tempdir, "archived.pdf")
-
-        # Optional: "created" date of the document.
-        self.date = get_created_from_metadata(document_path)
-
-    def get_thumbnail(self, document_path, mime_type):
-        # This should return the path to a thumbnail you created for this
-        # document.
-        return os.path.join(self.tempdir, "thumb.webp")
+class MyCustomParser:
+    name    = "My Format Parser"   # human-readable name shown in logs
+    version = "1.0.0"              # semantic version string
+    author  = "Acme Corp"          # author / organisation
+    url     = "https://example.com/my-parser"  # docs or issue tracker
 ```
 
-If you encounter any issues during parsing, raise a
-`documents.parsers.ParseError`.
+**Declaring supported MIME types**
 
-The `self.tempdir` directory is a temporary directory that is guaranteed
-to be empty and removed after consumption finished. You can use that
-directory to store any intermediate files and also use it to store the
-thumbnail / archived document.
-
-After that, you need to announce your parser to Paperless-ngx. You need to
-connect a handler to the `document_consumer_declaration` signal. Have a
-look in the file `src/paperless_tesseract/apps.py` on how that's done.
-The handler is a method that returns information about your parser:
+Return a `dict` mapping MIME type strings to preferred file extensions
+(including the leading dot). Paperless-ngx uses the extension when storing
+archive copies and serving files for download.
 
 ```python
-def myparser_consumer_declaration(sender, **kwargs):
+@classmethod
+def supported_mime_types(cls) -> dict[str, str]:
     return {
-        "parser": MyCustomParser,
-        "weight": 0,
-        "mime_types": {
-            "application/pdf": ".pdf",
-            "image/jpeg": ".jpg",
-        }
+        "application/x-my-format": ".myf",
+        "application/x-my-format-alt": ".myf",
     }
 ```
 
-- `parser` is a reference to a class that extends `DocumentParser`.
-- `weight` is used whenever two or more parsers are able to parse a
-  file: The parser with the higher weight wins. This can be used to
-  override the parsers provided by Paperless-ngx.
-- `mime_types` is a dictionary. The keys are the mime types your
-  parser supports and the value is the default file extension that
-  Paperless-ngx should use when storing files and serving them for
-  download. We could guess that from the file extensions, but some
-  mime types have many extensions associated with them and the Python
-  methods responsible for guessing the extension do not always return
-  the same value.
+**Scoring**
 
-## Using Visual Studio Code devcontainer
+When more than one parser can handle a file, the registry calls `score()` on
+each candidate and picks the one with the highest result. Return `None` to
+decline handling a file even though the MIME type is listed as supported (for
+example, when a required external service is not configured).
 
-Another easy way to get started with development is to use Visual Studio
-Code devcontainers. This approach will create a preconfigured development
-environment with all of the required tools and dependencies.
-[Learn more about devcontainers](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers).
-The .devcontainer/vscode/tasks.json and .devcontainer/vscode/launch.json files
-contain more information about the specific tasks and launch configurations (see the
-non-standard "description" field).
+| Score  | Meaning                                           |
+| ------ | ------------------------------------------------- |
+| `None` | Decline — do not handle this file                 |
+| `10`   | Default priority used by all built-in parsers     |
+| `> 10` | Override a built-in parser for the same MIME type |
 
-To get started:
+```python
+@classmethod
+def score(
+    cls,
+    mime_type: str,
+    filename: str,
+    path: "Path | None" = None,
+) -> int | None:
+    # Inspect filename or file bytes here if needed.
+    return 10
+```
 
-1. Clone the repository on your machine and open the Paperless-ngx folder in VS Code.
+**Archive and rendition flags**
 
-2. VS Code will prompt you with "Reopen in container". Do so and wait for the environment to start.
+```python
+@property
+def can_produce_archive(self) -> bool:
+    """True if parse() can produce a searchable PDF archive copy."""
+    return True   # or False if your parser doesn't produce PDFs
 
-3. In case your host operating system is Windows:
-   - The Source Control view in Visual Studio Code might show: "The detected Git repository is potentially unsafe as the folder is owned by someone other than the current user." Use "Manage Unsafe Repositories" to fix this.
-   - Git might have detecteded modifications for all files, because Windows is using CRLF line endings. Run `git checkout .` in the containers terminal to fix this issue.
+@property
+def requires_pdf_rendition(self) -> bool:
+    """True if the original format cannot be displayed by a browser
+    (e.g. DOCX, ODT) and the PDF output must always be kept."""
+    return False
+```
 
-4. Initialize the project by running the task **Project Setup: Run all Init Tasks**. This
-   will initialize the database tables and create a superuser. Then you can compile the front end
-   for production or run the frontend in debug mode.
+**Context manager — temp directory lifecycle**
 
-5. The project is ready for debugging, start either run the fullstack debug or individual debug
-   processes. Yo spin up the project without debugging run the task **Project Start: Run all Services**
+Paperless-ngx always uses parsers as context managers. Create a temporary
+working directory in `__enter__` (or `__init__`) and remove it in `__exit__`
+regardless of whether an exception occurred. Store intermediate files,
+thumbnails, and archive PDFs inside this directory.
 
-## Developing Date Parser Plugins
+```python
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Self
+from types import TracebackType
+
+from django.conf import settings
+
+class MyCustomParser:
+    ...
+
+    def __init__(self, logging_group: object = None) -> None:
+        settings.SCRATCH_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        self._tempdir = Path(
+            tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="paperless-", dir=settings.SCRATCH_DIR)
+        )
+        self._text: str | None = None
+        self._archive_path: Path | None = None
+
+    def __enter__(self) -> Self:
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(
+        self,
+        exc_type: type[BaseException] | None,
+        exc_val: BaseException | None,
+        exc_tb: TracebackType | None,
+    ) -> None:
+        shutil.rmtree(self._tempdir, ignore_errors=True)
+```
+
+**Optional context — `configure()`**
+
+The consumer calls `configure()` with a `ParserContext` after instantiation
+and before `parse()`. If your parser doesn't need context, a no-op
+implementation is fine:
+
+```python
+from paperless.parsers import ParserContext
+
+def configure(self, context: ParserContext) -> None:
+    pass   # override if you need context.mailrule_id, etc.
+```
+
+**Parsing**
+
+`parse()` is the core method. It must not return a value; instead, store
+results in instance attributes and expose them via the accessor methods below.
+Raise `documents.parsers.ParseError` on any unrecoverable failure.
+
+```python
+from documents.parsers import ParseError
+
+def parse(
+    self,
+    document_path: Path,
+    mime_type: str,
+    *,
+    produce_archive: bool = True,
+) -> None:
+    try:
+        self._text = extract_text_from_my_format(document_path)
+    except Exception as e:
+        raise ParseError(f"Failed to parse {document_path}: {e}") from e
+
+    if produce_archive and self.can_produce_archive:
+        archive = self._tempdir / "archived.pdf"
+        convert_to_pdf(document_path, archive)
+        self._archive_path = archive
+```
+
+**Result accessors**
+
+```python
+def get_text(self) -> str | None:
+    return self._text
+
+def get_date(self) -> "datetime.datetime | None":
+    # Return a datetime extracted from the document, or None to let
+    # Paperless-ngx use its default date-guessing logic.
+    return None
+
+def get_archive_path(self) -> Path | None:
+    return self._archive_path
+```
+
+**Thumbnail**
+
+`get_thumbnail()` may be called independently of `parse()`. Return the path
+to a WebP image inside `self._tempdir`. The image should be roughly 500 × 700
+pixels.
+
+```python
+def get_thumbnail(self, document_path: Path, mime_type: str) -> Path:
+    thumb = self._tempdir / "thumb.webp"
+    render_thumbnail(document_path, thumb)
+    return thumb
+```
+
+**Optional methods**
+
+These are called by the API on demand, not during the consumption pipeline.
+Implement them if your format supports the information; otherwise return
+`None` / `[]`.
+
+```python
+def get_page_count(self, document_path: Path, mime_type: str) -> int | None:
+    return count_pages(document_path)
+
+def extract_metadata(
+    self,
+    document_path: Path,
+    mime_type: str,
+) -> "list[MetadataEntry]":
+    # Must never raise. Return [] if metadata cannot be read.
+    from paperless.parsers import MetadataEntry
+    return [
+        MetadataEntry(
+            namespace="https://example.com/ns/",
+            prefix="ex",
+            key="Author",
+            value="Alice",
+        )
+    ]
+```
+
+#### 2. Registering via entry point
+
+Add the following to your package's `pyproject.toml`. The key (left of `=`)
+is an arbitrary name used only in log output; the value is the
+`module:ClassName` import path.
+
+```toml
+[project.entry-points."paperless_ngx.parsers"]
+my_parser = "my_package.parsers:MyCustomParser"
+```
+
+Install your package into the same Python environment as Paperless-ngx (or
+add it to the Docker image), and the parser will be discovered automatically
+on the next startup. No configuration changes are needed.
+
+To verify discovery, check the application logs at startup for a line like:
+
+```
+Loaded third-party parser 'My Format Parser' v1.0.0 by Acme Corp (entrypoint: 'my_parser').
+```
+
+#### 3. Utilities
+
+`paperless.parsers.utils` provides helpers you can import directly:
+
+| Function                                | Description                                                      |
+| --------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `read_file_handle_unicode_errors(path)` | Read a file as UTF-8, replacing invalid bytes instead of raising |
+| `get_page_count_for_pdf(path)`          | Count pages in a PDF using pikepdf                               |
+| `extract_pdf_metadata(path)`            | Extract XMP metadata from a PDF as a `list[MetadataEntry]`       |
+
+#### Minimal example
+
+A complete, working parser for a hypothetical plain-XML format:
+
+```python
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Self
+from types import TracebackType
+import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
+
+from django.conf import settings
+
+from documents.parsers import ParseError
+from paperless.parsers import ParserContext
+
+
+class XmlDocumentParser:
+    name    = "XML Parser"
+    version = "1.0.0"
+    author  = "Acme Corp"
+    url     = "https://example.com/xml-parser"
+
+    @classmethod
+    def supported_mime_types(cls) -> dict[str, str]:
+        return {"application/xml": ".xml", "text/xml": ".xml"}
+
+    @classmethod
+    def score(cls, mime_type: str, filename: str, path: Path | None = None) -> int | None:
+        return 10
+
+    @property
+    def can_produce_archive(self) -> bool:
+        return False
+
+    @property
+    def requires_pdf_rendition(self) -> bool:
+        return False
+
+    def __init__(self, logging_group: object = None) -> None:
+        settings.SCRATCH_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        self._tempdir = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="paperless-", dir=settings.SCRATCH_DIR))
+        self._text: str | None = None
+
+    def __enter__(self) -> Self:
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb) -> None:
+        shutil.rmtree(self._tempdir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    def configure(self, context: ParserContext) -> None:
+        pass
+
+    def parse(self, document_path: Path, mime_type: str, *, produce_archive: bool = True) -> None:
+        try:
+            tree = ET.parse(document_path)
+            self._text = " ".join(tree.getroot().itertext())
+        except ET.ParseError as e:
+            raise ParseError(f"XML parse error: {e}") from e
+
+    def get_text(self) -> str | None:
+        return self._text
+
+    def get_date(self):
+        return None
+
+    def get_archive_path(self) -> Path | None:
+        return None
+
+    def get_thumbnail(self, document_path: Path, mime_type: str) -> Path:
+        from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
+        img = Image.new("RGB", (500, 700), color="white")
+        ImageDraw.Draw(img).text((10, 10), "XML Document", fill="black")
+        out = self._tempdir / "thumb.webp"
+        img.save(out, format="WEBP")
+        return out
+
+    def get_page_count(self, document_path: Path, mime_type: str) -> int | None:
+        return None
+
+    def extract_metadata(self, document_path: Path, mime_type: str) -> list:
+        return []
+```
+
+### Developing date parser plugins
 
 Paperless-ngx uses a plugin system for date parsing, allowing you to extend or replace the default date parsing behavior. Plugins are discovered using [Python entry points](https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/userguide/entry_point.html).
