PaperCut MF supports two hosting options for Document Processing: PaperCut Cloud Services and Self-hosted infrastructure.
Document Processing powers features such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition), blank page removal, batch splitting, and more. These features rely on a background service that can either run in the cloud (hosted by PaperCut) or on your own server.
As of PaperCut MF version 24.1.8, the licensing model has changed:
- Self-hosted Document Processing is now included with your MF license and does not require additional entitlements.
- Cloud-hosted Document Processing now requires per-device entitlements.
Choose Self-Hosted or Cloud
PaperCut MF gives you the flexibility to host Document Processing in the cloud using
PaperCut’s Cloud Services
or on your own infrastructure.
Here’s how they compare:
Self-hosted Document Processing | Cloud Document Processing | |
|---|---|---|
Licensing | Included with MF license (unlimited devices) | Requires per-device entitlement |
Hosting location | Runs on your own infrastructure | Hosted in the cloud by PaperCut |
Server Compatibility | Runs on Windows | Compatible with any operating system including Windows, macOS, or Linux |
System updates | Automatic | Automatic |
Scalability | Depends on your infrastructure | PaperCut cloud scales automatically with user load |
Best for... | Organizations with strict data policies or no internet access | Simpler setup, ensured performance |
Set the hosting option
Once you decide whether to go with the Cloud or Self-Hosted option, you’ll need to put it into practice. Here’s how to get started.
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Log into the PaperCut admin interface.
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Navigate to Options then Capture.
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Under Hosting Configuration select either Use PaperCut MF Cloud Services for Document Processing or Use Self-Hosted Document Processing.
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For the next steps…
- If you selected Cloud Services, go to Enable Cloud Document Processing scan actions on a device to assign entitlements.
- If you selected Self-Hosted, follow Set up self-hosted Document Processing to install and configure the service.
Document Processing FAQs
Is self-hosted Document Processing different to Cloud Document Processing?
As far as the output is concerned, no.
Cloud Document Processing accepts scan data from around the world and processes it in the region chosen by the organization. This means that data might travel outside or be processed outside the country of origin.
Cloud Document Processing scales according to scan job requirements, whereas self-hosted Document Processing requires you to manage local infrastructure and manually install server updates.
If one of my Document Processing servers goes offline and has jobs in the queue, what happens to those jobs?
If you have multiple Document Processing servers and one of them goes offline, any jobs in the queue for that server will be automatically transferred to a different Document Processing server for completion.
Will the metadata file identify OCR scan jobs?
Yes. Document Processing scan jobs will be identified in the metadata file by the file type and also a new element specifying whether or not each Document Processing feature is enabled. For more information see, Integration with Electronic Document Management Systems.
Why am I limited to only three file types?
PaperCut MF supports thousands of MFD models with varying display panel sizes and resolutions, so we need to cater for the smallest display panels. This means we are limited to being able to display a maximum of three file type choices at the MFD.
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