The Vault

The Vault is Paperwise’s home screen: your things, sorted the way you’d sort a safe. It’s where you land after Face ID, and every list in the app starts here.

What it is

There’s no tab bar in Paperwise. Everything starts on the Vault, and from there you open a shelf, a folder, a document or Account. From top to bottom:

Part	What it does
Your avatar (top right)	Opens Account: backup, devices, lock, AI and settings. It shows your initial when you’re signed in, a person icon otherwise.
Search your vault	Searches titles, notes and the text on every page and inside files. Never searches Hidden. See Search your vault.
Sorted by Paperwise	Shelves such as IDs and passports, Money and Health, each with a count. Only shelves with something on them appear. See Shelves.
Your folders	The folders you made, plus a New folder tile. See Folders inside folders.
More	All items (everything, with a count), Inbox (only while emailed items wait to be filed), Shared links and Recently deleted.
Hidden	A quiet row of its own at the bottom, with no count. It opens with Face ID. You can remove it from the Vault (see Tips).
Scan and +	A floating bar at the bottom. Scan opens the camera. + (labelled “Add” for VoiceOver) opens the Add sheet with every other way to add something.

The floating bar is also on every shelf, every folder and All items, so adding is always one tap away.

A brand-new vault

Before you add anything, the Vault shows Your vault is ready with two buttons: Scan to add a page, and + for a photo, a file or a note.

An unfinished scan

If you left a scan before saving it, the Vault shows “You have an unsaved scan. Resume it?” at the top. Tap it to carry on.

Step by step

Open something

Tap a shelf to see everything of that kind.
Tap a folder to open it.
Tap All items to see everything in one list.
Tap your avatar to open Account.

Add something

Tap Scan to scan a paper document straight away.
Or tap + and pick: Photo, ID card, Book, QR code, Note, Checklist, Card, From Photos, From Files and more. See The Scan button and the + sheet.

What you add from the Vault lands in the vault, not in a folder. It shows up in All items and on its shelf. To add straight into a folder, open the folder first and use Scan or + there.

On iPad

On a wide iPad screen, the Vault’s sections become a sidebar: Vault, Sorted by Paperwise, Your folders, All items, Inbox, Shared links, Recently deleted, Hidden, and Account at the foot. Scan and + move to the top bar. See The iPad sidebar.

Free and Pro

The Vault, shelves, folders, All items, search and Recently deleted are all free. The Inbox row appears only for items that came in by Forward by email, which is Pro.

Privacy

Everything Paperwise stores on your iPhone (pages, files, photos, thumbnails and the database of titles, text, notes and tags) is encrypted with its own key, kept in this iPhone’s Keychain for this device only. Readable copies exist only while you scan, view, edit or share.
The vault’s key isn’t behind Face ID, so sync and backup work with the app lock off. Something running as Paperwise on an unlocked iPhone could read the vault. Turn the app lock on, and keep your most private papers in Hidden. See The app lock.
Hidden adds keys only Face ID, your Hidden passcode or your recovery key open. Hidden items never appear on a shelf, in a count, in All items or in the vault’s search.
Because the key stays on this iPhone, a device-to-device transfer or an iPhone backup can’t open the vault. To move it to a new iPhone, use Paperwise’s encrypted iCloud backup or sync.

Tips

To keep Hidden off the Vault, turn off Account → Lock and privacy → Show Hidden in vault. Then open Hidden from Account → Lock and privacy → Open Hidden.
On iPad with a keyboard, ⌘N scans and ⌘F searches.

What if…

What if a shelf I expect isn’t there?

Shelves appear only when they have something on them. A scanned document without a type isn’t on any shelf; it’s in All items.

What if I don’t see the Inbox?

The Inbox row shows only while items received by Forward by email wait to be filed.

What if Hidden isn’t on the Vault?

Show Hidden in vault is off. Turn it on in Account → Lock and privacy, or use Open Hidden there.