 
-### Creating a Date Parser Plugin
+#### Creating a Date Parser Plugin
 
 To create a custom date parser plugin, you need to:
 
@@ -492,7 +734,7 @@ To create a custom date parser plugin, you need to:
 2. Implement the required abstract method
 3. Register your plugin via an entry point
 
-#### 1. Implementing the Parser Class
+##### 1. Implementing the Parser Class
 
 Your parser must extend `documents.plugins.date_parsing.DateParserPluginBase` and implement the `parse` method:
 
@@ -532,7 +774,7 @@ class MyDateParserPlugin(DateParserPluginBase):
         yield another_datetime
 ```
 
-#### 2. Configuration and Helper Methods
+##### 2. Configuration and Helper Methods
 
 Your parser instance is initialized with a `DateParserConfig` object accessible via `self.config`. This provides:
 
@@ -565,11 +807,11 @@ def _filter_date(
     """
 ```
 
-#### 3. Resource Management (Optional)
+##### 3. Resource Management (Optional)
 
 If your plugin needs to acquire or release resources (database connections, API clients, etc.), override the context manager methods. Paperless-ngx will always use plugins as context managers, ensuring resources can be released even in the event of errors.
 
-#### 4. Registering Your Plugin
+##### 4. Registering Your Plugin
 
 Register your plugin using a setuptools entry point in your package's `pyproject.toml`:
 
@@ -580,7 +822,7 @@ my_parser = "my_package.parsers:MyDateParserPlugin"
 
 The entry point name (e.g., `"my_parser"`) is used for sorting when multiple plugins are found. Paperless-ngx will use the first plugin alphabetically by name if multiple plugins are discovered.
 
-### Plugin Discovery
+#### Plugin Discovery
 
 Paperless-ngx automatically discovers and loads date parser plugins at runtime. The discovery process:
 
@@ -591,7 +833,7 @@ Paperless-ngx automatically discovers and loads date parser plugins at runtime.
 
 If multiple plugins are installed, a warning is logged indicating which plugin was selected.
 
-### Example: Simple Date Parser
+#### Example: Simple Date Parser
 
 Here's a minimal example that only looks for ISO 8601 dates:
 
@@ -623,3 +865,30 @@ class ISODateParserPlugin(DateParserPluginBase):
             if filtered_date is not None:
                 yield filtered_date
 ```
+
+## Using Visual Studio Code devcontainer
+
+Another easy way to get started with development is to use Visual Studio
+Code devcontainers. This approach will create a preconfigured development
+environment with all of the required tools and dependencies.
+[Learn more about devcontainers](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers).
+The .devcontainer/vscode/tasks.json and .devcontainer/vscode/launch.json files
+contain more information about the specific tasks and launch configurations (see the
+non-standard "description" field).
+
+To get started:
+
+1. Clone the repository on your machine and open the Paperless-ngx folder in VS Code.
+
+2. VS Code will prompt you with "Reopen in container". Do so and wait for the environment to start.
+
+3. In case your host operating system is Windows:
+   - The Source Control view in Visual Studio Code might show: "The detected Git repository is potentially unsafe as the folder is owned by someone other than the current user." Use "Manage Unsafe Repositories" to fix this.
+   - Git might have detecteded modifications for all files, because Windows is using CRLF line endings. Run `git checkout .` in the containers terminal to fix this issue.
+
+4. Initialize the project by running the task **Project Setup: Run all Init Tasks**. This
+   will initialize the database tables and create a superuser. Then you can compile the front end
+   for production or run the frontend in debug mode.
+
+5. The project is ready for debugging, start either run the fullstack debug or individual debug
+   processes. Yo spin up the project without debugging run the task **Project Start: Run all Services**

docs/migration-v3.md

@@ -104,63 +104,6 @@ Multiple options are combined in a single value:
 PAPERLESS_DB_OPTIONS="sslmode=require;sslrootcert=/certs/ca.pem;pool.max_size=10"
 ```
 
-## OCR and Archive File Generation Settings
-
-The settings that control OCR behaviour and archive file generation have been redesigned. The old settings that coupled these two concerns together are **removed** — old values are not silently honoured; a startup warning is logged if any removed variable is still set in your environment.
-
-### Removed settings
-
-| Removed Setting                             | Replacement                                                           |
-| ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| `PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=skip`                   | `PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=auto` (new default)                               |
-| `PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=skip_noarchive`         | `PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=auto` + `PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never` |
-| `PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE=never`     | `PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=always`                            |
-| `PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE=with_text` | `PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=auto` (new default)                |
-| `PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE=always`    | `PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never`                             |
-
-### What changed and why
-
-Previously, `OCR_MODE` conflated two independent concerns: whether to run OCR and whether to produce an archive. `skip` meant "skip OCR if text exists, but always produce an archive". `skip_noarchive` meant "skip OCR if text exists, and also skip the archive". This made it impossible to, for example, disable OCR entirely while still producing archives.
-
-The new settings are independent:
-
-- [`PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE) controls OCR: `auto` (default), `force`, `redo`, `off`.
-- [`PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION) controls archive production: `auto` (default), `always`, `never`.
-
-### Action Required
-
-Remove any `PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE` variable from your environment. If you relied on `OCR_MODE=skip` or `OCR_MODE=skip_noarchive`, update accordingly:
-
-```bash
-# v2: skip OCR when text present, always archive
-PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=skip
-# v3: equivalent (auto is the new default)
-# No change needed — auto is the default
-
-# v2: skip OCR when text present, skip archive too
-PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=skip_noarchive
-# v3: equivalent
-PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=auto
-PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never
-
-# v2: always skip archive
-PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE=always
-# v3: equivalent
-PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never
-
-# v2: skip archive only for born-digital docs
-PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE=with_text
-# v3: equivalent (auto is the new default)
-PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=auto
-```
-
-### Remote OCR parser
-
-If you use the **remote OCR parser** (Azure AI), note that it always produces a
-searchable PDF and stores it as the archive copy. `ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never`
-has no effect for documents handled by the remote parser — the archive is produced
-unconditionally by the remote engine.
-
 ## OpenID Connect Token Endpoint Authentication
 
 Some existing OpenID Connect setups may require an explicit token endpoint authentication method after upgrading to v3.

docs/setup.md

@@ -633,11 +633,12 @@ hardware, but a few settings can improve performance:
   consumption, so you might want to lower these settings (example: 2
   workers and 1 thread to always have some computing power left for
   other tasks).
-- Keep [`PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE) at its default value `auto` and consider
+- Keep [`PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE) at its default value `skip` and consider
   OCRing your documents before feeding them into Paperless. Some
   scanners are able to do this!
-- Set [`PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION) to `never` to skip archive
-  file generation entirely, saving disk space at the cost of in-browser PDF/A viewing.
+- Set [`PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE) to `with_text` to skip archive
+  file generation for already OCRed documents, or `always` to skip it
+  for all documents.
 - If you want to perform OCR on the device, consider using
   `PAPERLESS_OCR_CLEAN=none`. This will speed up OCR times and use
   less memory at the expense of slightly worse OCR results.

docs/usage.md

@@ -134,9 +134,9 @@ following operations on your documents:
 !!! tip
 
     This process can be configured to fit your needs. If you don't want
-    paperless to create archived versions for born-digital documents, set
-    [`PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=auto`](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION)
-    (the default). To skip archives entirely, use `never`. Please read the
+    paperless to create archived versions for digital documents, you can
+    configure that by configuring
+    `PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE=with_text`. Please read the
     [relevant section in the documentation](configuration.md#ocr).
 
 !!! note

src/documents/consumer.py

@@ -50,14 +50,9 @@ from documents.utils import compute_checksum
 from documents.utils import copy_basic_file_stats
 from documents.utils import copy_file_with_basic_stats
 from documents.utils import run_subprocess
-from paperless.config import OcrConfig
-from paperless.models import ArchiveFileGenerationChoices
 from paperless.parsers import ParserContext
 from paperless.parsers import ParserProtocol
 from paperless.parsers.registry import get_parser_registry
-from paperless.parsers.utils import PDF_TEXT_MIN_LENGTH
-from paperless.parsers.utils import extract_pdf_text
-from paperless.parsers.utils import is_tagged_pdf
 
 LOGGING_NAME: Final[str] = "paperless.consumer"
 
@@ -110,44 +105,6 @@ class ConsumerStatusShortMessage(StrEnum):
     FAILED = "failed"
 
 
-def should_produce_archive(
-    parser: "ParserProtocol",
-    mime_type: str,
-    document_path: Path,
-) -> bool:
-    """Return True if a PDF/A archive should be produced for this document.
-
-    IMPORTANT: *parser* must be an instantiated parser, not the class.
-    ``requires_pdf_rendition`` and ``can_produce_archive`` are instance
-    ``@property`` methods — accessing them on the class returns the descriptor
-    (always truthy).
-    """
-    # Must produce a PDF so the frontend can display the original format at all.
-    if parser.requires_pdf_rendition:
-        return True
-
-    # Parser cannot produce an archive (e.g. TextDocumentParser).
-    if not parser.can_produce_archive:
-        return False
-
-    generation = OcrConfig().archive_file_generation
-
-    if generation == ArchiveFileGenerationChoices.ALWAYS:
-        return True
-    if generation == ArchiveFileGenerationChoices.NEVER:
-        return False
-
-    # auto: produce archives for scanned/image documents; skip for born-digital PDFs.
-    if mime_type.startswith("image/"):
-        return True
-    if mime_type == "application/pdf":
-        if is_tagged_pdf(document_path):
-            return False
-        text = extract_pdf_text(document_path)
-        return text is None or len(text) <= PDF_TEXT_MIN_LENGTH
-    return False
-
-
 class ConsumerPluginMixin:
     if TYPE_CHECKING:
         from logging import Logger
@@ -481,16 +438,7 @@ class ConsumerPlugin(
                     )
                     self.log.debug(f"Parsing {self.filename}...")
