Products / Documents & files
Hoq Intake
Scan once. Your rules file each document into the right folder of your drive.
What it does
Intake takes documents from a scanner on an office computer, a Hoq scanning box, or your own software over an API. It reads each one just enough to decide where it goes, then files it into a folder in your Hoq Storage drive.
You write rules in plain terms: text anywhere in it, text on page one, which scanner it came from, how many pages, or which separator sheet came before it. A rule names the folder and the file name, with tokens like {year} and {date}. Before a rule turns on, you try it against the last 90 days of documents and see what would have moved.
There is no inbox to empty. A document no rule matches still lands in a real folder you chose, tagged so you can find it. When you change a rule, Intake can move the documents it already filed inside your drive without uploading them again.
In numbers
90 daysof past documents each new rule is tried against
30 daysdefault time the original is kept after filing (1 to 365)
7facts a rule can test in the editor, from page-one text to page count
0documents left waiting in an inbox: every one is filed
Specifications
| Where documents go | Folders in your own Hoq Storage drive, named by your rules. |
|---|---|
| How documents arrive | From scanners on Hoq Station computers, Hoq scanning appliances, or POST /v1/documents with an API key. |
| File types read | PDF and images. Intake reads a PDF's text layer and any barcodes or QR codes on the pages. |
| OCR | Scanning stations run OCR before they send, so scanned PDFs arrive with text. Intake itself reads existing text and does not OCR images. |
| Unmatched documents | Filed into a fallback folder you pick when you connect your drive, tagged unrouted. There is no review queue. |
| Trying a rule | Replays the rule against the last 90 days of documents before it can be turned on. |
| Duplicates | Identical bytes are linked to the first copy by default, or filed again if you choose. |
| Separator sheets | Print a sheet with a QR code. Intake splits a scanned stack at each sheet and uses its name in rules. |
| Retries | Each upload carries a reference made when the scan finishes, so a retried upload is the same document and never files twice. |
| Original copies | Intake keeps the source bytes 30 days by default after filing, adjustable from 1 to 365 days. |
| Access to your drive | The drive token is kept server-side, encrypted with AES-256-GCM, and never sent to a browser or device. |
Features
15 features, all shipped. Listed from the product's code and documentation; each row shows the day it was last checked.
| Scanning stations | An office computer with a scanner shows up as a station you can start a scan on from the console. | |
| Scanner calibration | Scan a white sheet to calibrate a station's scanner. | |
| Claim a device by code | A scanning box shows a pairing code that expires; you claim it in the console. | |
| API ingest | Post raw document bytes with an intake:ingest key; name the source in a header. | |
| Checksum check | Send a SHA-256 of the file and a mismatch is refused, never filed. |
| Plain conditions | Contains, is, starts with, pattern, greater or less than, between; all conditions must match. | |
| Folder and name templates | Build paths and names from {type} {year} {month} {day} {date} {device} {original} {seq} and more. | |
| Try it first | See which of the last 90 days of documents a rule would have caught before turning it on. | |
| Move what is filed | After a rule change, move earlier documents inside your drive in one step. | |
| Rule order | Rules run in the order you set; later also-rules can add tags but not change the folder. |
| Live document list | Pages appear in the console as they arrive, with search and per-source filters. | |
| Page pictures | Preview each page of a document in the console. | |
| Re-file, move, discard, retry | Fix one document by hand from its detail view. | |
| Separator sheets | Print QR separator sheets to split one stack into several documents. | |
| Duplicate policy | Link identical files to the first copy or file them again. |
Works with
- Hoq StorageEvery document is filed into a folder of your Hoq Storage drive, where Storage search finds it.
Your data
| Where it is kept | Filed documents live in your Hoq Storage drive. Intake keeps the original bytes for 30 days by default, plus a record of each document and the rule that filed it. |
|---|---|
| Getting it out | The filed documents are ordinary files in your drive; download them from Hoq Storage. |
| If you leave | Not published. |
APIs and standards
- POST /v1/documents: raw bytes, Bearer key with scope intake:ingest, idempotent on X-Intake-Ref
- GET /v1/documents/{uid}: state of one document
- POST /v1/device/register: device enrollment with an expiring pairing code
- Standard: PDF
- Standard: QR code
- Standard: SHA-256
Compared
| Checked 2026-11-01 | Hoq Intake | Dext Business | Paperless-ngx (self-hosted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Not published | $25.21 per month, or $302.50 a year, for 5 users1 | Free software; you run the server2 |
| Document allowance | Not published | 250 documents per month1 | No limit stated3 |
| Where filed documents live | Folders in your Hoq Storage drive | Dext, then sent on to accounting software1 | Plain files on your own server3 |
| Reads amounts and fields | No, routes on text, source, pages and codes | Yes, automatic data extraction1 | Auto-tags with machine learning; optional AI suggestions3 |
| OCR | On the scanning station before upload | not published1 | Tesseract, 100+ languages3 |
| Email import | No | not published1 | Yes, multiple accounts with rules3 |
| Test a rule on past documents | Yes, last 90 days | not published1 | not published3 |
| Licence | Hosted service | Hosted service1 | GPL-3.02 |