Zero-server architecture
Briefpfleger has no database and no storage servers. The app runs entirely in your browser and talks directly to your Google account. Nobody sits in between – not even us.
Briefpfleger organizes your paperwork — inside your own Google Drive, Calendar and Contacts.
Your paperwork.
Your Google universe.
One app.
Snap a photo — that's it: Briefpfleger recognizes letters, invoices, receipts and contracts, files them into your Google Drive and puts payment and cancellation deadlines into your Google Calendar. The app is just the control console — your documents stay entirely in your own Google account.
Open beta: all features free · then €2.99/mo, or €2.49 per person on the two-person partner plan (billed in EUR) · cancel anytime
Why Briefpfleger is built differently
Files, not a silo
Your documents live as plain folders and files in your Google Drive. Open, move or take them anywhere – with or without Briefpfleger. No lock-in, no export drama. Remember Google Stack shutting down? Its users had to rush-export everything. Briefpfleger users would simply… keep their files.
Encryption on demand
Especially sensitive documents can be password-encrypted right in your browser before upload (AES-256). Then even Google can't read the contents.
Moments when Briefpfleger saves you
Paperwork is never a problem – until it suddenly is. Six situations almost everyone knows.
Official mail with an ADHD brain
“The letter from the IRS has been sitting unopened on the kitchen table for three weeks.”
One photo instead of avoidance: add the deadline right on the document and save it to your Google Calendar, so reminder emails find you. The difference between “oh right” and a late fee.
The family folder that thinks along
“When was that vaccination – and where is the record?”
Checkups, vaccination records, daycare contracts, report cards: one cabinet per family member. At the pediatrician you just type it into search instead of emptying drawers at home.
Secure work agreements
“My boss did approve that vacation by email …”
Vacation approvals, target agreements, promised raises: secure the commitments that concern you the moment you get them – your work inbox is gone on your last day. Today you file the attachment or a printout into the right drawer via the scan button. The built-in mail inbox that pulls messages in directly is in preparation.
Tax season without the shoebox
“That contractor invoice must be around here somewhere.”
Invoices, donation receipts, work equipment: photograph them casually all year. In spring, share the “Taxes” drawer with your accountant – and revoke access afterwards with one tap.
Renting, deposit & utilities
“At move-out, what you can prove is what counts.”
Lease, move-in protocol, photos of the apartment's condition, every utility statement – safe in one drawer. Years later, searching “deposit” is all it takes.
Warranties that don't fade
“After 8 months the receipt is just blank paper.”
Thermal paper fades – your OCR-scanned photo doesn't. When the washing machine breaks, search “washing machine” and the proof of purchase is there in seconds.
The email trick coming soon
Subject: “Briefpfleger”.
That's all it takes.
Your work inbox doesn't belong to you. On your last day the access is gone – and with it the vacation approval, the bonus agreement, the remote-work arrangement. Save commitments that concern you the moment you receive them.
-
Forward
Forward the email to your Gmail – just change the subject to “Briefpfleger”. From any inbox, any device.
-
Auto-detected
The app's mail inbox finds the message by itself – no searching, no copying, no app-switching gymnastics.
-
In your cabinet – for good
File the email or its attachments into the right drawer with one tap. It now lives in your Google Drive – whatever happens to the work inbox.
Meant for commitments and agreements that concern you personally – not for company records. What should stay in your hands belongs in your cabinet.
“Why not just …?”
… plain Google Drive?
Drive is the basement: everything fits, but “IMG_4711.jpg” never reminds you of a deadline. Briefpfleger puts shelves in it – classification, deadlines, full-text search, an interface built for your phone. And it all remains plain, ordinary Drive.
… another scanner app?
Most scanning apps upload your documents to their own servers and charge several times more per month for it. Briefpfleger has no cloud of its own – that's why Premium costs just €2.99, and your files continue to belong to you alone.
… Google Stack?
Google's own paperwork app was shut down in September 2024, and users had to export everything in a hurry. Briefpfleger picks up where Stack left off – but stores everything in your Drive from day one, so no shutdown can ever lock you out.