 
-                    produce_archive = should_produce_archive(
-                        document_parser,
-                        mime_type,
-                        self.working_copy,
-                    )
-                    document_parser.parse(
-                        self.working_copy,
-                        mime_type,
-                        produce_archive=produce_archive,
-                    )
+                    document_parser.parse(self.working_copy, mime_type)
 
                     self.log.debug(f"Generating thumbnail for {self.filename}...")
                     self._send_progress(
@@ -839,7 +787,7 @@ class ConsumerPlugin(
 
         return document
 
-    def apply_overrides(self, document: Document) -> None:
+    def apply_overrides(self, document) -> None:
         if self.metadata.correspondent_id:
             document.correspondent = Correspondent.objects.get(
                 pk=self.metadata.correspondent_id,

src/documents/tasks.py

@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ from documents.consumer import AsnCheckPlugin
 from documents.consumer import ConsumerPlugin
 from documents.consumer import ConsumerPreflightPlugin
 from documents.consumer import WorkflowTriggerPlugin
-from documents.consumer import should_produce_archive
 from documents.data_models import ConsumableDocument
 from documents.data_models import DocumentMetadataOverrides
 from documents.double_sided import CollatePlugin
@@ -322,16 +321,7 @@ def update_document_content_maybe_archive_file(document_id) -> None:
         parser.configure(ParserContext())
 
         try:
-            produce_archive = should_produce_archive(
-                parser,
-                mime_type,
-                document.source_path,
-            )
-            parser.parse(
-                document.source_path,
-                mime_type,
-                produce_archive=produce_archive,
-            )
+            parser.parse(document.source_path, mime_type)
 
             thumbnail = parser.get_thumbnail(document.source_path, mime_type)
 

src/documents/tests/test_api_app_config.py

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class TestApiAppConfig(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
                 "pages": None,
                 "language": None,
                 "mode": None,
-                "archive_file_generation": None,
+                "skip_archive_file": None,
                 "image_dpi": None,
                 "unpaper_clean": None,
                 "deskew": None,

src/documents/tests/test_barcodes.py

@@ -1020,7 +1020,7 @@ class TestTagBarcode(DirectoriesMixin, SampleDirMixin, GetReaderPluginMixin, Tes
         CONSUMER_TAG_BARCODE_SPLIT=True,
         CONSUMER_TAG_BARCODE_MAPPING={"TAG:(.*)": "\\g<1>"},
         CELERY_TASK_ALWAYS_EAGER=True,
-        OCR_MODE="auto",
+        OCR_MODE="skip",
     )
     def test_consume_barcode_file_tag_split_and_assignment(self) -> None:
         """

src/documents/tests/test_consumer.py

@@ -230,11 +230,7 @@ class TestConsumer(
         shutil.copy(src, dst)
         return dst
 
-    @override_settings(
-        FILENAME_FORMAT=None,
-        TIME_ZONE="America/Chicago",
-        ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always",
-    )
+    @override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT=None, TIME_ZONE="America/Chicago")
     def testNormalOperation(self) -> None:
         filename = self.get_test_file()
 
@@ -633,10 +629,7 @@ class TestConsumer(
         # Database empty
         self.assertEqual(Document.objects.all().count(), 0)
 
-    @override_settings(
-        FILENAME_FORMAT="{correspondent}/{title}",
-        ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always",
-    )
+    @override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT="{correspondent}/{title}")
     def testFilenameHandling(self) -> None:
         with self.get_consumer(
             self.get_test_file(),
@@ -653,7 +646,7 @@ class TestConsumer(
         self._assert_first_last_send_progress()
 
     @mock.patch("documents.consumer.generate_unique_filename")
-    @override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT="{pk}", ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always")
+    @override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT="{pk}")
     def testFilenameHandlingFallsBackWhenGeneratedPathExceedsDbLimit(self, m):
         m.side_effect = lambda doc, archive_filename=False: Path(
             ("a" * 1100 + ".pdf") if not archive_filename else ("b" * 1100 + ".pdf"),
@@ -680,10 +673,7 @@ class TestConsumer(
 
         self._assert_first_last_send_progress()
 
-    @override_settings(
-        FILENAME_FORMAT="{correspondent}/{title}",
-        ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always",
-    )
+    @override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT="{correspondent}/{title}")
     @mock.patch("documents.signals.handlers.generate_unique_filename")
     def testFilenameHandlingUnstableFormat(self, m) -> None:
         filenames = ["this", "that", "now this", "i cannot decide"]
@@ -1031,7 +1021,7 @@ class TestConsumer(
         self.assertEqual(Document.objects.count(), 2)
         self._assert_first_last_send_progress()
 
-    @override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT="{title}", ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always")
+    @override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT="{title}")
     @mock.patch("documents.consumer.get_parser_registry")
     def test_similar_filenames(self, m) -> None:
         shutil.copy(
@@ -1142,7 +1132,6 @@ class TestConsumer(
             mock_mail_parser_parse.assert_called_once_with(
                 consumer.working_copy,
                 "message/rfc822",
-                produce_archive=True,
             )
 
 
@@ -1290,14 +1279,7 @@ class PreConsumeTestCase(DirectoriesMixin, GetConsumerMixin, TestCase):
     def test_no_pre_consume_script(self, m) -> None:
         with self.get_consumer(self.test_file) as c:
             c.run()
-            # Verify no pre-consume script subprocess was invoked
-            # (run_subprocess may still be called by _extract_text_for_archive_check)
-            script_calls = [
-                call
-                for call in m.call_args_list
-                if call.args and call.args[0] and call.args[0][0] not in ("pdftotext",)
-            ]
-            self.assertEqual(script_calls, [])
+            m.assert_not_called()
 
     @mock.patch("documents.consumer.run_subprocess")
     @override_settings(PRE_CONSUME_SCRIPT="does-not-exist")
@@ -1313,16 +1295,9 @@ class PreConsumeTestCase(DirectoriesMixin, GetConsumerMixin, TestCase):
                 with self.get_consumer(self.test_file) as c:
                     c.run()
 
-                    self.assertTrue(m.called)
+                    m.assert_called_once()
 
-                    # Find the call that invoked the pre-consume script
-                    # (run_subprocess may also be called by _extract_text_for_archive_check)
-                    script_call = next(
-                        call
-                        for call in m.call_args_list
-                        if call.args and call.args[0] and call.args[0][0] == script.name
-                    )
-                    args, _ = script_call
+                    args, _ = m.call_args
 
                     command = args[0]
                     environment = args[1]

src/documents/tests/test_consumer_archive.py

@@ -1,189 +0,0 @@
-"""Tests for should_produce_archive()."""
-
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
-from unittest.mock import MagicMock
-
-import pytest
-
-from documents.consumer import should_produce_archive
-
-if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from pytest_mock import MockerFixture
-
-
-def _parser_instance(
-    *,
-    can_produce: bool = True,
-    requires_rendition: bool = False,
-) -> MagicMock:
-    """Return a mock parser instance with the given capability flags."""
-    instance = MagicMock()
-    instance.can_produce_archive = can_produce
-    instance.requires_pdf_rendition = requires_rendition
-    return instance
-
-
-@pytest.fixture()
-def null_app_config(mocker) -> MagicMock:
-    """Mock ApplicationConfiguration with all fields None → falls back to Django settings."""
-    return mocker.MagicMock(
-        output_type=None,
-        pages=None,
-        language=None,
-        mode=None,
-        archive_file_generation=None,
-        image_dpi=None,
-        unpaper_clean=None,
-        deskew=None,
-        rotate_pages=None,
-        rotate_pages_threshold=None,
-        max_image_pixels=None,
-        color_conversion_strategy=None,
-        user_args=None,
-    )
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
-def patch_app_config(mocker, null_app_config):
-    """Patch BaseConfig._get_config_instance for all tests in this module."""
-    mocker.patch(
-        "paperless.config.BaseConfig._get_config_instance",
-        return_value=null_app_config,
-    )
-
-
-class TestShouldProduceArchive:
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        ("generation", "can_produce", "requires_rendition", "mime", "expected"),
-        [
-            pytest.param(
-                "never",
-                True,
-                False,
-                "application/pdf",
-                False,
-                id="never-returns-false",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "always",
-                True,
-                False,
-                "application/pdf",
-                True,
-                id="always-returns-true",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "never",
-                True,
-                True,
-                "application/pdf",
-                True,
-                id="requires-rendition-overrides-never",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "always",
-                False,
-                False,
-                "text/plain",
-                False,
-                id="cannot-produce-overrides-always",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "always",
-                False,
-                True,
-                "application/pdf",
-                True,
-                id="requires-rendition-wins-even-if-cannot-produce",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "auto",
-                True,
-                False,
-                "image/tiff",
-                True,
-                id="auto-image-returns-true",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "auto",
-                True,
-                False,
-                "message/rfc822",
-                False,
-                id="auto-non-pdf-non-image-returns-false",
-            ),
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_generation_setting(
-        self,
-        settings,
-        generation: str,
-        can_produce: bool,  # noqa: FBT001
-        requires_rendition: bool,  # noqa: FBT001
-        mime: str,
-        expected: bool,  # noqa: FBT001
-    ) -> None:
-        settings.ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION = generation
-        parser = _parser_instance(
-            can_produce=can_produce,
-            requires_rendition=requires_rendition,
-        )
-        assert should_produce_archive(parser, mime, Path("/tmp/doc")) is expected
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        ("extracted_text", "expected"),
-        [
-            pytest.param(
-                "This is a born-digital PDF with lots of text content. " * 10,
-                False,
-                id="born-digital-long-text-skips-archive",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(None, True, id="no-text-scanned-produces-archive"),
-            pytest.param("tiny", True, id="short-text-treated-as-scanned"),
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_auto_pdf_archive_decision(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        settings,
-        extracted_text: str | None,
-        expected: bool,  # noqa: FBT001
-    ) -> None:
-        settings.ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION = "auto"
-        mocker.patch("documents.consumer.is_tagged_pdf", return_value=False)
-        mocker.patch("documents.consumer.extract_pdf_text", return_value=extracted_text)
-        parser = _parser_instance(can_produce=True, requires_rendition=False)
-        assert (
-            should_produce_archive(parser, "application/pdf", Path("/tmp/doc.pdf"))
-            is expected
-        )
-
-    def test_tagged_pdf_skips_archive_in_auto_mode(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        settings,
-    ) -> None:
-        """Tagged PDFs (e.g. Word exports) are treated as born-digital regardless of text length."""
-        settings.ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION = "auto"
-        mocker.patch("documents.consumer.is_tagged_pdf", return_value=True)
-        parser = _parser_instance(can_produce=True, requires_rendition=False)
-        assert (
-            should_produce_archive(parser, "application/pdf", Path("/tmp/doc.pdf"))
-            is False
-        )
-
-    def test_tagged_pdf_does_not_call_pdftotext(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        settings,
-    ) -> None:
-        """When a PDF is tagged, pdftotext is not invoked (fast path)."""
