PaperlessZen™ for SharePoint
Last reviewed September 13, 2026
SharePoint is where a lot of institutional documents go to sit. It is a fine place to store a file and a frustrating place to find one, especially when the library is thousands of scanned PDFs named by whatever the scanner called them.
PaperlessZen™ turns that library into an archive you can actually use.
The SharePoint library
Thousands of scanned PDFs named by the scanner.
Only the file name is searchable.
Documents technically preserved and practically lost.
With PaperlessZen
Every page is read, so the full text is searchable.
Each document is classified and linked to its record.
You land on the exact page instead of a folder tree.
What connects
Point PaperlessZen at a SharePoint library and it reads every page of what is there, so the full text becomes searchable and each document gets a document classification and a link to the record it concerns. You keep SharePoint for the collaboration it is good at; PaperlessZen becomes the findable system of record for the documents that matter.
What syncs, and in which direction
PaperlessZen reads from the library; it does not write into it. A file you point us at is read, classified, and copied into the archive, where it becomes searchable and governed. The source item in SharePoint is left exactly as it was: same site, same library, same content type, same columns. Nothing in your library is deleted, moved, or relabeled as part of the sync, so bringing a library in does not disrupt the team that still works out of it day to day.
What SharePoint keeps doing, and what we add
SharePoint keeps doing what it is good at: a site and a document library your team edits together, with columns and content types your admins set up over the years. What SharePoint’s library permissions do not do is track an obligation buried in a contract or guarantee that a scanned agreement is findable by what it says rather than what it was named. A library’s permissions and a record system’s permissions are also two different models. SharePoint decides folder access through its own sharing rules; PaperlessZen decides document access through roles and policy set in one place. Uniquely permissioning folders to force them to match is the usual workaround, and a library only tolerates a few thousand uniquely permissioned items before it stops cooperating. PaperlessZen does not inherit that problem, because it is a separate archive with its own access model, not a patch applied to the library.
A worked example: a library of unnamed scans
A records office has a SharePoint library of ten thousand scanned agreements, most named by whatever the scanner assigned that morning. Nobody can search it by content, and access was granted broadly years ago because nobody wanted to manage folder-level permissions for that many files. Pointed at the library, PaperlessZen reads each file, classifies it, and files it against the record it concerns, so a search for a clause returns the page it is on instead of a filename. The library keeps existing for the team that still collaborates in it; the archive becomes the place a records office actually finds what it is looking for, with access set by role rather than by folder.
A three-step recipe
Three steps take a library of scans to a governed archive, with intake doing the reading and obligations tracked at the end.
Point us at the library
Tell PaperlessZen which SharePoint library holds your scanned agreements.
Every file is read
Intake reads and classifies each file, proposing where it belongs.
You confirm
A folder of unsearchable PDFs becomes an archive with obligations tracked and documents linked to their records.
Availability
PaperlessZen is in early beta. Importing from a SharePoint library is available to early customers on request. Tell us where your files live and we will help you turn them into something searchable, or read the broader ecosystem thesis.
Frequently asked questions
Does PaperlessZen replace SharePoint?
It depends on what you use SharePoint for. As a place to dump scanned files, PaperlessZen does the job far better because it reads and files them. As a collaboration workspace, SharePoint can stay, and PaperlessZen becomes the system of record for the documents that matter.
Can we bring an existing SharePoint library in?
Yes. Point us at the library and PaperlessZen reads and classifies what is there, so a pile of scans becomes a searchable archive rather than a folder tree nobody navigates.
Do SharePoint permissions carry over to PaperlessZen?
No, and that is deliberate. A library's permissions and a record system's permissions are separate models. PaperlessZen sets access by role and policy in one place, rather than inheriting a library's uniquely permissioned folders, which stop scaling well past a few thousand items.
What happens to content types and columns from the library?
PaperlessZen reads the file and classifies it on its own terms; it does not import SharePoint's content types or column metadata. If your library's columns encode information the document itself does not state, tell us during setup and we will figure out how to carry it across.