Fix migration

.claude/skills/whoosh-compat-transition/SKILL.md

@@ -1,66 +0,0 @@
----
-name: whoosh-compat-transition
-description: Use when integrating the whoosh-compat library into paperless-ngx search, replacing src/documents/search/_translate.py or _dates.py, building the search FieldRegistry, or changing user query parsing during the whoosh-to-tantivy transition
----
-
-# whoosh-compat transition
-
-## Overview
-
-whoosh-compat (github.com/stumpylog/whoosh-compat; local checkout usually at `../whoosh-compat`) replaces the hand-maintained translation layer (`src/documents/search/_translate.py`, `_dates.py`): it parses user queries with a faithful fork of whoosh's real grammar into a typed AST and emits programmatic tantivy queries. Read its README and ARCHITECTURE.md before wiring anything; its DIVERGENCES.md lists intended behavior differences and is the authority on "is this difference a bug".
-
-## Decisions already made (do not re-derive)
-
-- **Queries are user-typed free text.** The advanced search box passes whatever the user types straight to the parser (that is how the issue #13568 queries exist). Do NOT try to infer the supported field surface from frontend code; the frontend only generates a few date filter strings, everything else is typed by users.
-- **The field surface is a policy decision, not `KNOWN_FIELDS`.** Today's `KNOWN_FIELDS` accepts internal ID fields (`tag_id`, `owner_id`, `viewer_id`, other `*_id`) that are undocumented in `docs/usage.md` and were ruled not user-searchable by the maintainer: exclude them from the `FieldRegistry` (they stay as programmatic permission/filter fields in `build_permission_filter`, which never touches user query text). The registry is built from documented syntax in `docs/usage.md` plus the v2-compat aliases (`type`, `path`, `type_id`-style aliases follow their canonical field's fate). Undocumented-but-working fields (`asn`, `page_count`, `num_notes`, `original_filename`, `checksum`) need an explicit maintainer yes/no; since users type freely, silently dropping one breaks any saved view using it, so a drop must be a visible, documented decision.
-- **Analyzer seam:** `FieldSpec.analyzer` binds the live registered tantivy analyzer's `.analyze` (the same Rust analyzer used at index time; language-keyed, so rebuild the registry when `SEARCH_LANGUAGE` changes, on the same trigger as `register_tokenizers`). `pattern_normalizer` is `_tokenizer.ascii_fold`: character-level lowercase+fold only, NEVER stemming.
-- **Diagnostics before emit:** `whoosh_compat.parse()` never raises on bad input. Check `ParseResult.diagnostics` and map to `SearchQueryError`/`InvalidDateQuery` (HTTP 400) BEFORE calling `emit()`; also catch the emitter's `UnsupportedQueryError` into a 400. Never carry forward the legacy raw-string fallback (`except Exception: query_str = raw_query`) into the new path; it masks integration bugs.
-- **Build typed errors from structured diagnostic data, never by parsing `message`.** Each `Diagnostic` carries `kind`, `startchar`/`endchar`, and `field`/`raw_value`. `message` is human-readable text whose wording can change. For a range that fails on one bound, `raw_value` is the bound that actually failed.
-  - `diagnostic.field` is a **`FieldRef`**, not a string: use `str(diagnostic.field)` for the canonical dotted name (`created`, `notes.user`) or `diagnostic.field.name` for the field alone. Note the name is canonical, so an aliased query (`type:`) reports the field it resolves to (`document_type`), and the diagnostic span covers the offending value rather than the field name, so the text the user typed for the field is not recoverable.
-- **The registry has one resolver.** `registry.make_ref(raw)` turns a raw field string into a `FieldRef` or `None` for an unknown field, and `registry.resolve(ref)` returns a `ResolvedField | None`, not a bare spec: read `.spec` for the `FieldSpec`, `.json_path` for the subpath (or `None`), `.is_subpath` and `.dotted_name` are convenience properties. There is no `resolve_json()`; a dotted name is interpreted only inside `make_ref`. Write `resolved = registry.resolve(ref)` then `resolved.spec.kind`, not `spec = registry.resolve(ref)` then `spec.kind`.
-- **`notes` and `custom_fields` are JSON fields** with fixed subpaths (`notes.user`/`notes.note`, `custom_fields.name`/`custom_fields.value`); the registry stays a static, language-keyed singleton, never per-request.
-- **`emit()`'s signature is `emit(node, *, index, registry)`, with no `schema` parameter.** Do not write a call site passing `schema=`. `emit()` calls the library's own `analyze()` pipeline stage internally (token analysis, multitoken resolution, zero-token drop), so paperless-ngx never needs to call `analyze()` itself.
-- **A wildcard/prefix pattern on a JSON subpath reports a parse-time diagnostic**, not a silent whole-field query: `custom_fields.value:abc*` reports `DiagnosticKind.UNSUPPORTED_PATTERN` (the same kind used for a wildcard on a numeric or BOOLEAN_EXISTS field) instead of matching against the wrong encoded bytes. Relevant here because `custom_fields.value` is exactly the kind of JSON subpath a user might expect to pattern-match; the error-mapping code needs a case for `UNSUPPORTED_PATTERN`, not just `BAD_DATE`/`BAD_NUMBER`.
-
-## Mandatory before deleting old code
-
-- Date-grammar parity audit, line by line: every keyword, relative unit, and abbreviation `_dates.py` and `_translate.py` accept today (including the whoosh-era abbreviations kept for old saved views) must have an accepted form in whoosh-compat's dateparse grammar. Silent keyword loss is the saved-view breakage class behind issue #13568.
-- Acceptance corpus compared by matched-document-ID sets, not query strings: the #13568 queries verbatim, real saved-view strings, every date keyword, field aliases, comma lists, date and numeric ranges, wildcards with bracket classes, boosts, JSON subpaths.
-
-## Tests: what goes, what comes
-
-Removed with their modules (do not port their string-level assertions):
-
-- `src/documents/tests/search/test_translate.py`: its subject is deleted; string-translation unit cases are whoosh-compat's own responsibility now. Cases that encode real user-visible behavior get reincarnated as result-level acceptance cases, not string assertions.
-- Date-keyword unit tests tied to `_dates.py` internals: same treatment.
-- `test_query.py` cases asserting `parse_user_query` internals or intermediate query strings: rewritten against the new pipeline, asserting on matched results.
-
-Kept: `test_migration_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py` (data migration, orthogonal), `test_schema.py`, `test_tokenizer.py`, permission-filter and simple-search tests.
-
-Added:
-
-- A result-level acceptance module (paperless's analogue of whoosh-compat's `test_acceptance_e2e.py`): the corpus above against a real index built from `build_schema()`, asserting document-ID sets. Use `pytest.param(..., id="...")` for every case.
-- Registry unit tests: internal `*_id` names rejected, aliases resolve to canonical fields, JSON subpaths match `docs/usage.md`, construction deterministic per language.
-- One `Multitoken` case nested inside a top-level `OR` (whoosh-compat DIVERGENCES entry on Multitoken.DEFAULT) to prove it does not matter for paperless's data.
-- If acceptance work surfaces a new whoosh-compat divergence, that is a whoosh-compat-repo change (its `differential-triage` skill applies), not a silent paperless workaround.
-
-## Fast JSON field existence checks
-
-Existence checks against a fast JSON field work correctly, both whole-field (`notes:*`, which internally requires `json_subpaths=True`) and subpath-scoped (`custom_fields.value:*`, which checks only that subpath's own fast column). Both are covered by whoosh-compat's own test suite; see `DIVERGENCES.md` entry 20 for the exists-strategy design and its subpath-scoping note.
-
-Whether to mark `notes`/`custom_fields` fast is a paperless-ngx-side tradeoff (fast fields cost index size/build time for cheaper existence/range queries) independent of whoosh-compat's correctness — worth a maintainer decision, not assumed by this document.
-
-## Coordination
-
-- whoosh-compat is pre-1.0: pin an exact version or git SHA; upgrades are deliberate, reviewed changes.
-- JSON subpath emission depends on the installed tantivy-py version (fallback until quickwit-oss/tantivy-py#716 ships). The whoosh-compat repo has a `carve-out-retirement` skill; coordinate tantivy pin bumps with it, in a separate PR from the parser migration.
-- Rollout: no feature flag, no shadow-compare period. Safety comes from the date-grammar parity audit and the result-level acceptance corpus instead; `_translate.py`/`_dates.py` are deleted once those are green.
-
-## Common mistakes
-
-- Inferring the field surface from frontend code (users type queries directly).
-- Copying `KNOWN_FIELDS` into the registry wholesale (resurfaces internal fields).
-- Wiring stemming into `pattern_normalizer`.
-- Calling `emit()` unconditionally, or porting the legacy raw-string fallback.
-- Deleting `_dates.py` without the parity audit.
-- Porting `test_translate.py`'s string assertions instead of writing result-level tests.

docs/api.md

@@ -301,7 +301,8 @@ The following methods are supported:
 - `delete`
   - No `parameters` required
 - `reprocess`
-  - No `parameters` required
+  - Optional `parameters`: `{ "remote_ocr": true }` to send the documents to the
+    remote OCR engine, see [Remote OCR](usage.md#remote-ocr). Defaults to false.
 - `set_permissions`
   - Requires `parameters`:
     - `"set_permissions": PERMISSIONS_OBJ` (see format [above](#permissions)) and / or

docs/configuration.md

@@ -2048,6 +2048,18 @@ password. All of these options come from their similarly-named [Django settings]
 
     Defaults to None.
 
+#### [`PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE=<str>`](#PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE) {#PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE}
+
+: Which documents are sent to the remote OCR engine.
+
+    - `always`: every document of a supported file type is sent to the remote
+      engine, bypassing the local OCR engine.
+    - `workflow_only`: documents are processed locally unless a workflow
+      explicitly enables remote OCR for them, letting you use the remote engine
+      selectively.
+
+    Defaults to "always".
+
 ## AI {#ai}
 
 #### [`PAPERLESS_AI_ENABLED=<bool>`](#PAPERLESS_AI_ENABLED) {#PAPERLESS_AI_ENABLED}

docs/development.md

@@ -456,6 +456,20 @@ def score(
     return 10
 ```
 
+**Remote services**
+
+If your parser sends document content to a remote service, declare it:
+
+```python
+class MyCustomParser:
+    uses_remote_service = True
+```
+
+Paperless-ngx excludes such parsers when the document being consumed has not
+been marked for remote processing, so users can keep remote OCR off by default
+and enable it selectively with a workflow. Parsers that do not declare the
+attribute are treated as fully local and are always considered.
+
 **Archive and rendition flags**
 