-        settings.ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION = "auto"
-        mocker.patch("documents.consumer.is_tagged_pdf", return_value=True)
-        mock_extract = mocker.patch("documents.consumer.extract_pdf_text")
-        parser = _parser_instance(can_produce=True, requires_rendition=False)
-        should_produce_archive(parser, "application/pdf", Path("/tmp/doc.pdf"))
-        mock_extract.assert_not_called()

src/documents/tests/test_management.py

@@ -27,10 +27,7 @@ sample_file: Path = Path(__file__).parent / "samples" / "simple.pdf"
 
 
 @pytest.mark.management
-@override_settings(
-    FILENAME_FORMAT="{correspondent}/{title}",
-    ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always",
-)
+@override_settings(FILENAME_FORMAT="{correspondent}/{title}")
 class TestArchiver(DirectoriesMixin, FileSystemAssertsMixin, TestCase):
     def make_models(self):
         return Document.objects.create(

src/documents/tests/test_tasks.py

@@ -232,7 +232,6 @@ class TestEmptyTrashTask(DirectoriesMixin, FileSystemAssertsMixin, TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(Document.global_objects.count(), 0)
 
 
-@override_settings(ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always")
 class TestUpdateContent(DirectoriesMixin, TestCase):
     def test_update_content_maybe_archive_file(self) -> None:
         """

src/paperless/checks.py

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import shutil
 import stat
 import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.checks import Error
@@ -23,7 +22,7 @@ writeable_hint = (
 )
 
 
-def path_check(var: str, directory: Path) -> list[Error]:
+def path_check(var, directory: Path) -> list[Error]:
     messages: list[Error] = []
     if directory:
         if not directory.is_dir():
@@ -60,7 +59,7 @@ def path_check(var: str, directory: Path) -> list[Error]:
 
 
 @register()
-def paths_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
+def paths_check(app_configs, **kwargs) -> list[Error]:
     """
     Check the various paths for existence, readability and writeability
     """
@@ -74,7 +73,7 @@ def paths_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
 
 
 @register()
-def binaries_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
+def binaries_check(app_configs, **kwargs):
     """
     Paperless requires the existence of a few binaries, so we do some checks
     for those here.
@@ -94,7 +93,7 @@ def binaries_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
 
 
 @register()
-def debug_mode_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Warning]:
+def debug_mode_check(app_configs, **kwargs):
     if settings.DEBUG:
         return [
             Warning(
@@ -110,7 +109,7 @@ def debug_mode_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Warning]:
 
 
 @register()
-def settings_values_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error | Warning]:
+def settings_values_check(app_configs, **kwargs):
     """
     Validates at least some of the user provided settings
     """
@@ -133,14 +132,23 @@ def settings_values_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error | Warni
                 Error(f'OCR output type "{settings.OCR_OUTPUT_TYPE}" is not valid'),
             )
 
-        if settings.OCR_MODE not in {"auto", "force", "redo", "off"}:
+        if settings.OCR_MODE not in {"force", "skip", "redo", "skip_noarchive"}:
             msgs.append(Error(f'OCR output mode "{settings.OCR_MODE}" is not valid'))
 
-        if settings.ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION not in {"auto", "always", "never"}:
+        if settings.OCR_MODE == "skip_noarchive":
+            msgs.append(
+                Warning(
+                    'OCR output mode "skip_noarchive" is deprecated and will be '
+                    "removed in a future version. Please use "
+                    "PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE instead.",
+                ),
+            )
+
+        if settings.OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE not in {"never", "with_text", "always"}:
             msgs.append(
                 Error(
-                    "PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION setting "
-                    f'"{settings.ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION}" is not valid',
+                    "OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE setting "
+                    f'"{settings.OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE}" is not valid',
                 ),
             )
 
@@ -183,7 +191,7 @@ def settings_values_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error | Warni
 
 
 @register()
-def audit_log_check(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
+def audit_log_check(app_configs, **kwargs):
     db_conn = connections["default"]
     all_tables = db_conn.introspection.table_names()
     result = []
@@ -295,42 +303,7 @@ def check_deprecated_db_settings(
 
 
 @register()
-def check_deprecated_v2_ocr_env_vars(
-    app_configs: object,
-    **kwargs: object,
-) -> list[Warning]:
-    """Warn when deprecated v2 OCR environment variables are set.
-
-    Users upgrading from v2 may still have these in their environment or
-    config files, where they are now silently ignored.
-    """
-    warnings: list[Warning] = []
-
-    if os.environ.get("PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE"):
-        warnings.append(
-            Warning(
-                "PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE is set but has no effect. "
-                "Use PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never/always/auto instead.",
-                id="paperless.W002",
-            ),
-        )
-
-    ocr_mode = os.environ.get("PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE", "")
-    if ocr_mode in {"skip", "skip_noarchive"}:
-        warnings.append(
-            Warning(
-                f"PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE={ocr_mode!r} is not a valid value. "
-                f"Use PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE=auto (and PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION=never "
-                f"if you used skip_noarchive) instead.",
-                id="paperless.W003",
-            ),
-        )
-
-    return warnings
-
-
-@register()
-def check_remote_parser_configured(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
+def check_remote_parser_configured(app_configs, **kwargs) -> list[Error]:
     if settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE == "azureai" and not (
         settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT and settings.REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY
     ):
@@ -356,7 +329,7 @@ def get_tesseract_langs():
 
 
 @register()
-def check_default_language_available(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
+def check_default_language_available(app_configs, **kwargs):
     errs = []
 
     if not settings.OCR_LANGUAGE:

src/paperless/config.py

@@ -4,11 +4,6 @@ import json
 from django.conf import settings
 
 from paperless.models import ApplicationConfiguration
-from paperless.models import ArchiveFileGenerationChoices
-from paperless.models import CleanChoices
-from paperless.models import ColorConvertChoices
-from paperless.models import ModeChoices
-from paperless.models import OutputTypeChoices
 
 
 @dataclasses.dataclass
@@ -33,7 +28,7 @@ class OutputTypeConfig(BaseConfig):
     Almost all parsers care about the chosen PDF output format
     """
 
-    output_type: OutputTypeChoices = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+    output_type: str = dataclasses.field(init=False)
 
     def __post_init__(self) -> None:
         app_config = self._get_config_instance()
@@ -50,17 +45,15 @@ class OcrConfig(OutputTypeConfig):
 
     pages: int | None = dataclasses.field(init=False)
     language: str = dataclasses.field(init=False)
-    mode: ModeChoices = dataclasses.field(init=False)
-    archive_file_generation: ArchiveFileGenerationChoices = dataclasses.field(
-        init=False,
-    )
+    mode: str = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+    skip_archive_file: str = dataclasses.field(init=False)
     image_dpi: int | None = dataclasses.field(init=False)
-    clean: CleanChoices = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+    clean: str = dataclasses.field(init=False)
     deskew: bool = dataclasses.field(init=False)
     rotate: bool = dataclasses.field(init=False)
     rotate_threshold: float = dataclasses.field(init=False)
     max_image_pixel: float | None = dataclasses.field(init=False)
-    color_conversion_strategy: ColorConvertChoices = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+    color_conversion_strategy: str = dataclasses.field(init=False)
     user_args: dict[str, str] | None = dataclasses.field(init=False)
 
     def __post_init__(self) -> None:
@@ -71,8 +64,8 @@ class OcrConfig(OutputTypeConfig):
         self.pages = app_config.pages or settings.OCR_PAGES
         self.language = app_config.language or settings.OCR_LANGUAGE
         self.mode = app_config.mode or settings.OCR_MODE
-        self.archive_file_generation = (
-            app_config.archive_file_generation or settings.ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION
+        self.skip_archive_file = (
+            app_config.skip_archive_file or settings.OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE
         )
         self.image_dpi = app_config.image_dpi or settings.OCR_IMAGE_DPI
         self.clean = app_config.unpaper_clean or settings.OCR_CLEAN

src/paperless/migrations/0008_replace_skip_archive_file.py

@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-# Generated by Django 5.2.12 on 2026-03-26 20:31
-
-from django.db import migrations
-from django.db import models
-
-
-class Migration(migrations.Migration):
-    dependencies = [
-        ("paperless", "0007_optimize_integer_field_sizes"),
-    ]
-
-    operations = [
-        migrations.RemoveField(
-            model_name="applicationconfiguration",
-            name="skip_archive_file",
-        ),
-        migrations.AddField(
-            model_name="applicationconfiguration",
-            name="archive_file_generation",
-            field=models.CharField(
-                blank=True,
-                choices=[("auto", "auto"), ("always", "always"), ("never", "never")],
-                max_length=8,
-                null=True,
-                verbose_name="Controls archive file generation",
-            ),
-        ),
-        migrations.AlterField(
-            model_name="applicationconfiguration",
-            name="mode",
-            field=models.CharField(
-                blank=True,
-                choices=[
-                    ("auto", "auto"),
-                    ("force", "force"),
-                    ("redo", "redo"),
-                    ("off", "off"),
-                ],
-                max_length=16,
-                null=True,
-                verbose_name="Sets the OCR mode",
-            ),
-        ),
-    ]

src/paperless/models.py

@@ -36,20 +36,20 @@ class ModeChoices(models.TextChoices):
     and our own custom setting
     """
 
-    AUTO = ("auto", _("auto"))
-    FORCE = ("force", _("force"))
+    SKIP = ("skip", _("skip"))
     REDO = ("redo", _("redo"))
-    OFF = ("off", _("off"))
+    FORCE = ("force", _("force"))
+    SKIP_NO_ARCHIVE = ("skip_noarchive", _("skip_noarchive"))
 
 
-class ArchiveFileGenerationChoices(models.TextChoices):
+class ArchiveFileChoices(models.TextChoices):
     """
     Settings to control creation of an archive PDF file
     """
 
-    AUTO = ("auto", _("auto"))
-    ALWAYS = ("always", _("always"))
     NEVER = ("never", _("never"))
+    WITH_TEXT = ("with_text", _("with_text"))
+    ALWAYS = ("always", _("always"))
 
 
 class CleanChoices(models.TextChoices):
@@ -126,12 +126,12 @@ class ApplicationConfiguration(AbstractSingletonModel):
         choices=ModeChoices.choices,
     )
 
-    archive_file_generation = models.CharField(
-        verbose_name=_("Controls archive file generation"),
+    skip_archive_file = models.CharField(
+        verbose_name=_("Controls the generation of an archive file"),
         null=True,
         blank=True,
-        max_length=8,
-        choices=ArchiveFileGenerationChoices.choices,
+        max_length=16,
+        choices=ArchiveFileChoices.choices,
     )
 
     image_dpi = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(

src/paperless/parsers/tesseract.py

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-import importlib.resources
 import logging
 import os
 import re
@@ -9,8 +8,6 @@ import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 from typing import Any
-from typing import Final
-from typing import NoReturn
 from typing import Self
 
 from django.conf import settings
@@ -21,11 +18,9 @@ from documents.parsers import make_thumbnail_from_pdf
 from documents.utils import maybe_override_pixel_limit
 from documents.utils import run_subprocess
 from paperless.config import OcrConfig
+from paperless.models import ArchiveFileChoices
 from paperless.models import CleanChoices
 from paperless.models import ModeChoices
-from paperless.parsers.utils import PDF_TEXT_MIN_LENGTH
-from paperless.parsers.utils import extract_pdf_text
-from paperless.parsers.utils import is_tagged_pdf
 from paperless.parsers.utils import read_file_handle_unicode_errors
 from paperless.version import __full_version_str__
 
@@ -38,11 +33,7 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("paperless.parsing.tesseract")
 
-_SRGB_ICC_DATA: Final[bytes] = (
-    importlib.resources.files("ocrmypdf.data").joinpath("sRGB.icc").read_bytes()
-)
-
-_SUPPORTED_MIME_TYPES: Final[dict[str, str]] = {
+_SUPPORTED_MIME_TYPES: dict[str, str] = {
     "application/pdf": ".pdf",
     "image/jpeg": ".jpg",
     "image/png": ".png",
@@ -108,7 +99,7 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
     # Lifecycle
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-    def __init__(self, logging_group: object | None = None) -> None:
+    def __init__(self, logging_group: object = None) -> None:
         settings.SCRATCH_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         self.tempdir = Path(
             tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="paperless-", dir=settings.SCRATCH_DIR),
@@ -242,7 +233,7 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
         if (
             sidecar_file is not None
             and sidecar_file.is_file()
-            and self.settings.mode != ModeChoices.REDO
+            and self.settings.mode != "redo"
         ):
             text = read_file_handle_unicode_errors(sidecar_file)
 
@@ -259,7 +250,36 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
         if not Path(pdf_file).is_file():
             return None
 
-        return post_process_text(extract_pdf_text(Path(pdf_file), log=self.log))
+        try:
+            text = None
+            with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(
+                mode="w+",
+                dir=self.tempdir,
+            ) as tmp:
+                run_subprocess(
+                    [
+                        "pdftotext",
+                        "-q",
+                        "-layout",
+                        "-enc",
+                        "UTF-8",
+                        str(pdf_file),
+                        tmp.name,
+                    ],
+                    logger=self.log,
+                )
+                text = read_file_handle_unicode_errors(Path(tmp.name))
+
+            return post_process_text(text)
+
+        except Exception:
+            #  If pdftotext fails, fall back to OCR.