What Briefpfleger takes off your plate
The most valuable features first – the way they save you time in everyday life. And no: it's not just about letters.
-
01
Snap photos – ten at a time
No need to photograph from inside the app: just get into the habit of snapping receipts and letters with your normal camera app. Later, upload up to 10 documents to Briefpfleger at once. The app classifies and sorts them in the background, suggests the right drawer, and lets you file them or convert them to PDFs.
-
02
The app knows what it is
Every document is classified automatically: letter, invoice, receipt or simply photo. The badge shows right in the list – so you see at a glance what needs attention and what is just filing.
-
03
The contract alarm: deadlines that speak up
Add a deadline right on the document – your Google Calendar does the rest: email reminders 24 hours before, 1 hour before, and at the due time. Miss it anyway? The app follows up the next day: “Done yet?”. For contracts, pick the cancellation notice period (1, 3 or 6 months) – the alarm rings well before the cutoff date, with a link to the original document.
-
04
Find everything – full-text search
Because every scan is stored with OCR, you find documents by their content: search “deposit” and the lease shows up, even if the file is named something else.
-
05
Save emails – and get reminded to reply
Invoices and commitments that arrive by email belong in your archive just like paper. Upload the attachment or a printout into a drawer via the scan button and add a deadline – you'll be reminded before a payment or a reply is due. The built-in mail inbox that pulls messages and attachments straight from your Gmail is in preparation.
-
06
Letters know their sender
Assign documents to a contact – the landlord, the insurance company, the agency. From then on, every document shows “all mail from …” at a glance, including email and phone number. Optionally, the app matches senders with your Google contacts.
-
07
Learns your filing habits
Briefpfleger remembers which drawer you file certain senders into and suggests it next time automatically. You can review and correct the learned rules anytime – no black box.
-
08
Sharing with a take-back
Share single documents or entire cabinets with your partner or your accountant – and revoke access anytime with one tap. You always see who can currently see what.
-
09
Editable at the push of a button
Convert any document after the fact – when you want, never automatically: the letter into an editable Google Doc (e.g. to reply), the receipt into a Google Sheet with extracted line items and amounts.
-
10
Fill out and sign forms
Fill in text fields, sign with your finger, save as a finished PDF back to Drive or print directly – without the printer-scanner loop.
Ready in three steps
1
Sign in with Google
No new account, no password. Briefpfleger only gets access to its own folder in your Drive.
2
Create drawers
Rent, insurance, kids, taxes – or whatever fits your life. Templates help you start.
3
Photograph the pile
Snap your mail casually and upload up to ten documents at once. The app suggests name, drawer and classification.
Built for brains that hate paperwork
Briefpfleger is ADHD-friendly by design: calm, warm colors instead of blaring alarms, one clear task per screen, and the Lexend typeface, which has been shown to support more fluent reading. The barrier is deliberately tiny: taking a photo is enough – everything else can happen later.
The built-in reading accelerator (Bionic Reading) highlights word beginnings and guides your eye through the text – you're reading it right now if the toggle at the top right is on. It works on this website exactly like in the app.
Without reading aid
The utility statement must be answered by July 15.
With reading aid
The utility statement must be answered by July 15.
Honest pricing
Briefpfleger is currently in open beta – every feature is free, with no limits. The prices below apply once the beta ends, and we will announce the change in the app well in advance.
Free
€0
- Unlimited scanning and filing
- OCR, classification, full-text search
- Cabinets, drawers and sections
- Sharing, and noting deadlines on a document
- Storage: your Google Drive
Premium
€2.99/month · ≈ $3.50
Just €2.49/month on the partner plan!- Reminders before a deadline runs out
- Deadlines in the calendar of your choice – Google, Apple, Outlook
- All deadlines at a glance instead of document by document
- Several cabinets and partner sharing
- Email inbox (Gmail) – coming soon
- Cancel anytime
Less than a coffee per month – possible because we don't run a cloud. There is nothing we could monetize about your data: we don't have it. The price is the business model. Billed in euros; your bank converts automatically.
