Skip to content
This repository has been archived by the owner on Feb 16, 2023. It is now read-only.

[GUIDE] iOS Upload Workflow

Jump to bottom
Willy edited this page Aug 18, 2021 · 2 revisions

Introduction

On iOS, there are a bunch of good scanning apps (even the built-in document scanner is great for most cases). However, only a few apps support uploading the documents to the paperless server via FTP, SMB, etc. after scanning. At least not in the free versions. I've been looking for a few months now, and haven't seen a free app that would allow me to upload the file after scanning. In the meantime, I have found a good workflow which currently works quite well for ME. And since I haven't seen a tutorial for iOS here yet, I thought I'd share my way here, maybe it will help one person :).

Prerequisites

  • OPTIONAL: A scanner app.
    • I use SwiftScan and Adobe Scan, but the following way should work with almost ANY scan app from the AppStore.
    • the built-in scanner app works just as well
  • Shortcuts
    • Shortcuts is an app that allows you to create some automations on iOS. For example, turn on a light when the last person leaves the house, QR generation and much more. By now the Shortcuts app is really well developed and you can create many small tools with it. For example, I built a URL shortener using Shortcuts. I can only recommend the app to every iOS user who is interested in automations or small scripts.
    • Shortcuts should be preinstalled, but it can also be installed from the AppStore
    • SSH access to the paperless server

Demo

App used: Adobe Scan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KjCygxwSuw

How it works

The idea is that we create a shortcut which does the following:

  • Accept PDFs and files by sharing them to the shortcut
  • IF file was passed
    • THEN take file from input
    • ELSE open a dialog, where you can select a file
  • Extract information like name and file extension
  • Replace with \ in filename (to allow spaces in filename)
  • Login to the paperless server via SSH, execute the following command:
# Save input under the path `{remote_path}`
cat > {remote_path}
# Verify if file exists
ls -la {remote_path}
  • Done!

⚠️ Security Note

In order for the shortcut to access the Paperless server via SSH, the shortcut must authenticate via a password, or SSH key. The SSH key cannot be secured with a password, as far as I know.

Thus, anyone who has access to your iPhone can log in to the paperless server.

Therefore, you should create an extra user with highly restricted access rights, which will only have access to the consumer folder.

In my case, though, it doesn't really matter because my paperless server is only exposed on my local network, and if anyone has access to it, they have access to the physical hardware. Besides, my iPhone is also (sufficiently) protected.

The Shortcut, Step-By-Step

TL;DR

You can also get my shortcut here (last update: 2021-03-31, 7:41 PM), and then adjust the values to your application purpose.

Pt-1

Step 1: Create new shortcut

Open the Shortcuts app -> "My Shortcuts" -> click on the "+" at the top.

Step 2: Show in Share Sheet

Now click on the blue circle with 3 dots in the upper right corner. There you can, if you like, give it a name, change the icon and add the shortcut to the home screen.

Then activate Show in Share Sheet and select PDFs and Files in Share Sheet Types. When you are done, click "Done" in the upper right corner.

Step 3: File details (Name, Extension)

Next, click on the blue circle with the "+" and select Get Details of Files. Then click on File Size and select Name.

We now save the value in a variable by clicking on the "+" again and selecting "Set Variable".

At Variable Name we can now assign a name, for example File Name: Let's repeat the same for File Extension.

Tut-2

Step 3.1: Replace with \

In Linux, spaces in paths are indicated by \ , so we need to replace spaces with \ . This is also easily possible via the action Replace Text, which is inserted between Get Name from ... and Set variable ....

In Hello we write and in World we write \ .

Step 4: Send to Paperless

To upload the file to Paperless we add the "Run Script Over SSH" action. Here you have to enter the Host of Paperless, the SSH Port, the Username and an Authentication-Method (read the security note above). Since I prefer authentication via SSH keys, I select "SSH Key".

Select Shortcut Input under Input and enter the following command:

cat > ~/paperless/consumer/(File Name).(File Name)

NOTE: To enter the File Name and File Extension placeholders, just click in the text field. Above the keyboard a field appears, over which variables can be inserted by clicking.

Step 4.1 Generate SSH-Key and Upload to Paperless

NOTE: The SSH key is generated by the iPhone, which must then be stored in paperless. To generate, click on the SSH key and select Generate New Key. I used RSA with 4096 bits for the generation.

When you are done, click Share Public Key and add it to your Paperless user. See: linuxhandbook.com

$ mkdir -p ~/.ssh && echo "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAACAQCSx5mBYPqSe0zy6YAs94Wxapj1o9nxaVBxjnYxPWo8HXe8HRg [...] Shortcuts on Daniel’s iPhone" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 5: Test it

The shortcut can now be tested. If something does not work, you can also test my provided shortcut at TL;DR.

Clone this wiki locally