+            self.log.warning(
+                "Error while getting text from PDF document with pdftotext",
+                exc_info=True,
+            )
+            # probably not a PDF file.
+            return None
 
     def construct_ocrmypdf_parameters(
         self,
@@ -269,7 +289,6 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
         sidecar_file: Path,
         *,
         safe_fallback: bool = False,
-        skip_text: bool = False,
     ) -> dict[str, Any]:
         ocrmypdf_args: dict[str, Any] = {
             "input_file_or_options": input_file,
@@ -288,14 +307,15 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
                 self.settings.color_conversion_strategy
             )
 
-        if safe_fallback or self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.FORCE:
+        if self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.FORCE or safe_fallback:
             ocrmypdf_args["force_ocr"] = True
+        elif self.settings.mode in {
+            ModeChoices.SKIP,
+            ModeChoices.SKIP_NO_ARCHIVE,
+        }:
+            ocrmypdf_args["skip_text"] = True
         elif self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.REDO:
             ocrmypdf_args["redo_ocr"] = True
-        elif skip_text or self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.OFF:
-            ocrmypdf_args["skip_text"] = True
-        elif self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.AUTO:
-            pass  # no extra flag: normal OCR (text not found case)
         else:  # pragma: no cover
             raise ParseError(f"Invalid ocr mode: {self.settings.mode}")
 
@@ -380,74 +400,6 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
 
         return ocrmypdf_args
 
-    def _convert_image_to_pdfa(self, document_path: Path) -> Path:
-        """Convert an image to a PDF/A-2b file without invoking the OCR engine.
-
-        Uses img2pdf for the initial image->PDF wrapping, then pikepdf to stamp
-        PDF/A-2b conformance metadata.
-
-        No Tesseract and no Ghostscript are invoked.
-        """
-        import img2pdf
-        import pikepdf
-
-        plain_pdf_path = Path(self.tempdir) / "image_plain.pdf"
-        try:
-            layout_fun = None
-            if self.settings.image_dpi is not None:
-                layout_fun = img2pdf.get_fixed_dpi_layout_fun(
-                    (self.settings.image_dpi, self.settings.image_dpi),
-                )
-            plain_pdf_path.write_bytes(
-                img2pdf.convert(str(document_path), layout_fun=layout_fun),
-            )
-        except Exception as e:
-            raise ParseError(
-                f"img2pdf conversion failed for {document_path}: {e!s}",
-            ) from e
-
-        pdfa_path = Path(self.tempdir) / "archive.pdf"
-        try:
-            with pikepdf.open(plain_pdf_path) as pdf:
-                cs = pdf.make_stream(_SRGB_ICC_DATA)
-                cs["/N"] = 3
-                output_intent = pikepdf.Dictionary(
-                    Type=pikepdf.Name("/OutputIntent"),
-                    S=pikepdf.Name("/GTS_PDFA1"),
-                    OutputConditionIdentifier=pikepdf.String("sRGB"),
-                    DestOutputProfile=cs,
-                )
-                pdf.Root["/OutputIntents"] = pdf.make_indirect(
-                    pikepdf.Array([output_intent]),
-                )
-                meta = pdf.open_metadata(set_pikepdf_as_editor=False)
-                meta["pdfaid:part"] = "2"
-                meta["pdfaid:conformance"] = "B"
-                pdf.save(pdfa_path)
-        except Exception as e:
-            self.log.warning(
-                f"PDF/A metadata stamping failed ({e!s}); falling back to plain PDF.",
-            )
-            pdfa_path.write_bytes(plain_pdf_path.read_bytes())
-
-        return pdfa_path
-
-    def _handle_subprocess_output_error(self, e: Exception) -> NoReturn:
-        """Log context for Ghostscript failures and raise ParseError.
-
-        Called from the SubprocessOutputError handlers in parse() to avoid
-        duplicating the Ghostscript hint and re-raise logic.
-        """
-        if "Ghostscript PDF/A rendering" in str(e):
-            self.log.warning(
-                "Ghostscript PDF/A rendering failed, consider setting "
-                "PAPERLESS_OCR_USER_ARGS: "
-                "'{\"continue_on_soft_render_error\": true}'",
-            )
-        raise ParseError(
-            f"SubprocessOutputError: {e!s}. See logs for more information.",
-        ) from e
-
     def parse(
         self,
         document_path: Path,
@@ -457,94 +409,57 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
     ) -> None:
         # This forces tesseract to use one core per page.
         os.environ["OMP_THREAD_LIMIT"] = "1"
+        VALID_TEXT_LENGTH = 50
+
+        if mime_type == "application/pdf":
+            text_original = self.extract_text(None, document_path)
+            original_has_text = (
+                text_original is not None and len(text_original) > VALID_TEXT_LENGTH
+            )
+        else:
+            text_original = None
+            original_has_text = False
+
+        # If the original has text, and the user doesn't want an archive,
+        # we're done here
+        skip_archive_for_text = (
+            self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.SKIP_NO_ARCHIVE
+            or self.settings.skip_archive_file
+            in {
+                ArchiveFileChoices.WITH_TEXT,
+                ArchiveFileChoices.ALWAYS,
+            }
+        )
+        if skip_archive_for_text and original_has_text:
+            self.log.debug("Document has text, skipping OCRmyPDF entirely.")
+            self.text = text_original
+            return
+
+        # Either no text was in the original or there should be an archive
+        # file created, so OCR the file and create an archive with any
+        # text located via OCR
 
         import ocrmypdf
         from ocrmypdf import EncryptedPdfError
         from ocrmypdf import InputFileError
         from ocrmypdf import SubprocessOutputError
         from ocrmypdf.exceptions import DigitalSignatureError
-        from ocrmypdf.exceptions import PriorOcrFoundError
 
-        if mime_type == "application/pdf":
-            text_original = self.extract_text(None, document_path)
-            original_has_text = is_tagged_pdf(document_path, log=self.log) or (
-                text_original is not None and len(text_original) > PDF_TEXT_MIN_LENGTH
-            )
-        else:
-            text_original = None
-            original_has_text = False
-
-        # --- OCR_MODE=off: never invoke OCR engine ---
-        if self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.OFF:
-            if not produce_archive:
-                self.text = text_original or ""
-                return
-            if self.is_image(mime_type):
-                try:
-                    self.archive_path = self._convert_image_to_pdfa(
-                        document_path,
-                    )
-                    self.text = ""
-                except Exception as e:
-                    raise ParseError(
-                        f"Image to PDF/A conversion failed: {e!s}",
-                    ) from e
-                return
-            # PDFs in off mode: PDF/A conversion only via skip_text
-            archive_path = Path(self.tempdir) / "archive.pdf"
-            sidecar_file = Path(self.tempdir) / "sidecar.txt"
-            args = self.construct_ocrmypdf_parameters(
-                document_path,
-                mime_type,
-                archive_path,
-                sidecar_file,
-                skip_text=True,
-            )
-            try:
-                self.log.debug(
-                    f"Calling OCRmyPDF (off mode, PDF/A conversion only): {args}",
-                )
-                ocrmypdf.ocr(**args)
-                self.archive_path = archive_path
-                self.text = self.extract_text(None, archive_path) or text_original or ""
-            except SubprocessOutputError as e:
-                self._handle_subprocess_output_error(e)
-            except Exception as e:
-                raise ParseError(f"{e.__class__.__name__}: {e!s}") from e
-            return
-
-        # --- OCR_MODE=auto: skip ocrmypdf entirely if text exists and no archive needed ---
-        if (
-            self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.AUTO
-            and original_has_text
-            and not produce_archive
-        ):
-            self.log.debug(
-                "Document has text and no archive requested; skipping OCRmyPDF entirely.",
-            )
-            self.text = text_original
-            return
-
-        # --- All other paths: run ocrmypdf ---
         archive_path = Path(self.tempdir) / "archive.pdf"
         sidecar_file = Path(self.tempdir) / "sidecar.txt"
 
-        # auto mode with existing text: PDF/A conversion only (no OCR).