 ```python

docs/superpowers/specs/2026-08-07-whoosh-compat-transition-design.md

@@ -1,502 +0,0 @@
-# whoosh-compat transition design
-
-Date: 2026-08-07
-Status: approved
-Related skill: `whoosh-compat-transition`
-
-> **API reference used by this design.** `FieldRegistry` exposes one
-> resolution path: `registry.make_ref(raw) -> FieldRef | None` interprets a
-> raw, possibly dotted field string (an unknown field or an unknown subpath
-> both return `None`), and `registry.resolve(ref) -> ResolvedField | None`
-> looks up the resolved ref. `ResolvedField` carries `.spec` (the
-> `FieldSpec`), `.json_path` (the subpath, or `None`), `.is_subpath`, and
-> `.dotted_name` — read `resolved.spec.kind`, not `spec.kind` off a bare
-> `FieldSpec`. `Diagnostic.field` is a `FieldRef`, not a string: use
-> `str(d.field)` for the canonical dotted name, or `d.field.name` for the
-> field alone (the name is canonical, so an aliased query like `type:`
-> reports `document_type`). Every field-carrying AST leaf holds a `FieldRef`.
-> `emit()`'s signature is `emit(node, *, index, registry) -> tantivy.Query`,
-> with no `schema` parameter; it calls the library's own `analyze()` pipeline
-> stage internally (token analysis, multitoken resolution, zero-token drop)
-> before visiting the tree, so this design's call sites never invoke
-> `analyze()` themselves. `FieldSpec.subpaths` is stored internally as
-> `Mapping[str, SubpathSpec]`, though construction still accepts a plain
-> `tuple[str, ...]` as sugar and normalizes it automatically — this design's
-> own `PublicField.subpaths: tuple[str, ...]` (below) passes a tuple into
-> `FieldSpec(..., subpaths=...)` and needs nothing further.
-> `DiagnosticKind` has four members: `BAD_DATE`, `BAD_NUMBER`, `TOO_DEEP`, and
-> `UNSUPPORTED_PATTERN`; the error-mapping code below needs cases for all
-> four.
->
-> A few library behaviors worth knowing before writing code against it:
-> `parse()` validates its own configuration eagerly — an empty or unknown
-> `default_fields`, or a `field_boosts` key that resolves to neither a known
-> field nor an alias, raises `ValueError` at the `parse()` call itself, and an
-> alias in either argument resolves normally. A naive `basedate` is rejected
-> (`ValueError`) rather than silently read in the host machine's local
-> timezone; pass an aware datetime. A wildcard/prefix pattern on a numeric
-> (`U64`) field, a `BOOLEAN_EXISTS` field, or a JSON subpath produces a
-> parse-time `Diagnostic(kind=UNSUPPORTED_PATTERN)` instead of silently
-> mangling to an exact-match term or matching the wrong encoded bytes — this
-> is directly relevant to `custom_fields.value`: a user typing
-> `custom_fields.value:abc*` gets a diagnostic, not a query that silently
-> matches the wrong documents. A bare JSON field name with no subpath
-> (`notes:foo`) demotes to an ordinary text search for the literal string,
-> the same treatment an unknown field or unknown subpath gets. Registry
-> construction validates its input eagerly: exists-target cycles, empty
-> field/alias names, duplicate aliases, dotted canonical names,
-> invalid-character or empty JSON subpath strings, and a subpath that would
-> shadow a registered plain field are all rejected at `FieldRegistry.__init__`
-> with an actionable message, not deferred to query time.
->
-> Fast-field existence checks against a JSON field are correct, both for
-> whole-field existence (`notes:*`) and the per-subpath case
-> (`custom_fields.value:*`, which checks only that subpath's own fast
-> column). Marking `notes`/`custom_fields` fast is therefore a plain
-> paperless-ngx-side index-size/query-cost tradeoff, independent of
-> whoosh-compat correctness — worth a maintainer decision, not something this
-> document settles.
-
-## Summary
-
-Replace paperless-ngx's hand-maintained query-translation layer
-(`src/documents/search/_translate.py`, `src/documents/search/_dates.py`)
-with [whoosh-compat](https://github.com/stumpylog/whoosh-compat): a typed
-Whoosh-grammar parser that emits programmatically constructed
-`tantivy.Query` objects instead of building an intermediate Tantivy query
-_string_. The integration point is narrow: `parse_user_query()` in
-`src/documents/search/_query.py` is the only function whose implementation
-changes; `_backend.py`, `_tokenizer.py`, simple/title search, CJK handling,
-and permission filtering are all unaffected.
-
-Delivered as a stack of four paperless-ngx PRs plus one prerequisite change
-in whoosh-compat itself (same maintainer, no cross-repo coordination
-overhead), landed with no feature flag and no shadow-compare rollout period
-— safety comes from a result-level acceptance test corpus and a
-date-grammar parity audit instead.
-
-## Architecture
-
-```
-raw_query (user-typed)
-    │
-    ▼
-wc.parse(raw_query, registry=FIELD_REGISTRY, default_fields=DEFAULT_SEARCH_FIELDS,
-         field_boosts=_FIELD_BOOSTS, tz=tz)
-    │
-    ▼
-ParseResult(ast, diagnostics)
-    │
-    ├─ diagnostics non-empty? → map ALL diagnostics to SearchQueryError
-    │  subclass(es) → HTTP 400 (never just the first diagnostic)
-    │
-    ▼
-emit(ast, index=index, registry=FIELD_REGISTRY)
-    │  (calls whoosh-compat's own analyze() pipeline stage internally, then
-    │   raises UnsupportedQueryError → mapped to SearchQueryError → 400,
-    │   for constructs that parse but can't execute against tantivy)
-    ▼
-tantivy.Query
-    │
-    ▼
-existing clause assembly in parse_user_query(): Should(exact) + optional
-fuzzy re-parse of raw_query + optional CJK bigram query, unchanged from today
-    │
-    ▼
-_apply_permission_filter() in _backend.py wraps the result with
-build_permission_filter() — entirely independent of whoosh-compat, unchanged
-```
-
-Permission filtering is explicitly out of scope for this migration:
-`build_permission_filter()` builds its `tantivy.Query` directly against
-`owner_id`/`viewer_id`/`viewer_group_id`, never through the parser or
-registry, and those fields are exactly the internal `*_id` fields excluded
-from the `FieldRegistry` (see "Field surface" below). Nothing in this
-migration's diff touches it.
-
-## PR stack
-
-Each PR is independently buildable, reviewable, and CI-able; later PRs
-rebase on earlier ones. No PR depends on whoosh-compat behavior it hasn't
-already proven correct in isolation.
-
-1. **Refactor `_schema.py` to a shared field-definition table.** Pure
-   refactor — `build_schema()`'s output is byte-identical before and after.
-   `test_schema.py` (existing) proves it.
-2. **Pin whoosh-compat as a real dependency; build `FieldRegistry`.** New
-   `_registry.py` built from the same table PR 1 introduced. Registry unit
-   tests only — no wiring into search yet.
-3. **Date-grammar parity audit.** A transitional, executable differential
-   test using the still-present `_dates.py`/`_translate.py` as the oracle.
-   Any gap found is fixed in whoosh-compat directly before this PR closes.
-   A whoosh-compat PyPI release is expected around this point (see
-   "Dependency pinning").
-4. **Wire it in; delete the old path.** Rewrite `parse_user_query()`,
-   diagnostics→exception mapping, add the result-level acceptance corpus,
-   expand `test_api_search.py`, delete `_translate.py`/`_dates.py`/
-   `test_translate.py` and the internals-testing classes in `test_query.py`,
-   update `docs/usage.md` and changelog.
-
-`Diagnostic` carries `field: FieldRef | None` and `raw_value: str | None`,
-populated at its construction sites (`dateparse.py`'s `_error()`,
-`default.py`'s `BAD_NUMBER` sites), so paperless can build typed exceptions
-without parsing whoosh-compat's human-readable `message` text. `field` is a
-`FieldRef`, not a plain string; see the API reference at the top of this
-document.
-
-## Field surface
-
-The `FieldRegistry` covers only query-syntax-addressable fields — a subset
-of the full Tantivy schema. Internal-only schema fields with no query-syntax
-meaning of their own (`title_sort`/`correspondent_sort`/`type_sort` shadow
-sort fields, `bigram_*` CJK fields, `simple_title`/`simple_content`,
-`autocomplete_word`, `notes_text`) stay hardcoded `sb.add_*` calls in
-`_schema.py`, untouched by the shared table.
-
-**Decision: keep and document all five currently-undocumented-but-working
-fields** (`asn`, `page_count`, `num_notes`, `original_filename`,
-`checksum`) rather than dropping them — least risk of silently breaking an
-existing saved view. `docs/usage.md`'s advanced-search section gets these
-added with examples, as part of PR 4.
-
-**Decision: `archive_checksum` stays out of scope.** Unlike `checksum`, it
-isn't indexed in the Tantivy schema at all today (confirmed: `_schema.py`
-only adds `checksum`; `_build_tantivy_doc` only calls
-`doc.add_text("checksum", document.checksum)`). Making it searchable is a
-schema-level change (new indexed field, new document population code), not
-a parser-migration concern — left as a separate follow-up.
-
-**Decision: internal `*_id` fields (`tag_id`, `correspondent_id`,
-`document_type_id`, `storage_path_id`, `owner_id`, `viewer_id`,
-`viewer_group_id`) are excluded from the `FieldRegistry` entirely.** They
-remain Tantivy-schema-only, used exclusively by `build_permission_filter()`.
-Because whoosh-compat folds any unrecognized `field:` prefix into literal
-text (Whoosh-parity leniency, confirmed in `FieldsPlugin.do_fieldnames` —
-not an error), a saved view typed as `tag_id:5` won't 400: it silently
-becomes a text search for the literal string `tag_id:5`, most likely
-returning zero results. This is a real behavior change and gets a
-**changelog callout**, not just a docs update, since a docs addition alone
-wouldn't surface it to someone skimming release notes.
-
-## Shared field-definition table (`_fields.py`)
-
-```python
-from whoosh_compat import FieldKind  # reused directly — no parallel enum
-
-@dataclass(frozen=True, slots=True)
-class PublicField:
-    name: str
-    kind: FieldKind
-    aliases: tuple[str, ...] = ()
-    comma_values: bool = False
-    date_only: bool = False
-    fast: bool = False
-    subpaths: tuple[str, ...] = ()   # JSON kind only
-
-PUBLIC_FIELDS = (
-    PublicField("title", FieldKind.TEXT),
-    PublicField("content", FieldKind.TEXT),
-    PublicField("correspondent", FieldKind.TEXT),
-    PublicField("document_type", FieldKind.TEXT, aliases=("type",)),
-    PublicField("storage_path", FieldKind.TEXT, aliases=("path",)),
-    PublicField("original_filename", FieldKind.TEXT),
-    PublicField("tag", FieldKind.TEXT, comma_values=True),
-    PublicField("checksum", FieldKind.KEYWORD),
-    PublicField("asn", FieldKind.U64, fast=True),
-    PublicField("page_count", FieldKind.U64, fast=True),
-    PublicField("num_notes", FieldKind.U64, fast=True),
-    PublicField("created", FieldKind.DATE, date_only=True, fast=True),
-    PublicField("modified", FieldKind.DATETIME, fast=True),
-    PublicField("added", FieldKind.DATETIME, fast=True),
-    PublicField("notes", FieldKind.JSON, subpaths=("user", "note")),
-    PublicField("custom_fields", FieldKind.JSON, subpaths=("name", "value")),
-)
-```
-
-`build_schema()` derives its `sb.add_*` call and tokenizer from `kind`
-(TEXT/KEYWORD → `add_text_field` with `paperless_text`/`raw` tokenizer
-respectively; U64 → `add_unsigned_field`; DATE/DATETIME → `add_date_field`;
-JSON → `add_json_field`). The `notes_text` snippet-companion field stays a
-separate hardcoded line right after the `notes` entry — schema-only
-plumbing with no query-syntax meaning.
-
-`_registry.py` maps each `PublicField` to a `whoosh_compat.FieldSpec`,
-kept as one flat dataclass (no kind-specific subclassing) to mirror
-whoosh-compat's own `FieldSpec` design, which validates kind-conditional
-attributes (e.g. JSON requires non-empty `subpaths`) at
-`FieldRegistry.__init__` rather than in the type system.
-
-Footnote for whoever writes `_registry.py`: `FieldRegistry.__init__` forces
-`date_only=True` on _any_ `FieldKind.DATE` spec regardless of what's
-passed, unconditionally — `PublicField.date_only` isn't an independent
-knob for DATE fields the way it might look; it only matters in the sense
-that `created` sets it explicitly for clarity, while `modified`/`added`
-use `FieldKind.DATETIME` instead of relying on that override.
-
-**`PublicField.subpaths` stays `tuple[str, ...]`, not a nested structure.**
-Confirmed against whoosh-compat's own `FieldRegistry.make_ref()`: it splits a
-dotted query term on the _first_ dot only and matches the remainder as an
-exact string against `spec.subpaths` — even the docstring's own
-`"metadata.author.name"` example is a single opaque string in the tuple,
-not a recursive tree. (`FieldSpec.subpaths` itself now stores a `Mapping[str,
-SubpathSpec]` internally, normalized from whatever tuple is passed at
-construction; that's an implementation detail of `FieldSpec.__post_init__`,
-not something `PublicField`'s own table needs to mirror — passing a plain
-tuple into `FieldSpec(..., subpaths=...)` still works exactly as written
-here.) A tuple of strings is exactly as expressive as the library it feeds;
-inventing richer structure in `PublicField` now would just get flattened
-back to strings at the registry-construction boundary. Real recursive
-nesting, if ever needed, is new whoosh-compat capability first (the
-per-subpath `SubpathSpec` container exists specifically to make that a
-later, additive change).
-
-**JSON document population stays separate from `subpaths`.** `subpaths` is
-query-side only — it declares which dotted names are legal to type and
-which JSON keys the emitter should address. It says nothing about how
-`_backend.py::_build_tantivy_doc` builds the JSON documents at index-write
-time, and that logic isn't uniform attribute access (`note.user.username`
-needs a null guard and isn't `note.user`; `cfi.value_for_search` is a
-property, not a literal `value` attribute), so a generic
-`getattr(obj, subpath_name)` scheme would silently do the wrong thing for
-both. That code stays hand-written, unchanged by this migration. Mitigation
-instead: a coupling test (PR 2, alongside the registry unit tests) asserting
-the literal JSON keys used in `_build_tantivy_doc`'s `doc.add_json(...)`
-calls match `PUBLIC_FIELDS`' `notes`/`custom_fields` `subpaths` exactly, so
-drift between the two is caught rather than silently becoming an
-unqueryable (or silently unindexed) field.
-
-**JSON subpath queries (`notes.*`, `custom_fields.*`) route through
-`index.parse_query()`, not programmatic construction, given paperless's
-pinned tantivy version.** Installed `tantivy-py`'s `Query.term_query`
-cannot resolve a JSON subpath by exact field name — it raises as if the
-field didn't exist. Until
-[tantivy-py#716](https://github.com/quickwit-oss/tantivy-py/pull/716) lands
-and ships, whoosh-compat's `TantivyEmitter._json_paths_supported()` feature-
-detects this per process and falls back to a strictly escaped, single-leaf
-`index.parse_query()` call for just that one leaf (whoosh-compat's README/
-ARCHITECTURE.md call this out as "the JSON subpath carve-out"). Paperless
-pins `tantivy~=0.26.0`, squarely inside the affected range (whoosh-compat's
-`tantivy` extra only requires `tantivy>=0.24`, so nothing prevents this
-combination). Nothing needs to change in this design because of it — the
-carve-out is self-retiring on whoosh-compat's side once tantivy-py catches
-up — but the acceptance corpus's `notes.user:`/`custom_fields.name:` cases
-(PR 4) are exercising that fallback escaping path specifically, not the
-programmatic path every other field goes through, and that's worth knowing
-if one of those cases ever behaves oddly around quoting/escaping. A
-multi-token JSON subpath value with `Multitoken.AND`/`OR` now gets correct
-combinator semantics through this fallback (each token becomes its own
-`index.parse_query()`-backed leaf, `Must`/`Should`-combined normally,
-instead of collapsing into one space-joined phrase-shaped query); a genuine
-quoted phrase on a JSON subpath still cannot carry an explicit slop through
-this fallback (silently ignored, `~N` has no effect) until the carve-out
-retires. Also worth knowing given `custom_fields.value` is JSON: this
-fallback's `index.parse_query()` call gives a JSON subpath term free
-numeric/boolean type inference tantivy's own query grammar provides (a
-query like `custom_fields.value:100` matches both a stored JSON number `100`
-and a stored JSON string `"100"`); the future programmatic path (once
-tantivy-py#716 ships) has no equivalent union and would need this
-re-evaluated for numeric/boolean custom field values specifically
-(whoosh-compat's `DIVERGENCES.md` entry 22 tracks this open question).
-
-**Analyzer wiring**: `FieldSpec.analyzer` reuses the same `tantivy
-.TextAnalyzer` objects `_tokenizer.py` already builds (`_paperless_text
-(language)`, etc.) — standalone objects not dependent on index
-registration, so `_registry.py` calls the same builder functions and binds
-`.analyze` directly; `checksum` (KEYWORD, `raw` tokenizer) gets an identity
-analyzer (`lambda t: [t]`). `pattern_normalizer` for every field is
-`_tokenizer.ascii_fold` (character-fold only, never stemming) per the
-skill's explicit instruction. The whole `FieldRegistry` is built once,
-cached keyed by `settings.SEARCH_LANGUAGE`, rebuilt on the same trigger
-`register_tokenizers()` already uses.
-
-## Error handling
-
-```python
-class SearchQueryError(ValueError): ...          # unchanged, base
-
-class InvalidDateQuery(SearchQueryError):         # unchanged
-    def __init__(self, field, value): ...
-
-class InvalidNumberQuery(SearchQueryError):       # new
-    def __init__(self, field: str | None, value: str | None) -> None:
-        self.field = field
-        self.value = value
-        super().__init__(f"Invalid numeric value {value!r} for field {field!r}.")
-
-class MultipleSearchQueryErrors(SearchQueryError):  # new
-    """Aggregates every user-fixable error from one parse, not just the first."""
-    def __init__(self, errors: Sequence[SearchQueryError]) -> None:
-        self.errors = tuple(errors)
-        super().__init__("; ".join(str(e) for e in self.errors))
-```
-
-```python
-def parse_user_query(index, raw_query, tz):
-    registry = get_field_registry(settings.SEARCH_LANGUAGE)
-    result = wc.parse(
-        raw_query, registry=registry, default_fields=DEFAULT_SEARCH_FIELDS,
-        field_boosts=_FIELD_BOOSTS, tz=tz,
-    )
-    if result.diagnostics:
-        raise _diagnostics_to_error(result.diagnostics)   # ALL diagnostics, not [0]
-
-    try:
-        exact = tantivy_emit(result.ast, index=index, registry=registry)
-    except UnsupportedQueryError as e:
-        raise SearchQueryError(str(e)) from e
-
-    # CJK: unchanged — already re-parses raw_query directly via index.parse_query,
-    # never went through translate_query, so nothing here changes.
-    cjk_query = _build_cjk_query(index, raw_query, _CJK_ALL_FIELDS) if _has_cjk(raw_query) else None
-
-    clauses = [(tantivy.Occur.Should, exact)]
-    threshold = settings.ADVANCED_FUZZY_SEARCH_THRESHOLD
-    if threshold is not None:
-        # Fuzzy re-parses raw_query (not the AST) — no clean AST-level fuzzy
-        # equivalent exists; fuzzy matching was always an approximate,
-        # secondary clause, so this divergence from the exact-match path is
-        # acceptable.
-        fuzzy = index.parse_query(raw_query, DEFAULT_SEARCH_FIELDS, field_boosts=_FIELD_BOOSTS,
-                                   fuzzy_fields={f: (True, 1, True) for f in DEFAULT_SEARCH_FIELDS})
-        clauses.append((tantivy.Occur.Should, tantivy.Query.boost_query(fuzzy, 0.1)))
-    if cjk_query is not None:
-        clauses.append((tantivy.Occur.Should, cjk_query))
-
-    return exact if len(clauses) == 1 else tantivy.Query.boolean_query(clauses)
-
-
-def _diagnostics_to_error(diagnostics: tuple[Diagnostic, ...]) -> SearchQueryError:
-    errors = [_single_diagnostic_to_error(d) for d in diagnostics]
-    return errors[0] if len(errors) == 1 else MultipleSearchQueryErrors(errors)
-
-
-def _single_diagnostic_to_error(d: Diagnostic) -> SearchQueryError:
-    # d.field is a FieldRef, not a string: str(d.field) gives the canonical
-    # dotted name (e.g. "created", "custom_fields.value"); an aliased query
-    # (type:) reports the field it resolves to (document_type).
-    field_name = str(d.field) if d.field is not None else None
-    if d.kind is DiagnosticKind.BAD_DATE:
-        return InvalidDateQuery(field_name, d.raw_value)
-    if d.kind is DiagnosticKind.BAD_NUMBER:
-        return InvalidNumberQuery(field_name, d.raw_value)
-    # TOO_DEEP (pathological paren nesting) and UNSUPPORTED_PATTERN (a
-    # wildcard/prefix pattern on a numeric, BOOLEAN_EXISTS, or JSON-subpath
-    # field) both fall through to the generic message; a typed subclass for
-    # either isn't warranted unless a caller needs to branch on it.
-    return SearchQueryError(d.message)
-```
-
-No `except Exception: query_str = raw_query` fallback — per the skill, that
-legacy defensive branch is explicitly not carried forward. A bug in the new
-path must surface as a real error, not silently degrade to stale behavior.
-
-`views.py`'s existing `except SearchQueryError as e: raise
-ValidationError({"query": [str(e)]}) from e` handler gets one added branch
-to surface every aggregated message instead of just one:
-
-```python
-except SearchQueryError as e:
-    messages = [str(sub) for sub in e.errors] if isinstance(e, MultipleSearchQueryErrors) else [str(e)]
-    raise ValidationError({"query": messages}) from e
-```
-
-`d.field`/`d.raw_value` are populated for `BAD_DATE` and `BAD_NUMBER`
-diagnostics; if either is `None` for a diagnostic kind that doesn't populate
-them, `_single_diagnostic_to_error`'s fallthrough to
-`SearchQueryError(d.message)` still applies.
-
-Deferred, explicitly out of scope for this PR stack: any frontend use of
-`startchar`/`endchar` (already present on `Diagnostic` today) to highlight
-the offending span in the search box. Backend-only for now, per explicit
-decision.
-
-## Testing
-
-Existing test inventory (`src/documents/tests/search/` and
-`test_api_search.py`):
-
-| File                                                                                                                                                                                          | Fate                                                                                                                                                                       |
-| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| `test_translate.py`                                                                                                                                                                           | Deleted (PR 4) — subject deleted                                                                                                                                           |
-| `test_query.py`: `TestCreatedDateField`, `TestDateTimeFields`, `TestWhooshQueryRewriting`, `TestYearRangeRewriting`, `TestNonDateFieldsNotRewritten`, `TestPassthrough`, `TestNormalizeQuery` | Deleted (PR 4) — test `_translate.py`/`_dates.py` internals or intermediate query strings                                                                                  |
-| `test_query.py`: `TestParseUserQuery`                                                                                                                                                         | Reviewed at plan time; result-level assertions folded into the new acceptance module, internals-only assertions dropped                                                    |
-| `test_query.py`: `TestParseSimpleTextHighlightQuery`, `TestPermissionFilter`                                                                                                                  | Unchanged — never touched `translate_query`                                                                                                                                |
-| `test_schema.py`, `test_tokenizer.py`, `test_backend.py`, `test_lock_backoff.py`, `test_migration_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py`                                                           | Unchanged                                                                                                                                                                  |
-| `test_api_search.py` (`TestDocumentSearchApi`, 43 tests)                                                                                                                                      | **Stays green across every PR in the stack** (hard gate, not just PR 4) — full HTTP+DB+index integration coverage catches wiring mistakes none of the narrower tests would |
-
-New tests per PR:
-
-- **PR 2**: `test_registry.py` — internal `*_id` names rejected; `type`/
-  `path` aliases resolve to canonical fields; JSON subpaths match
-  `docs/usage.md`; registry construction deterministic per language; the
-  `notes`/`custom_fields` dict-key coupling test described above.
-- **PR 3**: `test_date_grammar_parity.py` — transitional, parametrized over
-  every keyword/unit `_dates.py`/`_translate.py` accept today
-  (`_DATE_KEYWORDS`, all of `_UNIT_ALIASES`'s Whoosh-era abbreviations —
-  `yrs`/`mos`/`wks`/`hrs`/`mins`/`secs` etc. — digit-precision forms, ISO
-  dash forms, `now-7d`/`now+1h`/`now-30m` compact offsets, open/reversed
-  ranges). Each case parses through `wc.parse()` against a DATE-kind
-  `FieldRegistry` and asserts no diagnostics come back — a coverage check
-  only (does whoosh-compat accept this input at all), not a check on the
-  bounds or AST shape it parses to, which is whoosh-compat's own
-  differential-testing responsibility against a real whoosh oracle, not
-  something to re-verify here against `_translate.py` as a second, weaker
-  oracle. If the team wants confidence that actual search _behavior_ at a
-  given keyword didn't change, that belongs in the PR 4 result-level
-  acceptance corpus (real indexed documents at date boundaries, matched-ID
-  assertions), not an AST/bounds comparison.
-  Deleted again in PR 4 along with the legacy code it audits, superseded by
-  the permanent acceptance corpus. This audit is scoped to _parity_ only —
-  whoosh-compat's date grammar is a strict superset of what `_dates.py`
-  accepts today (e.g. `tomorrow`, `now`, `midnight`, `noon`, weekday names
-  like `next monday`), so the migration also grants new date vocabulary for
-  free. That's a nice side effect, not something this PR needs to test or
-  document beyond noting it in the changelog alongside the other behavior
-  changes.
-- **PR 4**:
-  - Result-level acceptance module (paperless's analogue of whoosh-compat's
-    `test_acceptance_e2e.py`): a real index built via `build_schema()`, the
-    issue #13568 queries verbatim, real saved-view strings, every date
-    keyword/unit, field aliases, comma lists, numeric/date ranges,
-    bracket-class wildcards, boosts, JSON subpaths — asserted by matched
-    document-ID set, `pytest.param(..., id=...)` per case. Plus a
-    multi-diagnostic case (two bad fields → `MultipleSearchQueryErrors`
-    with both messages present) and one `Multitoken` case nested inside a
-    top-level `OR` (proves DIVERGENCES entry 15 doesn't matter for
-    paperless's data, per the skill).
-  - `test_api_search.py` expanded: a multi-bad-field query (e.g.
-    `created:notadate AND asn:notanumber`) asserting the 400 response's
-    `query` list contains both messages; end-to-end searches on the five
-    newly-documented fields (`asn:`, `page_count:`, `num_notes:`,
-    `original_filename:`, `checksum:`) returning the right documents
-    through the real index.
-
-## Dependency pinning
-
-Stays `path = "../whoosh-compat"` in `[tool.uv.sources]` through the whole
-PR stack — both repos are being actively co-developed. The final swap
-happens at PR 4:
-
-- **Primary plan**: whoosh-compat is released to PyPI around PR 3 (per
-  your stated intent), assuming the parity audit doesn't turn up anything
-  needing a second round. PR 4 switches to a pinned PyPI version
-  (`whoosh-compat[tantivy]==X.Y.Z` in `dependencies`, the
-  `[tool.uv.sources]` override removed entirely).
-- **Fallback**: if the PyPI release slips past PR 4's start, pin an exact
-  git commit SHA instead (`whoosh-compat[tantivy] @ git+https://github.com/
-stumpylog/whoosh-compat@<sha>`), per the skill's "pre-1.0: pin an exact
-  version or git SHA, upgrades are deliberate" guidance.
-
-The `TODO` comment already sitting in `pyproject.toml` (from the earlier
-smoke-test setup) gets updated to reflect this — "release, else pinned SHA"
-— rather than committing hard to one path before it's known which applies.
-
-## Explicitly out of scope
-
-- `archive_checksum` indexing/search (separate schema-level follow-up).
-- Frontend consumption of `Diagnostic.startchar`/`endchar` for in-box error
-  highlighting (backend-only for this PR stack).
-- A feature flag or shadow-compare rollout period — explicitly decided
-  against; safety comes from the acceptance corpus and parity audit instead.
-- Any change to `build_permission_filter()`/`_apply_permission_filter()` —
-  confirmed untouched by this migration.

