PaperBridge

A beautifully simple way to turn handwritten notes into organized, searchable Obsidian entries.

What Is It?

PaperBridge is a lightweight system that connects your analog journaling to your digital second brain.
Snap a picture of your journal, and PaperBridge handles the rest — transcription, formatting, tagging, and file organization — straight into Obsidian.

Who It's For

• Creatives, founders, and deep thinkers who prefer pen and paper.
• Obsidian users who want analog-to-digital workflows.
• People who want to spend less time copying notes and more time using them.

What You Get

• A ready-to-use Apple Shortcuts + Python automation setup.
• GPT-powered OCR transcription — including formatting and suggested hashtags.
• A sample Obsidian vault to drop your notes into.
• A video walkthrough to get you set up in minutes.

Choose Your Tier

This Option: Hosted – $7/month

Perfect if you want zero setup. We host everything for you.

• Use my server and OpenAI API access
• Recommended if you're not technical or just want it to work
• Covers up to 120 notes per month

OR get more control: Self-Hosted – Pay What You Want

You get the full system — and you run it yourself.

• Host your own server on Replit (or elsewhere)
• Use your own OpenAI API key
• Includes advanced instructions for setup

How It Works

1. Write in your physical journal
2. Scan it to an iCloud folder
3. Select your scanned journal file when prompted in the PaperBridge Shortcut — it then transcribes, tags, names, and saves
4. Your notes appear in Obsidian, formatted & filed

What You’ll Need

• Apple Computer (macOS 15 Sequoia or later) with Shortcuts app (Note: It is advisable to run PaperBridge from a Mac unless your Obsidian vault is stored in iCloud Drive and accessible via iOS.)

• A Gumroad download of PaperBridge Shortcut
• Obsidian installed on your computer or iCloud 
• Folder in Obsidian for incoming notes (we suggest: PaperBridge)

Bonus

• Obsidian vault structure
• Sample templates
• Additional scripts for automations

FAQ

Do I need coding skills?
Nope. If you choose the hosted version, everything works out of the box. If you go self-hosted, we’ve got copy/paste instructions ready for you.

Will it work with multiple-page scans?
Yes. All pages get transcribed and compiled into one clean file.

Is my data private?
With self-hosted, it’s 100% yours. For hosted, we never store or review your files.

Built by Edvardo Archer

Therapist. Systems nerd. Writer.
I made PaperBridge for myself — and now it’s yours to build on.