-        skip_text = self.settings.mode == ModeChoices.AUTO and original_has_text
-
         args = self.construct_ocrmypdf_parameters(
             document_path,
             mime_type,
             archive_path,
             sidecar_file,
-            skip_text=skip_text,
         )
 
         try:
             self.log.debug(f"Calling OCRmyPDF with args: {args}")
             ocrmypdf.ocr(**args)
 
-            if produce_archive:
+            if self.settings.skip_archive_file != ArchiveFileChoices.ALWAYS:
                 self.archive_path = archive_path
 
             self.text = self.extract_text(sidecar_file, archive_path)
@@ -559,8 +474,16 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
             if original_has_text:
                 self.text = text_original
         except SubprocessOutputError as e:
-            self._handle_subprocess_output_error(e)
-        except (NoTextFoundException, InputFileError, PriorOcrFoundError) as e:
+            if "Ghostscript PDF/A rendering" in str(e):
+                self.log.warning(
+                    "Ghostscript PDF/A rendering failed, consider setting "
+                    "PAPERLESS_OCR_USER_ARGS: '{\"continue_on_soft_render_error\": true}'",
+                )
+
+            raise ParseError(
+                f"SubprocessOutputError: {e!s}. See logs for more information.",
+            ) from e
+        except (NoTextFoundException, InputFileError) as e:
             self.log.warning(
                 f"Encountered an error while running OCR: {e!s}. "
                 f"Attempting force OCR to get the text.",
@@ -569,6 +492,8 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
             archive_path_fallback = Path(self.tempdir) / "archive-fallback.pdf"
             sidecar_file_fallback = Path(self.tempdir) / "sidecar-fallback.txt"
 
+            # Attempt to run OCR with safe settings.
+
             args = self.construct_ocrmypdf_parameters(
                 document_path,
                 mime_type,
@@ -580,18 +505,25 @@ class RasterisedDocumentParser:
             try:
                 self.log.debug(f"Fallback: Calling OCRmyPDF with args: {args}")
                 ocrmypdf.ocr(**args)
+
+                # Don't return the archived file here, since this file
+                # is bigger and blurry due to --force-ocr.
+
                 self.text = self.extract_text(
                     sidecar_file_fallback,
                     archive_path_fallback,
                 )
-                if produce_archive:
-                    self.archive_path = archive_path_fallback
+
             except Exception as e:
+                # If this fails, we have a serious issue at hand.
                 raise ParseError(f"{e.__class__.__name__}: {e!s}") from e
 
         except Exception as e:
+            # Anything else is probably serious.
             raise ParseError(f"{e.__class__.__name__}: {e!s}") from e
 
+        # As a last resort, if we still don't have any text for any reason,
+        # try to extract the text from the original document.
         if not self.text:
             if original_has_text:
                 self.text = text_original

src/paperless/parsers/utils.py

@@ -10,105 +10,15 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import logging
 import re
-import tempfile
-from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
-from typing import Final
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from pathlib import Path
+
     from paperless.parsers import MetadataEntry
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("paperless.parsers.utils")
 
-# Minimum character count for a PDF to be considered "born-digital" (has real text).
-# Used by both the consumer (archive decision) and the tesseract parser (skip-OCR decision).
-PDF_TEXT_MIN_LENGTH: Final[int] = 50
-
-
-def is_tagged_pdf(
-    path: Path,
-    log: logging.Logger | None = None,
-) -> bool:
-    """Return True if the PDF declares itself as tagged (born-digital indicator).
-
-    Tagged PDFs (e.g. exported from Word or LibreOffice) have ``/MarkInfo``
-    with ``/Marked true`` in the document root.  This is a reliable signal
-    that the document has a logical structure and embedded text — running OCR
-    on it is unnecessary and archive generation can be skipped.
-
-    https://github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF/blob/4e974ebd465a5921b2e79004f098f5d203010282/src/ocrmypdf/pdfinfo/info.py#L449
-
-    Parameters
-    ----------
-    path:
-        Absolute path to the PDF file.
-    log:
-        Logger for warnings.  Falls back to the module-level logger when omitted.
-
-    Returns
-    -------
-    bool
-        ``True`` when the PDF is tagged, ``False`` otherwise or on any error.
-    """
-    import pikepdf
-
-    _log = log or logger
-    try:
-        with pikepdf.open(path) as pdf:
-            mark_info = pdf.Root.get("/MarkInfo")
-            if mark_info is None:
-                return False
-            return bool(mark_info.get("/Marked", False))
-    except Exception:
-        _log.warning("Could not check PDF tag status for %s", path, exc_info=True)
-        return False
-
-
-def extract_pdf_text(
-    path: Path,
-    log: logging.Logger | None = None,
-) -> str | None:
-    """Run pdftotext on *path* and return the extracted text, or None on failure.
-
-    Parameters
-    ----------
-    path:
-        Absolute path to the PDF file.
-    log:
-        Logger for warnings.  Falls back to the module-level logger when omitted.
-
-    Returns
-    -------
-    str | None
-        Extracted text, or ``None`` if pdftotext fails or the file is not a PDF.
-    """
-    from documents.utils import run_subprocess
-
-    _log = log or logger
-    try:
-        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
-            out_path = Path(tmpdir) / "text.txt"
-            run_subprocess(
-                [
-                    "pdftotext",
-                    "-q",
-                    "-layout",
-                    "-enc",
-                    "UTF-8",
-                    str(path),
-                    str(out_path),
-                ],
-                logger=_log,
-            )
-            text = read_file_handle_unicode_errors(out_path, log=_log)
-            return text or None
-    except Exception:
-        _log.warning(
-            "Error while getting text from PDF document with pdftotext",
-            exc_info=True,
-        )
-        return None
-
 
 def read_file_handle_unicode_errors(
     filepath: Path,

src/paperless/settings/__init__.py

@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ from paperless.settings.custom import parse_hosting_settings
 from paperless.settings.custom import parse_ignore_dates
 from paperless.settings.custom import parse_redis_url
 from paperless.settings.parsers import get_bool_from_env
-from paperless.settings.parsers import get_choice_from_env
 from paperless.settings.parsers import get_float_from_env
 from paperless.settings.parsers import get_int_from_env
 from paperless.settings.parsers import get_list_from_env
@@ -875,17 +874,10 @@ OCR_LANGUAGE = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE", "eng")
 # OCRmyPDF --output-type options are available.
 OCR_OUTPUT_TYPE = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_OCR_OUTPUT_TYPE", "pdfa")
 
-OCR_MODE = get_choice_from_env(
-    "PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE",
-    {"auto", "force", "redo", "off"},
-    default="auto",
-)
+# skip. redo, force
+OCR_MODE = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE", "skip")
 
-ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION = get_choice_from_env(
-    "PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION",
-    {"auto", "always", "never"},
-    default="auto",
-)
+OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE", "never")
 
 OCR_IMAGE_DPI = get_int_from_env("PAPERLESS_OCR_IMAGE_DPI")
 

src/paperless/tests/parsers/conftest.py

@@ -708,7 +708,7 @@ def null_app_config(mocker: MockerFixture) -> MagicMock:
         pages=None,
         language=None,
         mode=None,
-        archive_file_generation=None,
+        skip_archive_file=None,
         image_dpi=None,
         unpaper_clean=None,
         deskew=None,

src/paperless/tests/parsers/test_parse_modes.py

@@ -1,436 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Focused tests for RasterisedDocumentParser.parse() mode behaviour.
-
-These tests mock ``ocrmypdf.ocr`` so they run without a real Tesseract/OCRmyPDF
-installation and execute quickly.  The intent is to verify the *control flow*
-introduced by the ``produce_archive`` flag and the ``OCR_MODE=auto/off`` logic,
-not to test OCRmyPDF itself.
-
-Fixtures are pulled from conftest.py in this package.
-"""
-
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
-
-import pytest
-
-if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from pytest_mock import MockerFixture
-
-    from paperless.parsers.tesseract import RasterisedDocumentParser
-
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Helpers
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-_LONG_TEXT = "This is a test document with enough text. " * 5  # >50 chars
-_SHORT_TEXT = "Hi."  # <50 chars
-
-
-def _make_extract_text(text: str | None):
-    """Return a side_effect function for ``extract_text`` that returns *text*."""
-
-    def _extract(sidecar_file, pdf_file):
-        return text
-
-    return _extract
-
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# AUTO mode — PDF with sufficient text layer
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-class TestAutoModeWithText:
-    """AUTO mode, original PDF has detectable text (>50 chars)."""
-
-    def test_auto_text_no_archive_skips_ocrmypdf(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        simple_digital_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - AUTO mode, produce_archive=False
-            - PDF with text > VALID_TEXT_LENGTH
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf.ocr is NOT called (early return path)
-            - archive_path remains None
-            - text is set from the original
-        """
-        # Patch extract_text to return long text (simulating detectable text layer)
-        mocker.patch.object(
-            tesseract_parser,
-            "extract_text",
-            return_value=_LONG_TEXT,
-        )
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            simple_digital_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
-        )
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_not_called()
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
-        assert tesseract_parser.get_text() == _LONG_TEXT
-
-    def test_auto_text_with_archive_calls_ocrmypdf_skip_text(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        simple_digital_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - AUTO mode, produce_archive=True
-            - PDF with text > VALID_TEXT_LENGTH
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf.ocr IS called with skip_text=True
-            - archive_path is set
-        """
-        mocker.patch.object(
-            tesseract_parser,
-            "extract_text",
-            return_value=_LONG_TEXT,
-        )
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            simple_digital_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=True,
-        )
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_called_once()
-        call_kwargs = mock_ocr.call_args.kwargs
-        assert call_kwargs.get("skip_text") is True
-        assert "force_ocr" not in call_kwargs
-        assert "redo_ocr" not in call_kwargs
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is not None
-
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# AUTO mode — PDF without text layer (or too short)
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-class TestAutoModeNoText:
-    """AUTO mode, original PDF has no detectable text (<= 50 chars)."""
-
-    def test_auto_no_text_with_archive_calls_ocrmypdf_no_extra_flag(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        multi_page_images_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - AUTO mode, produce_archive=True
-            - PDF with no text (or text <= VALID_TEXT_LENGTH)
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf.ocr IS called WITHOUT skip_text/force_ocr/redo_ocr
-            - archive_path is set (since produce_archive=True)
-        """
-        # Return "no text" for the original; return real text for archive
-        extract_call_count = 0
-
-        def _extract_side(sidecar_file, pdf_file):
-            nonlocal extract_call_count
-            extract_call_count += 1
-            if extract_call_count == 1:
-                return None  # original has no text
-            return _LONG_TEXT  # text from archive after OCR
-
-        mocker.patch.object(tesseract_parser, "extract_text", side_effect=_extract_side)
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            multi_page_images_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=True,
-        )
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_called_once()
-        call_kwargs = mock_ocr.call_args.kwargs
-        assert "skip_text" not in call_kwargs
-        assert "force_ocr" not in call_kwargs
-        assert "redo_ocr" not in call_kwargs
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is not None
-
-    def test_auto_no_text_no_archive_calls_ocrmypdf(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        multi_page_images_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - AUTO mode, produce_archive=False
-            - PDF with no text
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf.ocr IS called (no early return since no text detected)
-            - archive_path is NOT set (produce_archive=False)
-        """
-        extract_call_count = 0
-
-        def _extract_side(sidecar_file, pdf_file):
-            nonlocal extract_call_count
-            extract_call_count += 1
-            if extract_call_count == 1:
-                return None
-            return _LONG_TEXT
-
-        mocker.patch.object(tesseract_parser, "extract_text", side_effect=_extract_side)
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            multi_page_images_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
-        )
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_called_once()
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
-
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# OFF mode — PDF
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-class TestOffModePdf:
-    """OCR_MODE=off, document is a PDF."""