docs/usage.md

@@ -650,6 +650,19 @@ happened while it was still encrypted, that original version will likewise be mi
 **Current limitation**: Passwords are stored as a simple list without descriptions. To handle
 multiple PDF types with different passwords, create separate workflows for each use case.
 
+##### Remote OCR {#workflow-action-remote-ocr}
+
+"Remote OCR" actions send the document to the configured remote OCR engine instead of processing it
+locally. To use remote OCR selectively, set the [remote OCR mode](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE)
+to `workflow_only` then add this action to a workflow that matches only the documents you
+want sent to the remote engine. See [Remote OCR](#remote-ocr) for the engine setup. The action only works with
+a **Consumption Started** trigger.
+
+The action takes no options, its presence is what enables remote OCR for a matching document.
+
+If the remote engine is not configured, or does not support the document's file type, the document is
+processed locally instead and a warning is written to the log.
+
 #### Workflow placeholders
 
 Titles and webhook payloads can be generated by workflows using [Jinja templates](https://jinja.palletsprojects.com/en/3.1.x/templates/).
@@ -1086,11 +1099,19 @@ Paperless-ngx supports performing OCR on documents using remote services. At the
 [Microsoft's Azure "Document Intelligence" service](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/ai-services/ai-document-intelligence).
 This is of course a paid service (with a free tier) which requires an Azure account and subscription. Azure AI is not affiliated with
 Paperless-ngx in any way. When enabled, Paperless-ngx will automatically send appropriate documents to Azure for OCR processing, bypassing
-the local OCR engine. See the [configuration](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE) options for more details.
+the local OCR engine. See the [configuration](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE) options for more details. These
+settings can be supplied as environment variables or via **Application Configuration**.
 
 Additionally, when using a commercial service with this feature, consider both potential costs as well as any associated file size
 or page limitations (e.g. with a free tier).
 
+By default, every document of a supported file type is sent to the remote engine. To use it more selectively, set the
+[remote OCR mode](configuration.md#PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE) to `workflow_only`. Documents are then processed locally
+unless a [remote OCR workflow action](#workflow-action-remote-ocr) enables it for them, so you can limit the remote
+engine to particular documents.
+
+Setting the mode to `workflow_only` also allows the **Reprocess** actions to selectively use remote OCR for individual documents.
+
 ## Architecture
 
 Paperless-ngx consists of the following components:

src-ui/src/app/components/admin/config/config.component.html

@@ -14,43 +14,48 @@
                 <a ngbNavLink>{{category}}</a>
                 <ng-template ngbNavContent>
                     <div class="p-3">
-                        <div class="row row-cols-1 row-cols-md-2 row-cols-lg-3 g-2">
+                        @for (section of getCategorySections(category); track section) {
-                            @for (option of getCategoryOptions(category); track option.key) {
+                            @if (section) {
-                                <div class="col">
+                                <h5 class="mt-4 mb-3">{{section}}</h5>
-                                    <div class="card bg-light">
+                            }
-                                        <div class="card-body">
+                            <div class="row row-cols-1 row-cols-md-2 row-cols-lg-3 g-2">
-                                            <div class="card-title d-flex align-items-center">
+                                @for (option of getCategoryOptions(category, section); track option.key) {
-                                                <h6 class="mb-0">
+                                    <div class="col">
-                                                  {{option.title}}
+                                        <div class="card bg-light">
-                                                </h6>
+                                            <div class="card-body">
-                                                <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link" title="Read the documentation about this setting" i18n-title [href]="getDocsUrl(option.config_key)" target="_blank" referrerpolicy="no-referrer">
+                                                <div class="card-title d-flex align-items-center">
-                                                    <i-bs name="info-circle"></i-bs>
+                                                    <h6 class="mb-0">
-                                                </a>
+                                                      {{option.title}}
-                                                @if (isSet(option.key)) {
+                                                    </h6>
-                                                  <button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-link text-danger ms-auto pe-0" title="Reset" i18n-title (click)="resetOption(option.key)">
+                                                    <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link" title="Read the documentation about this setting" i18n-title [href]="getDocsUrl(option.config_key)" target="_blank" referrerpolicy="no-referrer">
-                                                      <i-bs class="me-1" name="x"></i-bs><ng-container i18n>Reset</ng-container>
+                                                        <i-bs name="info-circle"></i-bs>
-                                                  </button>
+                                                    </a>
+                                                    @if (isSet(option.key)) {
+                                                      <button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-link text-danger ms-auto pe-0" title="Reset" i18n-title (click)="resetOption(option.key)">
+                                                          <i-bs class="me-1" name="x"></i-bs><ng-container i18n>Reset</ng-container>
+                                                      </button>
+                                                    }
+                                                </div>
+                                                <div class="mb-n3">
+                                                    @switch (option.type) {
+                                                        @case (ConfigOptionType.Select) { <pngx-input-select [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]" [items]="option.choices" [allowNull]="true"></pngx-input-select> }
+                                                        @case (ConfigOptionType.Number) { <pngx-input-number [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]" [showAdd]="false"></pngx-input-number> }
+                                                        @case (ConfigOptionType.Boolean) { <pngx-input-switch [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]" [showUnsetNote]="true" [horizontal]="true" title="Enable" i18n-title></pngx-input-switch> }
+                                                        @case (ConfigOptionType.String) { <pngx-input-text [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-text> }
+                                                        @case (ConfigOptionType.JSON) { <pngx-input-text [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-text> }
+                                                        @case (ConfigOptionType.File) { <pngx-input-file [formControlName]="option.key" (upload)="uploadFile($event, option.key)" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-file> }
+                                                        @case (ConfigOptionType.Password) { <pngx-input-password [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-password> }
+                                                    }
+                                                </div>
+                                                @if (option.note) {
+                                                    <div class="form-text fst-italic">{{option.note}}</div>
                                                 }
                                             </div>
-                                            <div class="mb-n3">
-                                                @switch (option.type) {
-                                                    @case (ConfigOptionType.Select) { <pngx-input-select [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]" [items]="option.choices" [allowNull]="true"></pngx-input-select> }
-                                                    @case (ConfigOptionType.Number) { <pngx-input-number [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]" [showAdd]="false"></pngx-input-number> }
-                                                    @case (ConfigOptionType.Boolean) { <pngx-input-switch [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]" [showUnsetNote]="true" [horizontal]="true" title="Enable" i18n-title></pngx-input-switch> }
-                                                    @case (ConfigOptionType.String) { <pngx-input-text [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-text> }
-                                                    @case (ConfigOptionType.JSON) { <pngx-input-text [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-text> }
-                                                    @case (ConfigOptionType.File) { <pngx-input-file [formControlName]="option.key" (upload)="uploadFile($event, option.key)" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-file> }
-                                                    @case (ConfigOptionType.Password) { <pngx-input-password [formControlName]="option.key" [error]="errors[option.key]"></pngx-input-password> }
-                                                }
-                                            </div>
-                                            @if (option.note) {
-                                                <div class="form-text fst-italic">{{option.note}}</div>
-                                            }
                                         </div>
                                     </div>
-                                </div>
+                                }
-                            }
+                            </div>
-                        </div>
+                        }
                     </div>
                 </ng-template>
             </li>

src-ui/src/app/components/admin/config/config.component.spec.ts

@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ import { NgbModule } from '@ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap'
 import { NgSelectModule } from '@ng-select/ng-select'
 import { NgxBootstrapIconsModule, allIcons } from 'ngx-bootstrap-icons'
 import { of, throwError } from 'rxjs'
-import { OutputTypeConfig } from 'src/app/data/paperless-config'
+import {
+  ConfigCategory,
+  ConfigSection,
+  OutputTypeConfig,
+} from 'src/app/data/paperless-config'
 import { ConfigService } from 'src/app/services/config.service'
 import { SettingsService } from 'src/app/services/settings.service'
 import { ToastService } from 'src/app/services/toast.service'
@@ -158,4 +162,24 @@ describe('ConfigComponent', () => {
     component.resetOption('barcodes_enabled')
     expect(component.configForm.get('barcodes_enabled').value).toBeNull()
   })
+
+  it('should group options into sections within a category, or not', () => {
+    const sections = component.getCategorySections(ConfigCategory.OCR)
+    expect(sections).toEqual([null, ConfigSection.RemoteOCR])
+    expect(
+      component
+        .getCategoryOptions(ConfigCategory.OCR)
+        .map((option) => option.key)
+    ).toContain('output_type')
+    expect(
+      component
+        .getCategoryOptions(ConfigCategory.OCR, ConfigSection.RemoteOCR)
+        .map((option) => option.key)
+    ).toEqual([
+      'remote_ocr_engine',
+      'remote_ocr_api_key',
+      'remote_ocr_endpoint',
+      'remote_ocr_mode',
+    ])
+  })
 })

src-ui/src/app/components/admin/config/config.component.ts

@@ -74,8 +74,20 @@ export class ConfigComponent
     return Object.values(ConfigCategory)
   }
 
