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Linking Documents

You can link Paperless-ngx documents to work items, household items, and vendor invoices so that related documents -- contracts, receipts, permits, plans, warranties -- are always accessible from the entity they belong to.

Where Documents Appear​

A Documents section appears on:

  • Work item detail pages -- Link contracts, permits, receipts, and plans to the work item they relate to
  • Household item detail pages -- Link product specs, receipts, warranties, and delivery confirmations to household items
  • Invoice detail pages -- Link invoice PDFs and supporting documents to vendor invoices

Each section shows the number of linked documents as a badge next to the heading.

note

Screenshots for the documents feature require a connected Paperless-ngx instance and will be added in a future release.

Linking a Document​

  1. Open a work item or invoice detail page
  2. Scroll down to the Documents section
  3. Click + Add Document -- this opens a document picker modal
  4. Search or browse for the document you want to link
  5. Click a document card to link it

The document is immediately linked and appears in the Documents section. A screen reader announcement confirms the link was created.

The picker shows all documents by default. If your document store is large and you only want to see documents that are not yet linked anywhere in Cornerstone, tick the Hide already-linked documents checkbox at the top of the picker -- it stays unchecked unless you turn it on, so you never have to clear it just to find a document you intend to re-link.

note

Each document can only be linked once to the same entity. If you try to link a document that is already attached, Cornerstone will show a message that the document is already linked.

Viewing a Linked Document​

Linked documents are displayed as compact cards showing the thumbnail, title, and date. You can interact with them in two ways:

  • View details -- Click the document card to expand an inline detail panel with full metadata, content preview, and a link to open the document in Paperless-ngx
  • Open in Paperless-ngx -- Click the external link icon on the card to go directly to the document in your Paperless-ngx instance (opens in a new tab)

Unlinking a Document​

  1. Find the linked document card in the Documents section
  2. Click the Unlink button on the card
  3. A confirmation dialog appears -- click Unlink to confirm or Cancel to keep the link
caution

Unlinking removes the association between the Cornerstone entity and the Paperless-ngx document. The document itself is not deleted from Paperless-ngx -- it remains in your document store.

Without Paperless-ngx​

If Paperless-ngx is not configured, the Documents section on work item and invoice detail pages shows an informational message explaining how to enable the integration. The + Add Document button is disabled.

If Paperless-ngx was previously configured and documents were linked, but the connection is later removed or becomes unreachable, the linked document records are preserved. The cards will show the Paperless-ngx document ID but will not be able to display thumbnails or metadata until the connection is restored.