-
-    def test_off_no_archive_returns_pdftotext(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        simple_digital_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - OFF mode, produce_archive=False
-            - PDF with text
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf.ocr is NOT called
-            - archive_path is None
-            - text comes from pdftotext (extract_text)
-        """
-        mocker.patch.object(
-            tesseract_parser,
-            "extract_text",
-            return_value=_LONG_TEXT,
-        )
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "off"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            simple_digital_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
-        )
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_not_called()
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
-        assert tesseract_parser.get_text() == _LONG_TEXT
-
-    def test_off_with_archive_calls_ocrmypdf_skip_text(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        simple_digital_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - OFF mode, produce_archive=True
-            - PDF document
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf.ocr IS called with skip_text=True (PDF/A conversion only)
-            - archive_path is set
-        """
-        mocker.patch.object(
-            tesseract_parser,
-            "extract_text",
-            return_value=_LONG_TEXT,
-        )
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "off"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            simple_digital_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=True,
-        )
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_called_once()
-        call_kwargs = mock_ocr.call_args.kwargs
-        assert call_kwargs.get("skip_text") is True
-        assert "force_ocr" not in call_kwargs
-        assert "redo_ocr" not in call_kwargs
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is not None
-
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# OFF mode — image
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-class TestOffModeImage:
-    """OCR_MODE=off, document is an image (PNG)."""
-
-    def test_off_image_no_archive_no_ocrmypdf(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        simple_png_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - OFF mode, produce_archive=False
-            - Image document (PNG)
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf.ocr is NOT called
-            - archive_path is None
-            - text is empty string (images have no text layer)
-        """
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "off"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(simple_png_file, "image/png", produce_archive=False)
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_not_called()
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
-        assert tesseract_parser.get_text() == ""
-
-    def test_off_image_with_archive_uses_img2pdf_path(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        simple_png_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - OFF mode, produce_archive=True
-            - Image document (PNG)
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - _convert_image_to_pdfa() is called instead of ocrmypdf.ocr
-            - archive_path is set to the returned path
-            - text is empty string
-        """
-        fake_archive = Path("/tmp/fake-archive.pdf")
-        mock_convert = mocker.patch.object(
-            tesseract_parser,
-            "_convert_image_to_pdfa",
-            return_value=fake_archive,
-        )
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "off"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(simple_png_file, "image/png", produce_archive=True)
-
-        mock_convert.assert_called_once_with(simple_png_file)
-        mock_ocr.assert_not_called()
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path == fake_archive
-        assert tesseract_parser.get_text() == ""
-
-
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# produce_archive=False never sets archive_path for FORCE / REDO / AUTO modes
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-class TestProduceArchiveFalse:
-    """Verify produce_archive=False never results in an archive regardless of mode."""
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize("mode", ["force", "redo"])
-    def test_produce_archive_false_force_redo_modes(
-        self,
-        mode: str,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        multi_page_images_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - FORCE or REDO mode, produce_archive=False
-            - Any PDF
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called (ocrmypdf mocked to succeed)
-        THEN:
-            - archive_path is NOT set even though ocrmypdf ran
-        """
-        mocker.patch.object(
-            tesseract_parser,
-            "extract_text",
-            return_value=_LONG_TEXT,
-        )
-        mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = mode
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            multi_page_images_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
-        )
-
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
-        assert tesseract_parser.get_text() is not None
-
-    def test_produce_archive_false_auto_with_text(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        simple_digital_pdf_file: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - AUTO mode, produce_archive=False
-            - PDF with text > VALID_TEXT_LENGTH
-        WHEN:
-            - parse() is called
-        THEN:
-            - ocrmypdf is skipped entirely (early return)
-            - archive_path is None
-        """
-        mocker.patch.object(
-            tesseract_parser,
-            "extract_text",
-            return_value=_LONG_TEXT,
-        )
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            simple_digital_pdf_file,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
-        )
-
-        mock_ocr.assert_not_called()
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None

src/paperless/tests/parsers/test_tesseract_custom_settings.py

@@ -89,35 +89,15 @@ class TestParserSettingsFromDb(DirectoriesMixin, FileSystemAssertsMixin, TestCas
         WHEN:
             - OCR parameters are constructed
         THEN:
-            - Configuration from database is utilized (AUTO mode with skip_text=True
-              triggers skip_text; AUTO mode alone does not add any extra flag)
+            - Configuration from database is utilized
         """
-        # AUTO mode with skip_text=True explicitly passed: skip_text is set
         with override_settings(OCR_MODE="redo"):
             instance = ApplicationConfiguration.objects.all().first()
-            instance.mode = ModeChoices.AUTO
-            instance.save()
-
-            params = RasterisedDocumentParser(None).construct_ocrmypdf_parameters(
-                input_file="input.pdf",
-                output_file="output.pdf",
-                sidecar_file="sidecar.txt",
-                mime_type="application/pdf",
-                safe_fallback=False,
-                skip_text=True,
-            )
-        self.assertTrue(params["skip_text"])
-        self.assertNotIn("redo_ocr", params)
-        self.assertNotIn("force_ocr", params)
-
-        # AUTO mode alone (no skip_text): no extra OCR flag is set
-        with override_settings(OCR_MODE="redo"):
-            instance = ApplicationConfiguration.objects.all().first()
-            instance.mode = ModeChoices.AUTO
+            instance.mode = ModeChoices.SKIP
             instance.save()
 
             params = self.get_params()
-        self.assertNotIn("skip_text", params)
+        self.assertTrue(params["skip_text"])
         self.assertNotIn("redo_ocr", params)
         self.assertNotIn("force_ocr", params)
 

src/paperless/tests/parsers/test_tesseract_parser.py

@@ -370,26 +370,15 @@ class TestParsePdf:
         tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
         tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
     ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - Multi-page digital PDF with sufficient text layer
-            - Default settings (mode=auto, produce_archive=True)
-        WHEN:
-            - Document is parsed
-        THEN:
-            - Archive is created (AUTO mode + text present + produce_archive=True
-              → PDF/A conversion via skip_text)
-            - Text is extracted
-        """
         tesseract_parser.parse(
-            tesseract_samples_dir / "multi-page-digital.pdf",
+            tesseract_samples_dir / "simple-digital.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
         )
         assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is not None
         assert tesseract_parser.archive_path.is_file()
         assert_ordered_substrings(
-            tesseract_parser.get_text().lower(),
-            ["page 1", "page 2", "page 3"],
+            tesseract_parser.get_text(),
+            ["This is a test document."],
         )
 
     def test_with_form_default(
@@ -408,7 +397,7 @@ class TestParsePdf:
             ["Please enter your name in here:", "This is a PDF document with a form."],
         )
 
-    def test_with_form_redo_no_archive_when_not_requested(
+    def test_with_form_redo_produces_no_archive(
         self,
         tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
         tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
@@ -417,7 +406,6 @@ class TestParsePdf:
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "with-form.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
         )
         assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
         assert_ordered_substrings(
@@ -445,7 +433,7 @@ class TestParsePdf:
         tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
         tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
     ) -> None:
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip"
         tesseract_parser.parse(tesseract_samples_dir / "signed.pdf", "application/pdf")
         assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
         assert_ordered_substrings(
@@ -461,7 +449,7 @@ class TestParsePdf:
         tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
         tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
     ) -> None:
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip"
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "encrypted.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
@@ -571,7 +559,7 @@ class TestParseMultiPage:
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "mode",
         [
-            pytest.param("auto", id="auto"),
+            pytest.param("skip", id="skip"),
             pytest.param("redo", id="redo"),
             pytest.param("force", id="force"),
         ],
@@ -599,7 +587,7 @@ class TestParseMultiPage:
         tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
         tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
     ) -> None:
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip"
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "multi-page-images.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
@@ -747,18 +735,16 @@ class TestSkipArchive:
         """
         GIVEN:
             - File with existing text layer
-            - Mode: auto, produce_archive=False
+            - Mode: skip_noarchive
         WHEN:
             - Document is parsed
         THEN:
-            - Text extracted from original; no archive created (text exists +
-              produce_archive=False skips OCRmyPDF entirely)
+            - Text extracted; no archive created
         """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip_noarchive"
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "multi-page-digital.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
         )
         assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
         assert_ordered_substrings(
@@ -774,13 +760,13 @@ class TestSkipArchive:
         """
         GIVEN:
             - File with image-only pages (no text layer)
-            - Mode: auto, skip_archive_file: auto
+            - Mode: skip_noarchive
         WHEN:
             - Document is parsed
         THEN:
-            - Text extracted; archive created (OCR needed, no existing text)
+            - Text extracted; archive created (OCR needed)
         """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip_noarchive"
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "multi-page-images.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
@@ -792,58 +778,41 @@ class TestSkipArchive:
         )
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        ("produce_archive", "filename", "expect_archive"),
+        ("skip_archive_file", "filename", "expect_archive"),
         [
+            pytest.param("never", "multi-page-digital.pdf", True, id="never-with-text"),
+            pytest.param("never", "multi-page-images.pdf", True, id="never-no-text"),
             pytest.param(
-                True,
-                "multi-page-digital.pdf",
-                True,
-                id="produce-archive-with-text",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                True,
-                "multi-page-images.pdf",
-                True,
-                id="produce-archive-no-text",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                False,
+                "with_text",
                 "multi-page-digital.pdf",
                 False,
-                id="no-archive-with-text-layer",
+                id="with-text-layer",
             ),
             pytest.param(
-                False,
+                "with_text",
                 "multi-page-images.pdf",
-                False,
-                id="no-archive-no-text-layer",
+                True,
+                id="with-text-no-layer",
             ),
+            pytest.param(
+                "always",