-  getCategoryOptions(category: string): ConfigOption[] {
+  getCategorySections(category: string): string[] {
-    return PaperlessConfigOptions.filter((o) => o.category === category)
+    return [
+      ...new Set(
+        PaperlessConfigOptions.filter((o) => o.category === category).map(
+          (o) => o.section ?? null // null means no section
+        )
+      ),
+    ]
+  }
+
+  getCategoryOptions(category: string, section: string = null): ConfigOption[] {
+    return PaperlessConfigOptions.filter(
+      (o) => o.category === category && (o.section ?? null) === section
+    )
   }
 
   initialConfig: PaperlessConfig

src-ui/src/app/components/common/confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog.component.html

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+<div class="modal-header">
+  <h4 class="modal-title" id="modal-basic-title">{{title}}</h4>
+  <button type="button" class="btn-close" aria-label="Close" (click)="cancel()">
+  </button>
+</div>
+<div class="modal-body">
+  @if (messageBold) {
+    <p class="text-break"><b>{{messageBold}}</b></p>
+  }
+  @if (message) {
+    <p class="mb-0 text-break" [innerHTML]="message"></p>
+  }
+  @if (showRemoteOcr) {
+    <div class="form-check mt-3">
+      <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="reprocessRemoteOcr" [(ngModel)]="remoteOcr" />
+      <label class="form-check-label" for="reprocessRemoteOcr" i18n>Use remote OCR</label>
+      <div class="form-text" i18n>Sends the document to the configured remote OCR service, which may incur costs.</div>
+    </div>
+  }
+</div>
+<div class="modal-footer">
+  <button type="button" class="btn" [class]="cancelBtnClass" (click)="cancel()" [disabled]="!buttonsEnabled">
+    <span class="d-inline-block" style="padding-bottom: 1px;">{{cancelBtnCaption}}</span>
+  </button>
+  <button type="button" class="btn" [class]="btnClass" (click)="confirm()" [disabled]="!confirmButtonEnabled || !buttonsEnabled">
+    {{btnCaption}}
+  </button>
+</div>

src-ui/src/app/components/common/confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog.component.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import { provideHttpClient, withInterceptorsFromDi } from '@angular/common/http'
+import { provideHttpClientTesting } from '@angular/common/http/testing'
+import { ComponentFixture, TestBed } from '@angular/core/testing'
+import { NgbActiveModal } from '@ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap'
+import { RemoteOCRModeConfig } from 'src/app/data/paperless-config'
+import { SETTINGS_KEYS } from 'src/app/data/ui-settings'
+import { SettingsService } from 'src/app/services/settings.service'
+import { ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent } from './reprocess-confirm-dialog.component'
+
+describe('ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent', () => {
+  let component: ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent
+  let fixture: ComponentFixture<ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent>
+  let settingsService: SettingsService
+
+  const createComponent = (configured: boolean, mode: string) => {
+    settingsService.set(SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED, configured)
+    settingsService.set(SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_MODE, mode)
+
+    fixture = TestBed.createComponent(ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent)
+    component = fixture.componentInstance
+    fixture.detectChanges()
+  }
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    TestBed.configureTestingModule({
+      providers: [
+        NgbActiveModal,
+        provideHttpClient(withInterceptorsFromDi()),
+        provideHttpClientTesting(),
+      ],
+      imports: [ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent],
+    }).compileComponents()
+
+    settingsService = TestBed.inject(SettingsService)
+  })
+
+  it('should not request remote OCR by default', () => {
+    createComponent(true, RemoteOCRModeConfig.WORKFLOW_ONLY)
+
+    expect(component.remoteOcr).toBeFalsy()
+  })
+
+  it('should not offer remote OCR when no engine is configured', () => {
+    createComponent(false, RemoteOCRModeConfig.WORKFLOW_ONLY)
+
+    expect(component.showRemoteOcr).toBeFalsy()
+    expect(
+      fixture.nativeElement.querySelector('#reprocessRemoteOcr')
+    ).toBeNull()
+  })
+
+  it('should not offer remote OCR when it already handles every document', () => {
+    createComponent(true, RemoteOCRModeConfig.ALWAYS)
+
+    expect(component.showRemoteOcr).toBeFalsy()
+    expect(
+      fixture.nativeElement.querySelector('#reprocessRemoteOcr')
+    ).toBeNull()
+  })
+
+  it('should offer remote OCR when configured and selective', () => {
+    createComponent(true, RemoteOCRModeConfig.WORKFLOW_ONLY)
+
+    expect(component.showRemoteOcr).toBeTruthy()
+    const checkbox = fixture.nativeElement.querySelector('#reprocessRemoteOcr')
+    expect(checkbox).not.toBeNull()
+
+    checkbox.click()
+    fixture.detectChanges()
+    expect(component.remoteOcr).toBeTruthy()
+  })
+})

src-ui/src/app/components/common/confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog.component.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { Component, inject } from '@angular/core'
+import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms'
+import { SettingsService } from 'src/app/services/settings.service'
+import { ConfirmDialogComponent } from '../confirm-dialog.component'
+
+@Component({
+  selector: 'pngx-reprocess-confirm-dialog',
+  templateUrl: './reprocess-confirm-dialog.component.html',
+  imports: [FormsModule],
+})
+export class ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent extends ConfirmDialogComponent {
+  private settings = inject(SettingsService)
+
+  remoteOcr: boolean = false
+
+  public get showRemoteOcr(): boolean {
+    // Hidden when it is not configured, or when it already handles every document anyway.
+    return this.settings.remoteOCRIsSelectable
+  }
+}

src-ui/src/app/components/common/edit-dialog/workflow-edit-dialog/workflow-edit-dialog.component.html

@@ -455,6 +455,13 @@
           </div>
         </div>
       }
+      @case (WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr) {
+        <div class="row">
+          <div class="col">
+            <p class="text-muted small" i18n>The document will be sent to the configured remote OCR service. May incur costs.</p>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      }
     }
   </div>
 </ng-template>

src-ui/src/app/components/common/edit-dialog/workflow-edit-dialog/workflow-edit-dialog.component.spec.ts

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import {
   DocumentSource,
   WorkflowTriggerType,
 } from 'src/app/data/workflow-trigger'
+import { SETTINGS_KEYS } from 'src/app/data/ui-settings'
 import { IfOwnerDirective } from 'src/app/directives/if-owner.directive'
 import { IfPermissionsDirective } from 'src/app/directives/if-permissions.directive'
 import { CorrespondentService } from 'src/app/services/rest/correspondent.service'
@@ -224,7 +225,12 @@ describe('WorkflowEditDialogComponent', () => {
     ).toEqual('Document Added')
     expect(component.getTriggerTypeOptionName(null)).toEqual('')
     expect(component.sourceOptions).toEqual(DOCUMENT_SOURCE_OPTIONS)
-    expect(component.actionTypeOptions).toEqual(WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS)
+    // Remote OCR is absent until the workflow has a consumption trigger
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions).toEqual(
+      WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS.filter(
+        (a) => a.id !== WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+      )
+    )
     expect(
       component.getActionTypeOptionName(WorkflowActionType.Assignment)
     ).toEqual('Assignment')
@@ -237,7 +243,104 @@ describe('WorkflowEditDialogComponent', () => {
     jest.spyOn(settingsService, 'get').mockReturnValue(false)
     component.ngOnInit()
     expect(component.actionTypeOptions).toEqual(
-      WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS.filter((a) => a.id !== WorkflowActionType.Email)
+      WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS.filter(
+        (a) =>
+          a.id !== WorkflowActionType.Email &&
+          a.id !== WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+      )
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('should offer remote OCR only for consumption workflows', () => {
+    jest.spyOn(settingsService, 'get').mockReturnValue(true)
+
+    // A consumption trigger makes the action reachable
+    component.object = {
+      name: 'Workflow 1',
+      order: 0,
+      enabled: true,
+      triggers: [{ type: WorkflowTriggerType.Consumption }],
+      actions: [],
+    } as Workflow
+    component.ngOnInit()
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions.map((a) => a.id)).toContain(
+      WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+    )
+
+    // Any other trigger type runs after the document has been parsed
+    component.object = {
+      name: 'Workflow 2',
+      order: 0,
+      enabled: true,
+      triggers: [{ type: WorkflowTriggerType.DocumentAdded }],
+      actions: [],
+    } as Workflow
+    component.ngOnInit()
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions.map((a) => a.id)).not.toContain(
+      WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('should offer remote OCR on a trigger added to a new workflow', () => {
+    jest.spyOn(settingsService, 'get').mockReturnValue(true)
+    component.ngOnInit()
+
+    // Nothing for the action to apply to yet
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions.map((a) => a.id)).not.toContain(
+      WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+    )
+
+    // addTrigger creates the form field with emitEvent false, so the options
+    // have to be computed on read rather than cached from valueChanges
+    component.addTrigger()
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions.map((a) => a.id)).toContain(
+      WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+    )
+
+    // Switching that trigger to a type that runs after parsing removes it
+    component.triggerFields
+      .at(0)
+      .get('type')
+      .setValue(WorkflowTriggerType.DocumentAdded)
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions.map((a) => a.id)).not.toContain(
+      WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('should keep remote OCR listed when an action already uses it', () => {
+    jest.spyOn(settingsService, 'get').mockReturnValue(true)
+
+    // Otherwise changing the trigger would silently blank the selection
+    component.object = {
+      name: 'Workflow 1',
+      order: 0,
+      enabled: true,
+      triggers: [{ type: WorkflowTriggerType.DocumentAdded }],
+      actions: [{ type: WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr }],
+    } as Workflow
+    component.ngOnInit()
+
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions.map((a) => a.id)).toContain(
+      WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('should not offer remote OCR when no engine is configured', () => {
+    jest
+      .spyOn(settingsService, 'get')
+      .mockImplementation((key) => key !== SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED)
+
+    component.object = {
+      name: 'Workflow 1',
+      order: 0,
+      enabled: true,
+      triggers: [{ type: WorkflowTriggerType.Consumption }],
+      actions: [],
+    } as Workflow
+    component.ngOnInit()
+
+    expect(component.actionTypeOptions.map((a) => a.id)).not.toContain(
+      WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
     )
   })
 

src-ui/src/app/components/common/edit-dialog/workflow-edit-dialog/workflow-edit-dialog.component.ts

@@ -148,6 +148,10 @@ export const WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS = [
     id: WorkflowActionType.MoveToTrash,
     name: $localize`Move to trash`,
   },
+  {
+    id: WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr,
+    name: $localize`Remote OCR`,
+  },
 ]
 
 export enum TriggerFilterType {
@@ -504,8 +508,6 @@ export class WorkflowEditDialogComponent
 
   expandedItem: number = null
 
-  readonly allowedActionTypes = signal([])
-
   private readonly triggerFilterOptionsMap = new WeakMap<
     FormArray,
     TriggerFilterOption[]
@@ -548,13 +550,40 @@ export class WorkflowEditDialogComponent
       this.checkRemovalActionFields.bind(this)
     )
     this.checkRemovalActionFields(this.objectForm.value)
-    this.allowedActionTypes.set(
+  }
-      this.settingsService.get(SETTINGS_KEYS.EMAIL_ENABLED)
+
-        ? WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS
+  private allowedActionTypes: typeof WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS = null
-        : WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS.filter(
+
-            (a) => a.id !== WorkflowActionType.Email
+  private getAllowedActionTypes() {
-          )
+    let allowed = WORKFLOW_ACTION_OPTIONS
-    )
+
+    if (!this.settingsService.get(SETTINGS_KEYS.EMAIL_ENABLED)) {
+      allowed = allowed.filter((a) => a.id !== WorkflowActionType.Email)
+    }
+
+    // Remote OCR is decided before the document is parsed, so it is only
+    // offered for workflows that run at consumption.
+    const formWorkflow: Workflow = this.objectForm?.value
+    const remoteOcrUsable =
+      this.settingsService.get(SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED) &&
+      (formWorkflow?.triggers?.some(
+        (trigger) => trigger.type === WorkflowTriggerType.Consumption
+      ) ||
+        formWorkflow?.actions?.some(
+          (action) => action.type === WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr
+        ))
+    if (!remoteOcrUsable) {
+      allowed = allowed.filter((a) => a.id !== WorkflowActionType.RemoteOcr)
+    }
+
+    if (
+      this.allowedActionTypes?.length === allowed.length &&
+      this.allowedActionTypes.every((a, i) => a.id === allowed[i].id)
+    ) {
+      return this.allowedActionTypes
+    }
+    this.allowedActionTypes = allowed
+    return allowed
   }
 
   private checkRemovalActionFields(formWorkflow: Workflow) {
@@ -1279,7 +1308,8 @@ export class WorkflowEditDialogComponent
 
   get actionTypeOptions() {
     this.settingsService.trackChanges()
-    return this.allowedActionTypes()
+    // Computed on read rather than cached
+    return this.getAllowedActionTypes()
   }
 
   getActionTypeOptionName(type: WorkflowActionType): string {

src-ui/src/app/components/document-detail/document-detail.component.spec.ts

@@ -963,12 +963,24 @@ describe('DocumentDetailComponent', () => {
     component.reprocess()
     const modalCloseSpy = jest.spyOn(openModal, 'close')
     openModal.componentInstance.confirmClicked.next()
-    expect(reprocessSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ documents: [doc.id] })
+    expect(reprocessSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ documents: [doc.id] }, false)
     expect(modalSpy).toHaveBeenCalled()
     expect(toastSpy).toHaveBeenCalled()
     expect(modalCloseSpy).toHaveBeenCalled()
   })
 