Briefpfleger compared
Many apps promise digital order – but almost all of them want their own account, their own cloud storage and their own subscription. Briefpfleger uses the account you already have. See the difference.
| Criterion | Briefpfleger your filing cabinet | Stack by Google discontinued 2024 | Adobe Scan by Adobe | Genius Scan scanner app | Evernote note tool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | ✓ Free / €2.99 mo | ✗ Gone | ⚠ OCR & cloud = subscription | ⚠ Cloud = subscription | ✗ ~$100–250/yr |
| Where is your data? | ✓ Your Google Drive | ✗ Was Google's cloud – users had to export | ✗ Adobe cloud | ✓ Local / your choice | ✗ Evernote servers |
| Still maintained? | ✓ Actively developed | ✗ Shut down Sept 2024 | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Built for household paperwork | ✓ Purpose-built | ✓ Was good | ✗ Scanner only | ✗ Scanner only | ✗ Generalist |
| Deadline reminders | ✓ Via Google, also in Apple Calendar | ⚠ Basic | ✗ No | ✗ No | ⚠ Manual setup |
| No extra account needed | ✓ Just your Google account | ✓ Google account | ✗ Adobe account required | ⚠ Basics without account | ✗ Evernote account required |
To the best of our knowledge, as of July 2026. All brand names are the property of their respective owners. Worth knowing: Google Stack and Microsoft Lens were both discontinued – with Briefpfleger you are independent of such product decisions, because your data always stays in your own Google Drive.
Frequently asked questions
Can Briefpfleger see my documents?
No. The app runs in your browser and uploads documents straight to your Google Drive. There is no Briefpfleger server your files pass through or are stored on.
I already have Google Drive – why Briefpfleger?
Drive stores, Briefpfleger organizes: automatic OCR and classification, filing suggestions, deadlines in your Calendar, contact assignment and an interface built for your phone. The result still lives as plain folders and files in your Drive.
Is “Briefpfleger” a German app?
Yes – the name is German for “letter caretaker”, and the app was born in Germany, land of legendary paperwork. The app itself is fully bilingual (English/German), and being German-engineered for bureaucracy is, frankly, a feature.
Is this only for letters?
No. Invoices, receipts, contracts, report cards, vaccination records, important emails, even simple photos of documents – anything you'll want to find or prove later.
Can I keep emails too?
This feature is in preparation. The built-in mail inbox will show your Gmail messages with attachments, so you can file an attachment or the whole email into a drawer with one tap – including mail from other inboxes (like work) that you forward to your Gmail. Google requires a separate security review for mailbox access; we'll switch the feature on as soon as it's completed. Until then, upload attachments the normal way via the scan button.
How does the contract alarm work?
Enter the cancellation notice period of a contract (e.g. 3 months). Briefpfleger calculates the date and creates a reminder event in your Google Calendar, which emails you 24 hours ahead and on the exact day – you don't even need a calendar app on your phone.
What happens if I stop using the app?
Nothing dramatic: your folders and files simply remain in your Google Drive. You can keep using them with any other program.
Do I need extra cloud storage?
Usually not. Briefpfleger compresses photos before upload, and the 15 GB of a free Google account are enough for many thousands of letter scans.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes – it's built for smartphones and installs to your home screen like an app (PWA), no app store needed.
Can I use it together with my partner?
Yes! In the sharing settings you can invite your partner and connect your cabinets. You then work in the same Google Drive folder in real time – and both get the discounted partner price (€2.49 instead of €2.99/month).
Are finger-drawn signatures legally valid in the US?
For most everyday agreements, yes: under the federal ESIGN Act and UETA, electronic signatures are binding almost everywhere in the US. A few document types (e.g. wills) still require paper – when in doubt, check the specific requirement.
The pile on the kitchen table won't shrink. Your effort will.
Start for freeSign in with your Google account · no credit card required · ready in 2 minutes