+                "multi-page-digital.pdf",
+                False,
+                id="always-with-text",
+            ),
+            pytest.param("always", "multi-page-images.pdf", False, id="always-no-text"),
         ],
     )
-    def test_produce_archive_flag(
+    def test_skip_archive_file_setting(
         self,
-        produce_archive: bool,  # noqa: FBT001
+        skip_archive_file: str,
         filename: str,
-        expect_archive: bool,  # noqa: FBT001
+        expect_archive: str,
         tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
         tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
     ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - Various PDFs (with and without text layers)
-            - produce_archive flag set to True or False
-        WHEN:
-            - Document is parsed
-        THEN:
-            - archive_path is set if and only if produce_archive=True
-            - Text is always extracted
-        """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            tesseract_samples_dir / filename,
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=produce_archive,
-        )
+        tesseract_parser.settings.skip_archive_file = skip_archive_file
+        tesseract_parser.parse(tesseract_samples_dir / filename, "application/pdf")
         text = tesseract_parser.get_text().lower()
         assert_ordered_substrings(text, ["page 1", "page 2", "page 3"])
         if expect_archive:
@@ -851,59 +820,6 @@ class TestSkipArchive:
         else:
             assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
 
-    def test_tagged_pdf_skips_ocr_in_auto_mode(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - A tagged PDF (e.g. exported from Word, /MarkInfo /Marked true)
-            - Mode: auto, produce_archive=False
-        WHEN:
-            - Document is parsed
-        THEN:
-            - OCRmyPDF is not invoked (tagged ⇒ original_has_text=True)
-            - Text is extracted from the original via pdftotext
-            - No archive is produced
-        """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        mock_ocr = mocker.patch("ocrmypdf.ocr")
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            tesseract_samples_dir / "simple-digital.pdf",
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
-        )
-        mock_ocr.assert_not_called()
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
-        assert tesseract_parser.get_text()
-
-    def test_tagged_pdf_produces_pdfa_archive_without_ocr(
-        self,
-        tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
-        tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        GIVEN:
-            - A tagged PDF (e.g. exported from Word, /MarkInfo /Marked true)
-            - Mode: auto, produce_archive=True
-        WHEN:
-            - Document is parsed
-        THEN:
-            - OCRmyPDF runs with skip_text (PDF/A conversion only, no OCR)
-            - Archive is produced
-            - Text is preserved from the original
-        """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
-        tesseract_parser.parse(
-            tesseract_samples_dir / "simple-digital.pdf",
-            "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=True,
-        )
-        assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is not None
-        assert tesseract_parser.get_text()
-
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Parse — mixed pages / sidecar
@@ -919,13 +835,13 @@ class TestParseMixed:
         """
         GIVEN:
             - File with text in some pages (image) and some pages (digital)
-            - Mode: auto (skip_text), skip_archive_file: always
+            - Mode: skip
         WHEN:
             - Document is parsed
         THEN:
             - All pages extracted; archive created; sidecar notes skipped pages
         """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip"
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "multi-page-mixed.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
@@ -982,18 +898,17 @@ class TestParseMixed:
     ) -> None:
         """
         GIVEN:
-            - File with mixed pages (some with text, some image-only)
-            - Mode: auto, produce_archive=False
+            - File with mixed pages
+            - Mode: skip_noarchive
         WHEN:
             - Document is parsed
         THEN:
-            - No archive created (produce_archive=False); text from text layer present
+            - No archive created (file has text layer); later-page text present
         """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip_noarchive"
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "multi-page-mixed.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
-            produce_archive=False,
         )
         assert tesseract_parser.archive_path is None
         assert_ordered_substrings(
@@ -1008,12 +923,12 @@ class TestParseMixed:
 
 
 class TestParseRotate:
-    def test_rotate_auto_mode(
+    def test_rotate_skip_mode(
         self,
         tesseract_parser: RasterisedDocumentParser,
         tesseract_samples_dir: Path,
     ) -> None:
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "auto"
+        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "skip"
         tesseract_parser.settings.rotate = True
         tesseract_parser.parse(tesseract_samples_dir / "rotated.pdf", "application/pdf")
         assert_ordered_substrings(
@@ -1040,19 +955,12 @@ class TestParseRtl:
     ) -> None:
         """
         GIVEN:
-            - PDF with RTL Arabic text in its text layer (short: 18 chars)
-            - mode=off, produce_archive=True: PDF/A conversion via skip_text, no OCR engine
+            - PDF with RTL Arabic text
         WHEN:
             - Document is parsed
         THEN:
-            - Arabic content is extracted from the PDF text layer (normalised for bidi)
-
-        Note: The RTL PDF has a short text layer (< VALID_TEXT_LENGTH=50) so AUTO mode
-        would attempt full OCR, which fails due to PriorOcrFoundError and falls back to
-        force-ocr with English Tesseract (producing garbage).  Using mode="off" forces
-        skip_text=True so the Arabic text layer is preserved through PDF/A conversion.
+            - Arabic content is extracted (normalised for bidi)
         """
-        tesseract_parser.settings.mode = "off"
         tesseract_parser.parse(
             tesseract_samples_dir / "rtl-test.pdf",
             "application/pdf",
@@ -1115,11 +1023,11 @@ class TestOcrmypdfParameters:
         assert ("clean" in params) == expected_clean
         assert ("clean_final" in params) == expected_clean_final
 
-    def test_clean_final_auto_mode(
+    def test_clean_final_skip_mode(
         self,
         make_tesseract_parser: MakeTesseractParser,
     ) -> None:
-        with make_tesseract_parser(OCR_CLEAN="clean-final", OCR_MODE="auto") as parser:
+        with make_tesseract_parser(OCR_CLEAN="clean-final", OCR_MODE="skip") as parser:
             params = parser.construct_ocrmypdf_parameters("", "", "", "")
         assert params["clean_final"] is True
         assert "clean" not in params
@@ -1136,9 +1044,9 @@ class TestOcrmypdfParameters:
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         ("ocr_mode", "ocr_deskew", "expect_deskew"),
         [
-            pytest.param("auto", True, True, id="auto-deskew-on"),
+            pytest.param("skip", True, True, id="skip-deskew-on"),
             pytest.param("redo", True, False, id="redo-deskew-off"),
-            pytest.param("auto", False, False, id="auto-no-deskew"),
+            pytest.param("skip", False, False, id="skip-no-deskew"),
         ],
     )
     def test_deskew_option(

src/paperless/tests/test_checks.py

@@ -132,13 +132,13 @@ class TestOcrSettingsChecks:
             pytest.param(
                 "OCR_MODE",
                 "skip_noarchive",
-                'OCR output mode "skip_noarchive"',
-                id="deprecated-mode-now-invalid",
+                "deprecated",
+                id="deprecated-mode",
             ),
             pytest.param(
-                "ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION",
+                "OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE",
                 "invalid",
-                'PAPERLESS_ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION setting "invalid"',
+                'OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE setting "invalid"',
                 id="invalid-skip-archive-file",
             ),
             pytest.param(

src/paperless/tests/test_checks_v3.py

@@ -1,64 +0,0 @@
-"""Tests for v3 system checks: deprecated v2 OCR env var warnings."""
-
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-import os
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
-
-import pytest
-
-from paperless.checks import check_deprecated_v2_ocr_env_vars
-
-if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from pytest_mock import MockerFixture
-
-
-class TestDeprecatedV2OcrEnvVarWarnings:
-    def test_no_deprecated_vars_returns_empty(self, mocker: MockerFixture) -> None:
-        """No warnings when neither deprecated variable is set."""
-        mocker.patch.dict(os.environ, {"PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE": "auto"}, clear=True)
-        result = check_deprecated_v2_ocr_env_vars(None)
-        assert result == []
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        ("env_var", "env_value", "expected_id", "expected_fragment"),
-        [
-            pytest.param(
-                "PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE",
-                "always",
-                "paperless.W002",
-                "PAPERLESS_OCR_SKIP_ARCHIVE_FILE",
-                id="skip-archive-file-warns",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE",
-                "skip",
-                "paperless.W003",
-                "skip",
-                id="ocr-mode-skip-warns",
-            ),
-            pytest.param(
-                "PAPERLESS_OCR_MODE",
-                "skip_noarchive",
-                "paperless.W003",
-                "skip_noarchive",
-                id="ocr-mode-skip-noarchive-warns",
-            ),
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_deprecated_var_produces_one_warning(
-        self,
-        mocker: MockerFixture,
-        env_var: str,
-        env_value: str,
-        expected_id: str,
-        expected_fragment: str,
-    ) -> None:
-        """Each deprecated setting in isolation produces exactly one warning."""
-        mocker.patch.dict(os.environ, {env_var: env_value}, clear=True)
-        result = check_deprecated_v2_ocr_env_vars(None)
-
-        assert len(result) == 1
-        warning = result[0]
-        assert warning.id == expected_id
-        assert expected_fragment in warning.msg

src/paperless/tests/test_ocr_config.py

@@ -1,66 +0,0 @@
-"""Tests for OcrConfig archive_file_generation field behavior."""
-
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
-
-import pytest
-from django.test import override_settings
-
-from paperless.config import OcrConfig
-
-if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from unittest.mock import MagicMock
-
-
-@pytest.fixture()
-def null_app_config(mocker) -> MagicMock:
-    """Mock ApplicationConfiguration with all fields None → falls back to Django settings."""
-    return mocker.MagicMock(
-        output_type=None,
-        pages=None,
-        language=None,
-        mode=None,
-        archive_file_generation=None,
-        image_dpi=None,
-        unpaper_clean=None,
-        deskew=None,
-        rotate_pages=None,
-        rotate_pages_threshold=None,
-        max_image_pixels=None,
-        color_conversion_strategy=None,
-        user_args=None,
-    )
-
-
-@pytest.fixture()
-def make_ocr_config(mocker, null_app_config):
-    mocker.patch(
-        "paperless.config.BaseConfig._get_config_instance",
-        return_value=null_app_config,
-    )
-
-    def _make(**django_settings_overrides):
-        with override_settings(**django_settings_overrides):
-            return OcrConfig()
-
-    return _make
-
-
-class TestOcrConfigArchiveFileGeneration:
-    def test_auto_from_settings(self, make_ocr_config) -> None:
-        cfg = make_ocr_config(OCR_MODE="auto", ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="auto")
-        assert cfg.archive_file_generation == "auto"
-
-    def test_always_from_settings(self, make_ocr_config) -> None:
-        cfg = make_ocr_config(ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always")
-        assert cfg.archive_file_generation == "always"
-
-    def test_never_from_settings(self, make_ocr_config) -> None:
-        cfg = make_ocr_config(ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="never")
-        assert cfg.archive_file_generation == "never"
-
-    def test_db_value_overrides_setting(self, make_ocr_config, null_app_config) -> None:
-        null_app_config.archive_file_generation = "never"
-        cfg = make_ocr_config(ARCHIVE_FILE_GENERATION="always")
-        assert cfg.archive_file_generation == "never"

src/paperless/tests/test_parser_utils.py

@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-"""Tests for paperless.parsers.utils helpers."""
-
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-from pathlib import Path
-
-from paperless.parsers.utils import is_tagged_pdf
-
-SAMPLES = Path(__file__).parent / "samples" / "tesseract"
-
-
-class TestIsTaggedPdf:
-    def test_tagged_pdf_returns_true(self) -> None:
-        assert is_tagged_pdf(SAMPLES / "simple-digital.pdf") is True
-
-    def test_untagged_pdf_returns_false(self) -> None:
-        assert is_tagged_pdf(SAMPLES / "multi-page-images.pdf") is False
-
-    def test_nonexistent_path_returns_false(self) -> None:
-        assert is_tagged_pdf(Path("/nonexistent/file.pdf")) is False
-
-    def test_corrupt_pdf_returns_false(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
-        bad = tmp_path / "bad.pdf"
-        bad.write_bytes(b"not a pdf")
-        assert is_tagged_pdf(bad) is False