+  it('should pass remote OCR choice when reprocessing', () => {
+    initNormally()
+    const reprocessSpy = jest.spyOn(documentService, 'reprocessDocuments')
+    reprocessSpy.mockReturnValue(of(true))
+    let openModal: NgbModalRef
+    modalService.activeInstances.subscribe((modal) => (openModal = modal[0]))
+    component.reprocess()
+    openModal.componentInstance.remoteOcr = true
+    openModal.componentInstance.confirmClicked.next()
+    expect(reprocessSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ documents: [doc.id] }, true)
+  })
+
   it('should show error if redo ocr call fails', () => {
     initNormally()
     const reprocessSpy = jest.spyOn(documentService, 'reprocessDocuments')

src-ui/src/app/components/document-detail/document-detail.component.ts

@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ import { ISODateAdapter } from 'src/app/utils/ngb-iso-date-adapter'
 import * as UTIF from 'utif'
 import { DocumentDetailFieldID } from '../admin/settings/settings.component'
 import { ConfirmDialogComponent } from '../common/confirm-dialog/confirm-dialog.component'
+import { ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent } from '../common/confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog.component'
 import { PasswordRemovalConfirmDialogComponent } from '../common/confirm-dialog/password-removal-confirm-dialog/password-removal-confirm-dialog.component'
 import { CustomFieldsDropdownComponent } from '../common/custom-fields-dropdown/custom-fields-dropdown.component'
 import { CorrespondentEditDialogComponent } from '../common/edit-dialog/correspondent-edit-dialog/correspondent-edit-dialog.component'
@@ -1402,7 +1403,7 @@ export class DocumentDetailComponent
   }
 
   reprocess() {
-    let modal = this.modalService.open(ConfirmDialogComponent, {
+    let modal = this.modalService.open(ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent, {
       backdrop: 'static',
     })
     modal.componentInstance.title = $localize`Reprocess confirm`
@@ -1413,7 +1414,10 @@ export class DocumentDetailComponent
     modal.componentInstance.confirmClicked.subscribe(() => {
       modal.componentInstance.buttonsEnabled = false
       this.documentsService
-        .reprocessDocuments({ documents: [this.document().id] })
+        .reprocessDocuments(
+          { documents: [this.document().id] },
+          modal.componentInstance.remoteOcr
+        )
         .subscribe({
           next: () => {
             this.toastService.showInfo(

src-ui/src/app/components/document-list/bulk-editor/bulk-editor.component.spec.ts

@@ -1122,6 +1122,7 @@ describe('BulkEditorComponent', () => {
     req.flush(true)
     expect(req.request.body).toEqual({
       documents: [3, 4],
+      remote_ocr: false,
     })
     httpTestingController.match(
       `${environment.apiBaseUrl}documents/?page=1&page_size=50&ordering=-created&truncate_content=true&include_selection_data=true`

src-ui/src/app/components/document-list/bulk-editor/bulk-editor.component.ts

@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ import { ToastService } from 'src/app/services/toast.service'
 import { flattenTags } from 'src/app/utils/flatten-tags'
 import { queryParamsFromFilterRules } from 'src/app/utils/query-params'
 import { MergeConfirmDialogComponent } from '../../common/confirm-dialog/merge-confirm-dialog/merge-confirm-dialog.component'
+import { ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent } from '../../common/confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog/reprocess-confirm-dialog.component'
 import { RotateConfirmDialogComponent } from '../../common/confirm-dialog/rotate-confirm-dialog/rotate-confirm-dialog.component'
 import { CorrespondentEditDialogComponent } from '../../common/edit-dialog/correspondent-edit-dialog/correspondent-edit-dialog.component'
 import { CustomFieldEditDialogComponent } from '../../common/edit-dialog/custom-field-edit-dialog/custom-field-edit-dialog.component'
@@ -909,7 +910,7 @@ export class BulkEditorComponent
   }
 
   reprocessSelected() {
-    let modal = this.modalService.open(ConfirmDialogComponent, {
+    let modal = this.modalService.open(ReprocessConfirmDialogComponent, {
       backdrop: 'static',
     })
     modal.componentInstance.title = $localize`Reprocess confirm`
@@ -923,7 +924,10 @@ export class BulkEditorComponent
         modal.componentInstance.buttonsEnabled = false
         this.executeDocumentAction(
           modal,
-          this.documentService.reprocessDocuments(this.getSelectionQuery())
+          this.documentService.reprocessDocuments(
+            this.getSelectionQuery(),
+            modal.componentInstance.remoteOcr
+          )
         )
       })
   }

src-ui/src/app/data/paperless-config.ts

@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ export const ConfigCategory = {
   AI: $localize`AI Settings`,
 }
 
+export const ConfigSection = {
+  RemoteOCR: $localize`Remote OCR`,
+}
+
 export const LLMEmbeddingBackendConfig = {
   OPENAI_LIKE: 'openai-like',
   HUGGINGFACE: 'huggingface',
@@ -65,6 +69,15 @@ export const LLMBackendConfig = {
   OLLAMA: 'ollama',
 }
 
+export const RemoteOCREngineConfig = {
+  AZURE_AI: 'azureai',
+}
+
+export const RemoteOCRModeConfig = {
+  ALWAYS: 'always',
+  WORKFLOW_ONLY: 'workflow_only',
+}
+
 export interface ConfigOption {
   key: string
   title: string
@@ -72,6 +85,7 @@ export interface ConfigOption {
   choices?: Array<{ id: string; name: string }>
   config_key?: string
   category: string
+  section?: string
   note?: string
 }
 
@@ -181,6 +195,43 @@ export const PaperlessConfigOptions: ConfigOption[] = [
     config_key: 'PAPERLESS_OCR_USER_ARGS',
     category: ConfigCategory.OCR,
   },
+  {
+    key: 'remote_ocr_engine',
+    title: $localize`Remote OCR Engine`,
+    type: ConfigOptionType.Select,
+    choices: mapToItems(RemoteOCREngineConfig),
+    config_key: 'PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE',
+    category: ConfigCategory.OCR,
+    section: ConfigSection.RemoteOCR,
+    note: $localize`Enabling remote OCR sends documents to a third-party service for processing. Consider the privacy implications as well as potential costs before enabling.`,
+  },
+  {
+    key: 'remote_ocr_api_key',
+    title: $localize`Remote OCR API Key`,
+    type: ConfigOptionType.Password,
+    config_key: 'PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY',
+    category: ConfigCategory.OCR,
+    section: ConfigSection.RemoteOCR,
+  },
+  {
+    key: 'remote_ocr_endpoint',
+    title: $localize`Remote OCR Endpoint`,
+    type: ConfigOptionType.String,
+    config_key: 'PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT',
+    category: ConfigCategory.OCR,
+    section: ConfigSection.RemoteOCR,
+    note: $localize`Required when using the Azure AI engine.`,
+  },
+  {
+    key: 'remote_ocr_mode',
+    title: $localize`Remote OCR Mode`,
+    type: ConfigOptionType.Select,
+    choices: mapToItems(RemoteOCRModeConfig),
+    config_key: 'PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE',
+    category: ConfigCategory.OCR,
+    section: ConfigSection.RemoteOCR,
+    note: $localize`Which documents are sent to the remote engine. Use 'workflow_only' to keep remote OCR off unless a workflow enables it for a document.`,
+  },
   {
     key: 'app_logo',
     title: $localize`Application Logo`,
@@ -398,6 +449,10 @@ export interface PaperlessConfig extends ObjectWithId {
   barcode_enable_tag: boolean
   barcode_tag_mapping: object
   barcode_tag_split: boolean
+  remote_ocr_engine: string
+  remote_ocr_api_key: string
+  remote_ocr_endpoint: string
+  remote_ocr_mode: string
   ai_enabled: boolean
   llm_embedding_backend: string
   llm_embedding_model: string

src-ui/src/app/data/ui-settings.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { PdfEditorEditMode } from '../components/common/pdf-editor/pdf-editor-edit-mode'
 import { PdfZoomScale } from '../components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.types'
+import { RemoteOCRModeConfig } from './paperless-config'
 import { User } from './user'
 
 export interface UiSettings {
@@ -94,6 +95,8 @@ export const SETTINGS_KEYS = {
   OUTLOOK_OAUTH_URL: 'outlook_oauth_url',
   EMAIL_ENABLED: 'email_enabled',
   AI_ENABLED: 'ai_enabled',
+  REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED: 'remote_ocr:configured',
+  REMOTE_OCR_MODE: 'remote_ocr:mode',
 }
 
 export const SETTINGS: UiSetting[] = [
@@ -347,4 +350,14 @@ export const SETTINGS: UiSetting[] = [
     type: 'string',
     default: PdfEditorEditMode.Create,
   },
+  {
+    key: SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED,
+    type: 'boolean',
+    default: false,
+  },
+  {
+    key: SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_MODE,
+    type: 'string',
+    default: RemoteOCRModeConfig.ALWAYS,
+  },
 ]

src-ui/src/app/data/workflow-action.ts

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ export enum WorkflowActionType {
   Webhook = 4,
   PasswordRemoval = 5,
   MoveToTrash = 6,
+  RemoteOcr = 7,
 }
 
 export interface WorkflowActionEmail extends ObjectWithId {

src-ui/src/app/services/rest/document.service.spec.ts

@@ -284,6 +284,21 @@ describe(`DocumentService`, () => {
     expect(req.request.method).toEqual('POST')
     expect(req.request.body).toEqual({
       documents: ids,
+      remote_ocr: false,
+    })
+  })
+
+  it('should request remote OCR when reprocessing with it enabled', () => {
+    const ids = [1, 2, 3]
+    subscription = service
+      .reprocessDocuments({ documents: ids }, true)
+      .subscribe()
+    const req = httpTestingController.expectOne(
+      `${environment.apiBaseUrl}${endpoint}/reprocess/`
+    )
+    expect(req.request.body).toEqual({
+      documents: ids,
+      remote_ocr: true,
     })
   })
 

src-ui/src/app/services/rest/document.service.ts

@@ -349,9 +349,13 @@ export class DocumentService extends AbstractPaperlessService<Document> {
     })
   }
 
-  reprocessDocuments(selection: DocumentSelectionQuery) {
+  reprocessDocuments(
+    selection: DocumentSelectionQuery,
+    remoteOcr: boolean = false
+  ) {
     return this.http.post(this.getResourceUrl(null, 'reprocess'), {
       ...selection,
+      remote_ocr: remoteOcr,
     })
   }
 

src-ui/src/app/services/settings.service.spec.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import { environment } from 'src/environments/environment'
 import { CustomFieldDataType } from '../data/custom-field'
 import { DEFAULT_DISPLAY_FIELDS, DisplayField } from '../data/document'
 import { SavedView } from '../data/saved-view'
+import { RemoteOCRModeConfig } from '../data/paperless-config'
 import { SETTINGS_KEYS, UiSettings } from '../data/ui-settings'
 import { PermissionsService } from './permissions.service'
 import { CustomFieldsService } from './rest/custom-fields.service'
@@ -434,4 +435,26 @@ describe('SettingsService', () => {
         ).name
     ).toEqual(customFields[0].name)
   })
+  it('should offer remote OCR only when configured and selective', () => {
+    settingsService.set(SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED, false)
+    settingsService.set(
+      SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_MODE,
+      RemoteOCRModeConfig.WORKFLOW_ONLY
+    )
+    expect(settingsService.remoteOCRIsSelectable).toBeFalsy()
+
+    // configured, but already handling every document
+    settingsService.set(SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED, true)
+    settingsService.set(
+      SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_MODE,
+      RemoteOCRModeConfig.ALWAYS
+    )
+    expect(settingsService.remoteOCRIsSelectable).toBeFalsy()
+
+    settingsService.set(
+      SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_MODE,
+      RemoteOCRModeConfig.WORKFLOW_ONLY
+    )
+    expect(settingsService.remoteOCRIsSelectable).toBeTruthy()
+  })
 })

src-ui/src/app/services/settings.service.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
 } from 'src/app/utils/color'
 import { DEFAULT_APP_TITLE, environment } from 'src/environments/environment'
 import { DEFAULT_DISPLAY_FIELDS, DisplayField } from '../data/document'
+import { RemoteOCRModeConfig } from '../data/paperless-config'
 import { SavedView } from '../data/saved-view'
 import {
   PAPERLESS_GREEN_HEX,
@@ -687,6 +688,17 @@ export class SettingsService {
     return this.settingIsSet(SETTINGS_KEYS.UPDATE_CHECKING_ENABLED)
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Offering remote OCR as a  choice only makes sense when an engine
+   * is configured but is not already handling every document.
+   */
+  get remoteOCRIsSelectable(): boolean {
+    return (
+      this.get(SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_CONFIGURED) &&
+      this.get(SETTINGS_KEYS.REMOTE_OCR_MODE) !== RemoteOCRModeConfig.ALWAYS
+    )
+  }
+
   offerTour(): boolean {
     return this.dashboardIsEmpty() && !this.get(SETTINGS_KEYS.TOUR_COMPLETE)
   }

src/documents/bulk_edit.py

@@ -394,10 +394,16 @@ def delete(doc_ids: list[int]) -> Literal["OK"]:
     return "OK"
 
 
-def reprocess(doc_ids: list[int]) -> Literal["OK"]:
+def reprocess(doc_ids: list[int], *, remote_ocr: bool = False) -> Literal["OK"]:
+    """
+    Re-run parsing for the given documents.
+
+    Consumption workflows do not run here, so ``remote_ocr`` is how the user
+    asks for the remote engine when it is not configured to handle everything.
+    """
     for document_id in doc_ids:
         update_document_content_maybe_archive_file.apply_async(
-            kwargs={"document_id": document_id},
+            kwargs={"document_id": document_id, "remote_ocr": remote_ocr},
             headers={"trigger_source": PaperlessTask.TriggerSource.MANUAL},
         )
 

src/documents/consumer.py

@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ 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.config import RemoteOCRConfig
 from paperless.models import ArchiveFileGenerationChoices
 from paperless.parsers import ParserContext
 from paperless.parsers import ParserProtocol
@@ -451,12 +452,19 @@ class ConsumerPlugin(
                 except Exception as e:
                     self.log.error(f"Error attempting to clean PDF: {e}")
 
+            # Workflows have already run at this point, so the metadata knows
+            # whether this document was singled out for remote OCR
+            allow_remote = (
+                self.metadata.remote_ocr or RemoteOCRConfig().remote_ocr_by_default
+            )
+
             # Based on the mime type, get the parser for that type
             parser_class: type[ParserProtocol] | None = (
                 get_parser_registry().get_parser_for_file(
                     mime_type,
                     self.filename,
                     self.working_copy,
+                    allow_remote=allow_remote,
                 )
             )
             if not parser_class:
@@ -465,6 +473,16 @@ class ConsumerPlugin(
                     f"Unsupported mime type {mime_type}",
                 )
 
+            if self.metadata.remote_ocr and not getattr(
+                parser_class,
+                "uses_remote_service",
+                False,
+            ):
+                self.log.warning(
+                    "Remote OCR was requested for this document but no remote "
+                    "parser is available for it, processing locally instead.",
+                )
+
             # Notify all listeners that we're going to do some work.
 
             document_consumption_started.send(

src/documents/data_models.py

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class DocumentMetadataOverrides:
     skip_asn_if_exists: bool = False
     version_label: str | None = None
     actor_id: int | None = None
+    remote_ocr: bool = False
 
     def update(self, other: "DocumentMetadataOverrides") -> "DocumentMetadataOverrides":
         """
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ class DocumentMetadataOverrides:
             self.actor_id = other.actor_id
         if other.skip_asn_if_exists:
             self.skip_asn_if_exists = True
+        if other.remote_ocr:
+            self.remote_ocr = True
         if other.version_label is not None:
             self.version_label = other.version_label
 

src/documents/migrations/0024_alter_workflowaction_type.py

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Generated by Django 5.2.16 on 2026-08-10 17:27
+
+from django.db import migrations
+from django.db import models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+    dependencies = [
+        ("documents", "0023_savedview_icon"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AlterField(
+            model_name="workflowaction",
+            name="type",
+            field=models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(
+                choices=[
+                    (1, "Assignment"),
+                    (2, "Removal"),
+                    (3, "Email"),
+                    (4, "Webhook"),
+                    (5, "Password removal"),
+                    (6, "Move to trash"),
+                    (7, "Remote OCR"),
+                ],
+                default=1,
+                verbose_name="Workflow Action Type",
+            ),
+        ),
+    ]

src/documents/models.py

@@ -1668,6 +1668,10 @@ class WorkflowAction(models.Model):
             6,
             _("Move to trash"),
         )
+        REMOTE_OCR = (
+            7,
+            _("Remote OCR"),
+        )
 
     type = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(
         _("Workflow Action Type"),

src/documents/serialisers.py

@@ -1745,7 +1745,7 @@ class DeleteDocumentsSerializer(DocumentSelectionSerializer):
 
 
 class ReprocessDocumentsSerializer(DocumentSelectionSerializer):
-    pass
+    remote_ocr = serializers.BooleanField(required=False, default=False)
 
 
 class BulkEditSerializer(
@@ -2087,6 +2087,13 @@ class BulkEditSerializer(
                         f"Page {op['page']} is out of bounds for document with {doc.page_count} pages.",
                     )
 
