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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.

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.