+    def _validate_parameters_reprocess(self, parameters) -> None:
+        if "remote_ocr" in parameters:
+            if not isinstance(parameters["remote_ocr"], bool):
+                raise serializers.ValidationError("remote_ocr must be a boolean")
+        else:
+            parameters["remote_ocr"] = False
+
     def validate_parameters_remove_password(self, parameters):
         if "password" not in parameters:
             raise serializers.ValidationError("password not specified")
@@ -2151,6 +2158,8 @@ class BulkEditSerializer(
             self._validate_parameters_edit_pdf(parameters, attrs["documents"][0])
         elif method == bulk_edit.remove_password:
             self.validate_parameters_remove_password(parameters)
+        elif method == bulk_edit.reprocess:
+            self._validate_parameters_reprocess(parameters)
 
         return attrs
 
@@ -3276,6 +3285,41 @@ class WorkflowSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer[Workflow]):
             "actions",
         ]
 
+    def validate(self, attrs):
+        attrs = super().validate(attrs)
+
+        if "actions" in attrs:
+            has_remote_ocr_action = any(
+                action.get("type") == WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR
+                for action in attrs["actions"]
+            )
+        else:
+            has_remote_ocr_action = self.instance is not None and (
+                self.instance.actions.filter(
+                    type=WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR,
+                ).exists()
+            )
+
+        if "triggers" in attrs:
+            has_consumption_trigger = any(
+                trigger.get("type") == WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.CONSUMPTION
+                for trigger in attrs["triggers"]
+            )
+        else:
+            has_consumption_trigger = self.instance is not None and (
+                self.instance.triggers.filter(
+                    type=WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.CONSUMPTION,
+                ).exists()
+            )
+
+        # Remote OCR can only work with consumption triggers
+        if has_remote_ocr_action and not has_consumption_trigger:
+            raise serializers.ValidationError(
+                "Remote OCR actions require a consumption started trigger",
+            )
+
+        return attrs
+
     def update_triggers_and_actions(
         self,
         instance: Workflow,

src/documents/signals/handlers.py

@@ -971,6 +971,17 @@ def run_workflows(
                     )
                 elif action.type == WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.MOVE_TO_TRASH:
                     has_move_to_trash_action = True
+                elif action.type == WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR:
+                    if use_overrides and overrides:
+                        overrides.remote_ocr = True
+                    else:
+                        # If a workflow has a consumption trigger *and* another type,
+                        # the document has already been parsed by the time the other one fires
+                        logger.debug(
+                            "Remote OCR action only applies to consumption "
+                            "triggers, ignoring",
+                            extra={"group": logging_group},
+                        )
 
             if not use_overrides:
                 # limit title to 128 characters

src/documents/tasks.py

@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ from documents.utils import compute_checksum
 from documents.utils import identity
 from documents.workflows.utils import get_workflows_for_trigger
 from paperless.config import AIConfig
+from paperless.config import RemoteOCRConfig
 from paperless.logging import consume_task_id
 from paperless.parsers import ParserContext
 from paperless.parsers.registry import get_parser_registry
@@ -337,10 +338,17 @@ def bulk_update_documents(document_ids) -> None:
 
 
 @shared_task
-def update_document_content_maybe_archive_file(document_id) -> None:
+def update_document_content_maybe_archive_file(
+    document_id,
+    *,
+    remote_ocr: bool = False,
+) -> None:
     """
     Re-creates OCR content and thumbnail for a document, and archive file if
     it exists.
+
+    Remote OCR is used only when the engine is configured to handle everything
+    or if explicitly asked for via ``remote_ocr``.
     """
     document = Document.objects.get(id=document_id)
 
@@ -350,6 +358,7 @@ def update_document_content_maybe_archive_file(document_id) -> None:
         mime_type,
         document.original_filename or "",
         document.source_path,
+        allow_remote=remote_ocr or RemoteOCRConfig().remote_ocr_by_default,
     )
 
     if not parser_class:

src/documents/tests/test_api_app_config.py

@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@ class TestApiAppConfig(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
                 "barcode_enable_tag": None,
                 "barcode_tag_mapping": None,
                 "barcode_tag_split": None,
+                "remote_ocr_engine": None,
+                "remote_ocr_api_key": None,
+                "remote_ocr_endpoint": None,
+                "remote_ocr_mode": None,
                 "ai_enabled": False,
                 "llm_embedding_backend": None,
                 "llm_embedding_model": None,
@@ -870,6 +874,49 @@ class TestApiAppConfig(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
         config.refresh_from_db()
         self.assertEqual(config.llm_api_key, None)
 
+    def test_update_remote_ocr_api_key(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - Existing config with remote_ocr_api_key specified
+        WHEN:
+            - API to update remote_ocr_api_key is called with all *s
+            - API to update remote_ocr_api_key is called with empty string
+        THEN:
+            - remote_ocr_api_key is unchanged
+            - remote_ocr_api_key is set to None
+        """
+        config = ApplicationConfiguration.objects.first()
+        assert config is not None
+        config.remote_ocr_api_key = "1234567890"
+        config.save()
+
+        # Test with all *
+        response = self.client.patch(
+            f"{self.ENDPOINT}1/",
+            json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "remote_ocr_api_key": "*" * 32,
+                },
+            ),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
+        config.refresh_from_db()
+        self.assertEqual(config.remote_ocr_api_key, "1234567890")
+        # Test with empty string
+        response = self.client.patch(
+            f"{self.ENDPOINT}1/",
+            json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "remote_ocr_api_key": "",
+                },
+            ),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
+        config.refresh_from_db()
+        self.assertEqual(config.remote_ocr_api_key, None)
+
     def test_enable_ai_index_triggers_update(self) -> None:
         """
         GIVEN:

src/documents/tests/test_api_bulk_edit.py

@@ -532,7 +532,29 @@ class TestBulkEditAPI(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
         m.assert_called_once()
         args, kwargs = m.call_args
         self.assertEqual(args[0], [self.doc1.id])
-        self.assertEqual(len(kwargs), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(kwargs, {"remote_ocr": False})
+
+    @mock.patch("documents.views.bulk_edit.reprocess")
+    def test_reprocess_documents_endpoint_remote_ocr(self, m) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - API data to reprocess a document with remote OCR requested
+        WHEN:
+            - API is called
+        THEN:
+            - reprocess is called with remote_ocr=True
+        """
+        self.setup_mock(m, "reprocess")
+        response = self.client.post(
+            "/api/documents/reprocess/",
+            json.dumps({"documents": [self.doc1.id], "remote_ocr": True}),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
+        m.assert_called_once()
+        args, kwargs = m.call_args
+        self.assertEqual(args[0], [self.doc1.id])
+        self.assertEqual(kwargs, {"remote_ocr": True})
 
     @mock.patch("documents.serialisers.bulk_edit.set_storage_path")
     def test_api_set_storage_path(self, m) -> None:
@@ -1553,6 +1575,29 @@ class TestBulkEditAPI(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
                             ),
                         )
 
+    def test_legacy_bulk_edit_reprocess_invalid_remote_ocr(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - The deprecated bulk_edit endpoint with a non-boolean remote_ocr
+        WHEN:
+            - API is called
+        THEN:
+            - The request is rejected rather than passed through to the task
+        """
+        response = self.client.post(
+            "/api/documents/bulk_edit/",
+            json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "documents": [self.doc1.id],
+                    "method": "reprocess",
+                    "parameters": {"remote_ocr": "yes please"},
+                },
+            ),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
+
     @mock.patch("documents.views.bulk_edit.edit_pdf")
     def test_edit_pdf(self, m) -> None:
         self.setup_mock(m, "edit_pdf")

src/documents/tests/test_api_uisettings.py

@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ class TestApiUiSettings(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
                 },
                 "email_enabled": False,
                 "ai_enabled": False,
+                "remote_ocr": {
+                    "configured": False,
+                    "mode": "always",
+                },
             },
         )
 
@@ -154,6 +158,50 @@ class TestApiUiSettings(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
             str(response.data["settings"]),
         )
 
+    @override_settings(
+        REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE="azureai",
+        REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY="somekey",
+        REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT="https://example.cognitiveservices.azure.com",
+        REMOTE_OCR_MODE="workflow_only",
+    )
+    def test_settings_reports_remote_ocr_when_configured(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - A fully configured remote OCR engine in workflow_only mode
+        WHEN:
+            - The ui_settings endpoint is called
+        THEN:
+            - The UI is told remote OCR is available and selective, so it can
+              offer it where it would actually change something
+        """
+        response = self.client.get(self.ENDPOINT, format="json")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            response.data["settings"]["remote_ocr"],
+            {"configured": True, "mode": "workflow_only"},
+        )
+
+    @override_settings(
+        REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE="azureai",
+        REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY=None,
+        REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT=None,
+    )
+    def test_settings_reports_remote_ocr_incompletely_configured(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - An engine named but missing its endpoint and API key
+        WHEN:
+            - The ui_settings endpoint is called
+        THEN:
+            - It is reported as not configured, matching what the parser
+              registry will actually do
+        """
+        response = self.client.get(self.ENDPOINT, format="json")
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
+        self.assertFalse(response.data["settings"]["remote_ocr"]["configured"])
+
     @override_settings(
         OAUTH_CALLBACK_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8000",
         GMAIL_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID="abc123",

src/documents/tests/test_api_workflows.py

@@ -390,6 +390,141 @@ class TestApiWorkflows(DirectoriesMixin, APITestCase):
 
         self.assertEqual(Workflow.objects.count(), 1)
 
+    def test_api_create_remote_ocr_action_requires_consumption_trigger(
+        self,
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - API request to create a workflow with a remote OCR action
+            - No consumption started trigger, so the action could never run
+        WHEN:
+            - API is called
+        THEN:
+            - Correct HTTP 400 response
+            - No objects are created
+        """
+        existing_count = Workflow.objects.count()
+
+        response = self.client.post(
+            self.ENDPOINT,
+            json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "name": "Remote OCR too late",
+                    "order": 1,
+                    "triggers": [
+                        {
+                            "type": WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.DOCUMENT_ADDED,
+                        },
+                    ],
+                    "actions": [
+                        {
+                            "type": WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR,
+                        },
+                    ],
+                },
+            ),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
+        self.assertEqual(Workflow.objects.count(), existing_count)
+
+    def test_api_create_remote_ocr_action_with_consumption_trigger(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - API request to create a workflow with a remote OCR action
+            - A consumption started trigger alongside another trigger type
+        WHEN:
+            - API is called
+        THEN:
+            - The workflow is created, the action applies to consumption only
+        """
+        response = self.client.post(
+            self.ENDPOINT,
+            json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "name": "Remote OCR on consume",
+                    "order": 1,
+                    "triggers": [
+                        {
+                            "type": WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.CONSUMPTION,
+                            "filter_filename": "*.pdf",
+                        },
+                        {
+                            "type": WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.DOCUMENT_ADDED,
+                        },
+                    ],
+                    "actions": [
+                        {
+                            "type": WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR,
+                        },
+                    ],
+                },
+            ),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
+
+    def test_api_partial_update_adds_remote_ocr_action(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - An existing workflow with a consumption started trigger
+        WHEN:
+            - A partial update adds a remote OCR action without resubmitting triggers
+        THEN:
+            - The existing trigger is considered and the update succeeds
+        """
+        response = self.client.patch(
+            f"{self.ENDPOINT}{self.workflow.id}/",
+            json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "actions": [
+                        {
+                            "type": WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR,
+                        },
+                    ],
+                },
+            ),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            self.workflow.actions.get().type,
+            WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR,
+        )
+
+    def test_api_partial_update_cannot_remove_remote_ocr_trigger(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - An existing workflow with a remote OCR action
+            - An existing consumption started trigger
+        WHEN:
+            - A partial update replaces the trigger without resubmitting actions
+        THEN:
+            - The existing action is considered and the update is rejected
+        """
+        self.action.type = WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR
+        self.action.save()
+
+        response = self.client.patch(
+            f"{self.ENDPOINT}{self.workflow.id}/",
+            json.dumps(
+                {
+                    "triggers": [
+                        {
+                            "type": WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.DOCUMENT_UPDATED,
+                        },
+                    ],
+                },
+            ),
+            content_type="application/json",
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
+        self.assertEqual(self.workflow.triggers.get(), self.trigger)
+
     def test_api_create_workflow_trigger_action_empty_fields(self) -> None:
         """
         GIVEN:

src/documents/tests/test_bulk_edit.py

@@ -1782,3 +1782,56 @@ class TestPDFActions(DirectoriesMixin, TestCase):
 
         self.assertIn("wrong password", str(exc.exception))
         self.assertIn("Error removing password from document", cm.output[0])
+
+
+class TestBulkEditReprocess(DirectoriesMixin, TestCase):
+    def setUp(self) -> None:
+        super().setUp()
+
+        self.doc = Document.objects.create(
+            title="test",
+            checksum="A",
+            mime_type="application/pdf",
+        )
+
+    @mock.patch("documents.bulk_edit.update_document_content_maybe_archive_file")
+    def test_reprocess_defaults_to_local(self, mock_task: mock.Mock) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - A reprocess request that says nothing about remote OCR
+        WHEN:
+            - reprocess is called
+        THEN:
+            - The task is queued without asking for the remote engine
+        """
+        result = bulk_edit.reprocess([self.doc.id])
+
+        self.assertEqual(result, "OK")
+        mock_task.apply_async.assert_called_once()
+        _, kwargs = mock_task.apply_async.call_args
+        self.assertEqual(
+            kwargs["kwargs"],
+            {"document_id": self.doc.id, "remote_ocr": False},
+        )
+
+    @mock.patch("documents.bulk_edit.update_document_content_maybe_archive_file")
+    def test_reprocess_passes_remote_ocr(self, mock_task: mock.Mock) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - A reprocess request that explicitly asks for remote OCR
+        WHEN:
+            - reprocess is called
+        THEN:
+            - The request is forwarded to the task for every document
+        """
+        other = Document.objects.create(
+            title="test2",
+            checksum="B",
+            mime_type="application/pdf",
+        )
+
+        bulk_edit.reprocess([self.doc.id, other.id], remote_ocr=True)
+
+        self.assertEqual(mock_task.apply_async.call_count, 2)
+        for call in mock_task.apply_async.call_args_list:
+            self.assertTrue(call.kwargs["kwargs"]["remote_ocr"])

src/documents/tests/test_consumer.py

@@ -1559,6 +1559,72 @@ class PostConsumeTestCase(DirectoriesMixin, GetConsumerMixin, TestCase):
                         consumer.run_post_consume_script(doc)
 
 
+class TestConsumerRemoteOCR(
+    DirectoriesMixin,
+    FileSystemAssertsMixin,
+    GetConsumerMixin,
+    TestCase,
+):
+    """
+    The consumer resolves the remote OCR mode and the per-document request from
+    workflows into the allow_remote flag it hands to the parser registry.
+    """
+
+    def setUp(self) -> None:
+        super().setUp()
+
+        patcher = mock.patch("documents.consumer.get_parser_registry")
+        self.mock_registry = patcher.start()
+        self.mock_registry.return_value.get_parser_for_file.return_value = DummyParser
+        self.addCleanup(patcher.stop)
+
+    def _consume(self, *, overrides: DocumentMetadataOverrides | None = None) -> bool:
+        src = (
+            Path(__file__).parent
+            / "samples"
+            / "documents"
+            / "originals"
+            / "0000001.pdf"
+        )
+        dst = self.dirs.scratch_dir / "sample.pdf"
+        shutil.copy(src, dst)
+
+        with self.get_consumer(dst, overrides=overrides) as consumer:
+            consumer.run()
+
+        _, kwargs = self.mock_registry.return_value.get_parser_for_file.call_args
+        return kwargs["allow_remote"]
+
+    @override_settings(REMOTE_OCR_MODE="always")
+    def test_always_mode_allows_remote(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: Remote OCR mode is 'always'.
+        WHEN:  A document is consumed without any workflow asking for it.
+        THEN:  The registry is allowed to pick the remote parser.
+        """
+        self.assertTrue(self._consume())
+
+    @override_settings(REMOTE_OCR_MODE="workflow_only")
+    def test_workflow_only_mode_denies_remote_by_default(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: Remote OCR mode is 'workflow_only'.
+        WHEN:  A document is consumed and nothing asked for remote OCR.
+        THEN:  The remote parser is excluded.
+        """
+        self.assertFalse(self._consume())
+
+    @override_settings(REMOTE_OCR_MODE="workflow_only")
+    def test_workflow_only_mode_allows_remote_when_requested(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: Remote OCR mode is 'workflow_only'.
+        WHEN:  A workflow set remote_ocr on the metadata overrides.
+        THEN:  The registry is allowed to pick the remote parser.
+        """
+        self.assertTrue(
+            self._consume(overrides=DocumentMetadataOverrides(remote_ocr=True)),
+        )
+
+
 class TestMetadataOverrides(TestCase):
     def test_update_skip_asn_if_exists(self) -> None:
         base = DocumentMetadataOverrides()
@@ -1566,6 +1632,20 @@ class TestMetadataOverrides(TestCase):
         base.update(incoming)
         self.assertTrue(base.skip_asn_if_exists)
 
+    def test_update_remote_ocr(self) -> None:
+        base = DocumentMetadataOverrides()
+        base.update(DocumentMetadataOverrides(remote_ocr=True))
+        self.assertTrue(base.remote_ocr)
+
+    def test_update_remote_ocr_is_not_unset(self) -> None:
+        """
+        A later workflow that says nothing must not undo an earlier one that
+        asked for remote OCR.
+        """
+        base = DocumentMetadataOverrides(remote_ocr=True)
+        base.update(DocumentMetadataOverrides())
+        self.assertTrue(base.remote_ocr)
+
     def test_update_actor_and_version_label(self) -> None:
         base = DocumentMetadataOverrides(
             actor_id=1,

src/documents/tests/test_tasks.py

@@ -287,6 +287,45 @@ class TestUpdateContent(DirectoriesMixin, TestCase):
         self.assertNotEqual(Document.objects.get(pk=doc.pk).content, "test")
 
 
+class TestUpdateContentRemoteOCR(DirectoriesMixin, TestCase):
+    """
+    Consumption workflows do not run on reprocess, so the remote parser is
+    used only in 'always' mode or when the caller explicitly asks for it.
+    """
+
+    def setUp(self) -> None:
+        super().setUp()
+
+        patcher = mock.patch("documents.tasks.get_parser_registry")
+        self.mock_registry = patcher.start()
+        self.mock_registry.return_value.get_parser_for_file.return_value = None
+        self.addCleanup(patcher.stop)
+
+        self.doc = Document.objects.create(
+            title="test",
+            content="my document",
+            checksum="wow",
+            mime_type="application/pdf",
+        )
+
+    def _allow_remote(self, **kwargs) -> bool:
+        tasks.update_document_content_maybe_archive_file(self.doc.pk, **kwargs)
+        _, call_kwargs = self.mock_registry.return_value.get_parser_for_file.call_args
+        return call_kwargs["allow_remote"]
+
+    @override_settings(REMOTE_OCR_MODE="always")
+    def test_always_mode_allows_remote(self) -> None:
+        self.assertTrue(self._allow_remote())
+
+    @override_settings(REMOTE_OCR_MODE="workflow_only")
+    def test_workflow_only_mode_denies_remote_by_default(self) -> None:
+        self.assertFalse(self._allow_remote())
+
+    @override_settings(REMOTE_OCR_MODE="workflow_only")
+    def test_workflow_only_mode_allows_remote_when_requested(self) -> None:
+        self.assertTrue(self._allow_remote(remote_ocr=True))
+
+
 class TestAIIndex(DirectoriesMixin, TestCase):
     @override_settings(
         AI_ENABLED=True,

src/documents/tests/test_workflows.py

@@ -5409,3 +5409,82 @@ class TestDateWorkflowLocalization(
             document = Document.objects.first()
             assert document is not None
             assert document.title == expected_title
+
+
+class TestRemoteOCRWorkflowAction(DirectoriesMixin, SampleDirMixin, APITestCase):
+    def _make_workflow(self, trigger_type) -> None:
+        trigger = WorkflowTrigger.objects.create(type=trigger_type)
+        action = WorkflowAction.objects.create(
+            type=WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR,
+        )
+        w = Workflow.objects.create(name="Remote OCR", order=0)
+        w.triggers.add(trigger)
+        w.actions.add(action)
+        w.save()
+
+    def test_consumption_trigger_requests_remote_ocr(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - A consumption workflow with a remote OCR action
+        WHEN:
+            - A matching document is consumed
+        THEN:
+            - The overrides ask for remote OCR, which is what the consumer
+              reads when choosing a parser
+        """
+        self._make_workflow(WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.CONSUMPTION)
+
+        test_file = shutil.copy(
+            self.SAMPLE_DIR / "simple.pdf",
+            self.dirs.scratch_dir / "simple.pdf",
+        )
+        overrides = DocumentMetadataOverrides()
+
+        run_workflows(
+            WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.CONSUMPTION,
+            ConsumableDocument(
+                source=DocumentSource.ConsumeFolder,
+                original_file=test_file,
+            ),
+            overrides=overrides,
+        )
+
+        self.assertTrue(overrides.remote_ocr)
+
+    def test_other_trigger_types_are_ignored(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN:
+            - A workflow with a remote OCR action that also has a
+              non-consumption trigger, which is a valid combination
+        WHEN:
+            - The non-consumption trigger fires
+        THEN:
+            - The action is skipped, since the document has already been
+              parsed by this point
+        """
+        trigger = WorkflowTrigger.objects.create(
+            type=WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.CONSUMPTION,
+        )
+        updated_trigger = WorkflowTrigger.objects.create(
+            type=WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.DOCUMENT_UPDATED,
+        )
+        action = WorkflowAction.objects.create(
+            type=WorkflowAction.WorkflowActionType.REMOTE_OCR,
+        )
+        w = Workflow.objects.create(name="Remote OCR", order=0)
+        w.triggers.add(trigger, updated_trigger)
+        w.actions.add(action)
+        w.save()
+
+        doc = Document.objects.create(
+            title="sample test",
+            original_filename="sample.pdf",
+        )
+
+        with self.assertLogs("paperless.handlers", level="DEBUG") as cm:
+            run_workflows(
+                WorkflowTrigger.WorkflowTriggerType.DOCUMENT_UPDATED,
+                doc,
+            )
+
+        self.assertIn("only applies to consumption triggers", "".join(cm.output))

src/documents/views.py

@@ -236,8 +236,10 @@ from paperless import version
 from paperless.celery import app as celery_app
 from paperless.config import AIConfig
 from paperless.config import GeneralConfig
+from paperless.config import RemoteOCRConfig
 from paperless.models import ApplicationConfiguration
 from paperless.parsers.registry import get_parser_registry
+from paperless.parsers.remote import RemoteEngineConfig
 from paperless.serialisers import GroupSerializer
 from paperless.serialisers import UserSerializer
 from paperless.views import StandardPagination
@@ -4010,6 +4012,11 @@ class UiSettingsView(GenericAPIView[Any]):
 
         ui_settings["auditlog_enabled"] = settings.AUDIT_LOG_ENABLED
 
+        ui_settings["remote_ocr"] = {
+            "configured": RemoteEngineConfig.from_app_config().engine_is_valid(),
+            "mode": RemoteOCRConfig().remote_ocr_mode,
+        }
+
         if settings.GMAIL_OAUTH_ENABLED or settings.OUTLOOK_OAUTH_ENABLED:
             manager = PaperlessMailOAuth2Manager()
             if settings.GMAIL_OAUTH_ENABLED:

src/paperless/checks.py

@@ -338,13 +338,16 @@ def check_deprecated_v2_ocr_env_vars(
 
 
 @register()
-def check_remote_parser_configured(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
+def check_remote_ocr_mode(app_configs: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[Error]:
-    if settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE == "azureai" and not (
+    # Import here because checks.py runs before the app registry is ready
-        settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT and settings.REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY
+    from paperless.models import RemoteOCRMode
-    ):
+
+    valid_modes = {mode.value for mode in RemoteOCRMode}
+    if settings.REMOTE_OCR_MODE not in valid_modes:
         return [
             Error(
-                "Azure AI remote parser requires endpoint and API key to be configured.",
+                f"PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE is set to {settings.REMOTE_OCR_MODE!r}, "
+                f"expected one of {sorted(valid_modes)}.",
             ),
         ]
 

src/paperless/config.py

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from paperless.models import CleanChoices
 from paperless.models import ColorConvertChoices
 from paperless.models import ModeChoices
 from paperless.models import OutputTypeChoices
+from paperless.models import RemoteOCRMode
 
 
 @dataclasses.dataclass
@@ -185,6 +186,45 @@ class GeneralConfig(BaseConfig):
         self.app_logo = app_config.app_logo.url if app_config.app_logo else None
 
 
+@dataclasses.dataclass
+class RemoteOCRConfig(BaseConfig):
+    """
+    Settings for the remote (cloud) OCR parser
+    """
+
+    remote_ocr_engine: str | None = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+    remote_ocr_api_key: str | None = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+    remote_ocr_endpoint: str | None = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+    remote_ocr_mode: RemoteOCRMode = dataclasses.field(init=False)
+
+    def __post_init__(self) -> None:
+        app_config = self._get_config_instance()
+
+        self.remote_ocr_engine = (
+            app_config.remote_ocr_engine or settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE
+        )
+        self.remote_ocr_api_key = (
+            app_config.remote_ocr_api_key or settings.REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY
+        )
+        self.remote_ocr_endpoint = (
+            app_config.remote_ocr_endpoint or settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT
+        )
+        self.remote_ocr_mode = app_config.remote_ocr_mode or RemoteOCRMode(
+            settings.REMOTE_OCR_MODE,
+        )
+
+    @property
+    def remote_ocr_by_default(self) -> bool:
+        """
+        Whether every supported document goes to the remote engine.
+
+        When False the remote engine is used only for documents that
+        explicitly asked for it, i.e. a workflow matched during consumption or
+        the user ticked the box when reprocessing.
+        """
+        return self.remote_ocr_mode == RemoteOCRMode.ALWAYS
+
+
 @dataclasses.dataclass
 class AIConfig(BaseConfig):
     """

src/paperless/migrations/0014_applicationconfiguration_remote_ocr_api_key_and_more.py

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Generated by Django 5.2.16 on 2026-08-10 14:37
+
+from django.db import migrations
+from django.db import models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+    dependencies = [
+        ("paperless", "0013_applicationconfiguration_llm_request_timeout"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name="applicationconfiguration",
+            name="remote_ocr_api_key",
+            field=models.CharField(
+                blank=True,
+                max_length=1024,
+                null=True,
+                verbose_name="Sets the remote OCR API key",
+            ),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name="applicationconfiguration",
+            name="remote_ocr_endpoint",
+            field=models.CharField(
+                blank=True,
+                max_length=256,
+                null=True,
+                verbose_name="Sets the remote OCR endpoint",
+            ),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name="applicationconfiguration",
+            name="remote_ocr_engine",
+            field=models.CharField(
+                blank=True,
+                choices=[("azureai", "Azure AI Document Intelligence")],
+                max_length=32,
+                null=True,
+                verbose_name="Sets the remote OCR engine",
+            ),
+        ),
+    ]

src/paperless/migrations/0015_applicationconfiguration_remote_ocr_mode.py

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Generated by Django 5.2.16 on 2026-08-10 15:43
+
+from django.db import migrations
+from django.db import models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+    dependencies = [
+        ("paperless", "0014_applicationconfiguration_remote_ocr_api_key_and_more"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name="applicationconfiguration",
+            name="remote_ocr_mode",
+            field=models.CharField(
+                blank=True,
+                choices=[
+                    ("always", "All supported documents"),
+                    ("workflow_only", "Only when a workflow enables it"),
+                ],
+                max_length=32,
+                null=True,
+                verbose_name="Sets which documents are sent to the remote OCR engine",
+            ),
+        ),
+    ]

src/paperless/models.py

@@ -74,6 +74,23 @@ class ColorConvertChoices(models.TextChoices):
     CMYK = ("CMYK", _("CMYK"))
 
 
+class RemoteOCREngine(models.TextChoices):
+    """
+    Matches to PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE
+    """
+
+    AZURE_AI = ("azureai", _("Azure AI Document Intelligence"))
+
+
+class RemoteOCRMode(models.TextChoices):
+    """
+    Matches to PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE
+    """
+
+    ALWAYS = ("always", _("All supported documents"))
+    WORKFLOW_ONLY = ("workflow_only", _("Only when a workflow enables it"))
+
+
 class LLMEmbeddingBackend(models.TextChoices):
     OPENAI_LIKE = ("openai-like", _("OpenAI-compatible"))
     HUGGINGFACE = ("huggingface", _("Huggingface"))
@@ -286,6 +303,44 @@ class ApplicationConfiguration(AbstractSingletonModel):
         null=True,
     )
 
+    """
+    Settings for the remote OCR parser
+    """
+
+    # PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE
+    remote_ocr_engine = models.CharField(
+        verbose_name=_("Sets the remote OCR engine"),
+        blank=True,
+        null=True,
+        max_length=32,
+        choices=RemoteOCREngine.choices,
+    )
+
+    # PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY
+    remote_ocr_api_key = models.CharField(
+        verbose_name=_("Sets the remote OCR API key"),
+        blank=True,
+        null=True,
+        max_length=1024,
+    )
+
+    # PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT
+    remote_ocr_endpoint = models.CharField(
+        verbose_name=_("Sets the remote OCR endpoint"),
+        blank=True,
+        null=True,
+        max_length=256,
+    )
+
+    # PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE
+    remote_ocr_mode = models.CharField(
+        verbose_name=_("Sets which documents are sent to the remote OCR engine"),
+        blank=True,
+        null=True,
+        max_length=32,
+        choices=RemoteOCRMode.choices,
+    )
+
     """
     AI related settings
     """

src/paperless/parsers/__init__.py

@@ -134,6 +134,11 @@ class ParserProtocol(Protocol):
         Author or organisation name.
     url : str
         URL for documentation, source code, or issue tracker.
+
+    Parsers that send document content to a remote service should additionally
+    set ``uses_remote_service = True`` so the registry can exclude them when
+    remote processing has not been requested for a document. The attribute is
+    optional so a parser that omits it is treated as fully local.
     """
 
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -145,6 +150,10 @@ class ParserProtocol(Protocol):
     author: str
     url: str
 
+    # NOTE: uses_remote_service is not declared here, the registry reads it
+    # with getattr(cls, ..., False) for backwards-compatibility with existing
+    # parsers
+
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Class methods
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------

src/paperless/parsers/registry.py

@@ -334,6 +334,8 @@ class ParserRegistry:
         mime_type: str,
         filename: str,
         path: Path | None = None,
+        *,
+        allow_remote: bool = True,
     ) -> type[ParserProtocol] | None:
         """Return the best parser class for the given file, or None.
 
@@ -359,6 +361,11 @@ class ParserRegistry:
         path:
             Optional filesystem path to the file. Forwarded to each
             parser's score method.
+        allow_remote:
+            When False, parsers that declare ``uses_remote_service = True``
+            are excluded from consideration, so a document is never sent to
+            a remote service. Parsers that do not declare the attribute
+            are treated as local and are always considered.
 
         Returns
         -------
@@ -374,6 +381,13 @@ class ParserRegistry:
             if mime_type not in parser_class.supported_mime_types():
                 continue
 
+            if not allow_remote and getattr(
+                parser_class,
+                "uses_remote_service",
+                False,
+            ):
+                continue
+
             score = parser_class.score(mime_type, filename, path)
             if score is None:
                 continue

src/paperless/parsers/remote.py

@@ -61,6 +61,18 @@ class RemoteEngineConfig:
         self.api_key = api_key
         self.endpoint = endpoint
 
+    @classmethod
+    def from_app_config(cls) -> Self:
+        """Build the config from the app config, falling back to the env."""
+        from paperless.config import RemoteOCRConfig
+
+        app_config = RemoteOCRConfig()
+        return cls(
+            engine=app_config.remote_ocr_engine,
+            api_key=app_config.remote_ocr_api_key,
+            endpoint=app_config.remote_ocr_endpoint,
+        )
+
     def engine_is_valid(self) -> bool:
         """Return True when the engine is known and fully configured."""
         return (
@@ -90,6 +102,9 @@ class RemoteDocumentParser:
         Maintainer name.
     url : str
         Issue tracker / source URL.
+    uses_remote_service : bool
+        Content is sent to a remote service, True so that the registry
+        can skip this parser if remote processing was not requested.
     """
 
     name: str = "Paperless-ngx Remote OCR Parser"
@@ -97,6 +112,8 @@ class RemoteDocumentParser:
     author: str = "Paperless-ngx Contributors"
     url: str = "https://github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx"
 
+    uses_remote_service: bool = True
+
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Class methods
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -145,11 +162,7 @@ class RemoteDocumentParser:
             20 when the remote engine is configured and the MIME type is
             supported, otherwise None.
         """
-        config = RemoteEngineConfig(
+        config = RemoteEngineConfig.from_app_config()
-            engine=settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE,
-            api_key=settings.REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY,
-            endpoint=settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT,
-        )
         if not config.engine_is_valid():
             return None
         if mime_type not in _SUPPORTED_MIME_TYPES:
@@ -244,11 +257,7 @@ class RemoteDocumentParser:
             Whether an archive copy is wanted. For PDFs, False skips the
             remote engine and uses locally-extracted text instead.
         """
-        config = RemoteEngineConfig(
+        config = RemoteEngineConfig.from_app_config()
-            engine=settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE,
-            api_key=settings.REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY,
-            endpoint=settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT,
-        )
 
         if not config.engine_is_valid():
             logger.warning(

src/paperless/serialisers.py

@@ -219,6 +219,13 @@ class ApplicationConfigurationSerializer(
         allow_null=True,
         max_length=1024,
     )
+    remote_ocr_api_key = ObfuscatedPasswordField(
+        required=False,
+        allow_null=True,
+        max_length=1024,
+    )
+
+    OBFUSCATED_FIELDS = ("llm_api_key", "remote_ocr_api_key")
 
     def run_validation(self, data):
         # Empty strings treated as None to avoid unexpected behavior
@@ -230,11 +237,13 @@ class ApplicationConfigurationSerializer(
             data["language"] = None
         if "llm_output_language" in data and data["llm_output_language"] == "":
             data["llm_output_language"] = None
-        if "llm_api_key" in data and data["llm_api_key"] is not None:
+        for field in self.OBFUSCATED_FIELDS:
-            if data["llm_api_key"] == "":
+            if field in data and data[field] is not None:
-                data["llm_api_key"] = None
+                if data[field] == "":
-            elif len(data["llm_api_key"].replace("*", "")) == 0:
+                    data[field] = None
-                del data["llm_api_key"]
+                # Not a real value, don't overwrite the stored one
+                elif len(data[field].replace("*", "")) == 0:
+                    del data[field]
         return super().run_validation(data)
 
     def update(self, instance, validated_data):

src/paperless/settings/__init__.py

@@ -1197,6 +1197,7 @@ WEBHOOKS_ALLOW_INTERNAL_REQUESTS = get_bool_from_env(
 REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE")
 REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY")
 REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT")
+REMOTE_OCR_MODE = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE", "always")
 
 ################################################################################
 # AI Settings                                                                  #

src/paperless/tests/parsers/test_remote_parser.py

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from unittest.mock import Mock
 import pytest
 
 from documents.parsers import ParseError
+from paperless.models import ApplicationConfiguration
 from paperless.parsers import ParserContext
 from paperless.parsers import ParserProtocol
 from paperless.parsers.remote import RemoteDocumentParser
@@ -33,6 +34,10 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from pytest_mock import MockerFixture
 
 
+# Remote ocr config from ApplicationConfiguration needs DB access
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.django_db
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Module-local fixtures
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -227,6 +232,18 @@ class TestRemoteParserScore:
         score = RemoteDocumentParser.score("application/pdf", "doc.pdf")
         assert score is not None and score > 10
 
+    @pytest.mark.usefixtures("no_engine_settings")
+    def test_score_uses_app_config_when_env_unset(self) -> None:
+        """The app config alone is enough to activate the parser."""
+        config = ApplicationConfiguration.objects.first()
+        assert config is not None
+        config.remote_ocr_engine = "azureai"
+        config.remote_ocr_api_key = "app-config-key"
+        config.remote_ocr_endpoint = "https://config.cognitiveservices.azure.com"
+        config.save()
+
+        assert RemoteDocumentParser.score("application/pdf", "doc.pdf") == 20
+
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Properties

src/paperless/tests/parsers/test_tesseract_parser.py

@@ -1277,6 +1277,8 @@ class TestParserFileTypes:
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+# Remote ocr config from ApplicationConfiguration needs DB access
+@pytest.mark.django_db
 class TestRasterisedDocumentParserRegistry:
     def test_registered_in_defaults(self) -> None:
         from paperless.parsers.registry import ParserRegistry

src/paperless/tests/test_checks.py

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ from paperless.checks import audit_log_check
 from paperless.checks import binaries_check
 from paperless.checks import check_default_language_available
 from paperless.checks import check_deprecated_db_settings
-from paperless.checks import check_remote_parser_configured
+from paperless.checks import check_remote_ocr_mode
 from paperless.checks import check_v3_minimum_upgrade_version
 from paperless.checks import debug_mode_check
 from paperless.checks import paths_check
@@ -631,29 +631,21 @@ class TestV3MinimumUpgradeVersionCheck:
         assert check_v3_minimum_upgrade_version(None) == []
 
 
-class TestRemoteParserChecks:
+class TestRemoteOCRModeCheck:
-    def test_no_engine(self, settings: SettingsWrapper) -> None:
+    def test_valid_mode(self, settings: SettingsWrapper) -> None:
-        settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE = None
+        settings.REMOTE_OCR_MODE = "workflow_only"
-        msgs = check_remote_parser_configured(None)
+
+        msgs = check_remote_ocr_mode(None)
 
         assert len(msgs) == 0
 
-    def test_azure_no_endpoint(self, settings: SettingsWrapper) -> None:
+    def test_invalid_mode(self, settings: SettingsWrapper) -> None:
+        settings.REMOTE_OCR_MODE = "sometimes"
 
-        settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE = "azureai"
+        msgs = check_remote_ocr_mode(None)
-        settings.REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY = "somekey"
-        settings.REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT = None
-
-        msgs = check_remote_parser_configured(None)
 
         assert len(msgs) == 1
-
+        assert "PAPERLESS_REMOTE_OCR_MODE is set to 'sometimes'" in msgs[0].msg
-        msg = msgs[0]
-
-        assert (
-            "Azure AI remote parser requires endpoint and API key to be configured."
-            in msg.msg
-        )
 
 
 class TestTesseractChecks:

src/paperless/tests/test_registry.py

@@ -468,6 +468,124 @@ class TestParserRegistryGetParserForFile:
         assert result is AcceptingBuiltin
 
 
+class TestParserRegistryRemoteParsers:
+    """Verify the allow_remote filter in ParserRegistry.get_parser_for_file()."""
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _remote_parser_cls() -> type:
+        class RemoteParser:
+            name = "remote"
+            version = "1.0"
+            author = "A"
+            url = "https://example.com/remote"
+            uses_remote_service = True
+
+            @classmethod
+            def supported_mime_types(cls):
+                return {"text/plain": ".txt"}
+
+            @classmethod
+            def score(cls, mime_type, filename, path=None):
+                return 20
+
+        return RemoteParser
+
+    def test_remote_parser_wins_when_remote_allowed(
+        self,
+        dummy_parser_cls: type,
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: A remote parser scoring 20 and a local parser scoring 10.
+        WHEN:  get_parser_for_file() is called with allow_remote=True.
+        THEN:  The remote parser is returned.
+        """
+        remote_parser_cls = self._remote_parser_cls()
+        registry = ParserRegistry()
+        registry.register_builtin(dummy_parser_cls)
+        registry.register_builtin(remote_parser_cls)
+
+        result = registry.get_parser_for_file(
+            "text/plain",
+            "readme.txt",
+            allow_remote=True,
+        )
+        assert result is remote_parser_cls
+
+    def test_remote_parser_skipped_when_remote_not_allowed(
+        self,
+        dummy_parser_cls: type,
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: A remote parser scoring 20 and a local parser scoring 10.
+        WHEN:  get_parser_for_file() is called with allow_remote=False.
+        THEN:  The local parser is returned despite its lower score.
+        """
+        registry = ParserRegistry()
+        registry.register_builtin(dummy_parser_cls)
+        registry.register_builtin(self._remote_parser_cls())
+
+        result = registry.get_parser_for_file(
+            "text/plain",
+            "readme.txt",
+            allow_remote=False,
+        )
+        assert result is dummy_parser_cls
+
+    def test_no_parser_when_only_remote_available_and_not_allowed(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: A registry whose only candidate declares uses_remote_service.
+        WHEN:  get_parser_for_file() is called with allow_remote=False.
+        THEN:  None is returned — the remote parser is never used as a
+               fallback when remote processing was not requested.
+        """
+        registry = ParserRegistry()
+        registry.register_builtin(self._remote_parser_cls())
+
+        result = registry.get_parser_for_file(
+            "text/plain",
+            "readme.txt",
+            allow_remote=False,
+        )
+        assert result is None
+
+    def test_parser_without_attribute_treated_as_local(
+        self,
+        dummy_parser_cls: type,
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: A third-party parser predating uses_remote_service, so it does
+               not declare the attribute at all.
+        WHEN:  get_parser_for_file() is called with allow_remote=False.
+        THEN:  It is still considered, i.e. treated as fully local, rather
+               than raising AttributeError.
+        """
+        assert not hasattr(dummy_parser_cls, "uses_remote_service")
+
+        registry = ParserRegistry()
+        registry.register_builtin(dummy_parser_cls)
+
+        result = registry.get_parser_for_file(
+            "text/plain",
+            "readme.txt",
+            allow_remote=False,
+        )
+        assert result is dummy_parser_cls
+
+    def test_remote_allowed_by_default(self) -> None:
+        """
+        GIVEN: A registry containing only a remote parser.
+        WHEN:  get_parser_for_file() is called without allow_remote.
+        THEN:  The remote parser is returned — callers that do not opt in to
+               the filter keep the previous behaviour.
+        """
+        remote_parser_cls = self._remote_parser_cls()
+        registry = ParserRegistry()
+        registry.register_builtin(remote_parser_cls)
+
+        result = registry.get_parser_for_file("text/plain", "readme.txt")
+        assert result is remote_parser_cls
+
+
 class TestDiscover:
     """Verify entrypoint discovery in ParserRegistry.discover()."""
 

src/paperless/tests/test_remote_ocr_config.py

@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+"""Tests for RemoteOCRConfig precedence between app config and Django settings."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+import pytest
+from django.test import override_settings
+
+from paperless.config import RemoteOCRConfig
+from paperless.models import RemoteOCRMode
+
+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(
+        remote_ocr_engine=None,
+        remote_ocr_api_key=None,
+        remote_ocr_endpoint=None,
+        remote_ocr_mode=None,
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def make_remote_ocr_config(mocker):
+    def _make(app_config, **django_settings_overrides):
+        mocker.patch(
+            "paperless.config.BaseConfig._get_config_instance",
+            return_value=app_config,
+        )
+        with override_settings(**django_settings_overrides):
+            return RemoteOCRConfig()
+
+    return _make
+
+
+class TestRemoteOCRConfig:
+    def test_falls_back_to_settings(
+        self,
+        make_remote_ocr_config,
+        null_app_config,
+    ) -> None:
+        cfg = make_remote_ocr_config(
+            null_app_config,
+            REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE="azureai",
+            REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY="env-key",
+            REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT="https://env.cognitiveservices.azure.com",
+            REMOTE_OCR_MODE=RemoteOCRMode.WORKFLOW_ONLY,
+        )
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_engine == "azureai"
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_api_key == "env-key"
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_endpoint == "https://env.cognitiveservices.azure.com"
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_mode == RemoteOCRMode.WORKFLOW_ONLY
+
+    def test_app_config_takes_precedence(
+        self,
+        make_remote_ocr_config,
+        mocker,
+    ) -> None:
+        app_config = mocker.MagicMock(
+            remote_ocr_engine="azureai",
+            remote_ocr_api_key="db-key",
+            remote_ocr_endpoint="https://db.cognitiveservices.azure.com",
+            remote_ocr_mode=RemoteOCRMode.WORKFLOW_ONLY,
+        )
+        cfg = make_remote_ocr_config(
+            app_config,
+            REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE=None,
+            REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY="env-key",
+            REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT="https://env.cognitiveservices.azure.com",
+            REMOTE_OCR_MODE=RemoteOCRMode.ALWAYS,
+        )
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_engine == "azureai"
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_api_key == "db-key"
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_endpoint == "https://db.cognitiveservices.azure.com"
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_mode == RemoteOCRMode.WORKFLOW_ONLY
+
+    def test_unset_everywhere(
+        self,
+        make_remote_ocr_config,
+        null_app_config,
+    ) -> None:
+        cfg = make_remote_ocr_config(
+            null_app_config,
+            REMOTE_OCR_ENGINE=None,
+            REMOTE_OCR_API_KEY=None,
+            REMOTE_OCR_ENDPOINT=None,
+        )
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_engine is None
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_api_key is None
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_endpoint is None
+
+
+class TestRemoteOCRByDefault:
+    def test_always_mode(self, make_remote_ocr_config, null_app_config) -> None:
+        cfg = make_remote_ocr_config(
+            null_app_config,
+            REMOTE_OCR_MODE=RemoteOCRMode.ALWAYS,
+        )
+
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_by_default is True
+
+    def test_workflow_only_mode(self, make_remote_ocr_config, null_app_config) -> None:
+        cfg = make_remote_ocr_config(
+            null_app_config,
+            REMOTE_OCR_MODE=RemoteOCRMode.WORKFLOW_ONLY,
+        )
+
+        assert cfg.remote_ocr_by_default is False