Odoo Documents or BP Documents?
Odoo already has a documents app. The right question is not which of the two is “better”, but which of your company’s questions each one answers. They are two products built around two different problems, and in many companies the answer is that both have their place.
A file manager for the whole company: folders, tags, preview, sharing, and rules that turn an incoming file into a supplier bill or an expense.
A document register: every document has a type, a number, an issuer, a validity period and a responsible person. The system knows what should exist, not just what was uploaded, and tells you itself what is missing and what is expiring.
Four things to know before the tables
Documents gathers the files that move through the company. BP keeps track of the documents that carry consequences: contracts, authorisations, permits, certificates. Installed together, they do not get in each other’s way.
Documents has no notion of an “expired document” or an “incomplete file”. These are not missing features: it solves a different problem. BP has no spreadsheet editor, for the same reason.
Documents is an Odoo Enterprise app. BP Documents runs on Odoo Community, and just as well alongside Enterprise. The only exception is the specialised payroll documents, which require the Enterprise Payroll module.
BP has its own bulk import tool, which also fetches the files from the URLs in the spreadsheet. The register does not start empty, and go-live is measured in days, not in months of manual data entry.
Eight questions every company asks
The tables are not grouped by module, but by the question each capability answers. That is where you see the products part ways.
Above each BP answer is the plan it belongs to: Basic, Plus, Premium or Enterprise, each including everything in the plans before it. Where another application is named instead, the capability comes with that application, bought separately.
1. “Where is the file, and how did it get into the system?”
File-management territory, where Odoo Documents is stronger and BP does not try to compete. BP guides you another way: not through a folder tree, but through document types, several axes of organisation and a dashboard.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Hierarchical folders, drag & drop, filter panel | YesThe folder is itself a document | NoNo folder tree; the places where paper originals are kept do have a hierarchy |
| Organisation along several axes at once: type, workspace, category, tags | PartlyA single folder and tags; the same document can appear in other folders through shortcuts | BasicYesA document belongs to every axis at once, without being moved |
| A dashboard that shows you where to start: what is expiring, what is unassigned, which files are incomplete | PartlyFigures in an email digest | BasicYesThe home screen, with a click straight through to the lists |
| Receiving documents by email | YesOne address per folder | BasicYesOne address per document type: whatever arrives becomes a document of that type straight away, with its files and its origin kept |
| PDF preview | Yes | BasicYesPlus thumbnails for Word and Excel files |
| Splitting and merging PDFs in the interface | Yes | No |
| Editing spreadsheets inside the app | Yes | No |
| Automatic filing of files generated by other apps | YesInvoices and payslips land in their folder on their own | NoBy design: only what has been declared enters the register |
| File version history, with the option to restore an older version | YesAutomatic, on every replacement | PremiumYesAutomatic and numbered, showing who replaced the file and when; a replaced file is never lost, in any plan |
| Locking a file while someone is working on it | Yes | No |
| A document can no longer be changed once it has been checked | No | BasicYesPosting locks it: neither its data nor its files change unless it goes back to draft |
2. “What is this document, really?”
This is where the nature of the product changes: in Documents, a file has a folder and tags; in BP, it has an identity.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| A document type that drives behaviour: which data is mandatory, which links are required | NoFolder and tags only | BasicYes |
| Internal number from a dedicated sequence, per document type | No | BasicYes |
| The issuer’s document number, with a warning on duplicates | No | BasicYes |
| Issuer, document date, and where the original is kept | No | BasicYes |
| Typed links: partner, employee, vehicle, project, order, invoice, product | PartlyOne generic link to a record | BasicYesEach with its own rule, required or optional, set on the document type |
| A document linked to another document, with the role of the link: annex to, replaces, replies to | NoShortcuts only | BasicYes |
| Several files on the same document, each with its own role: original, annex, translation | No | BasicYes |
| Catalogue of document types, general and by industry, ready configured | No | Basic · industry catalogues in PremiumYesEach type knows its revision, so you can see which ones have fallen behind |
| Automatic reading of the document: issuer, dates, validity | PartlyAI sorting into folders and tags, without extracting the document’s data | AI optionYesSuggestions, confirmed by a person |
3. “Is it still valid?”
The question that costs money. Odoo Documents never asks it: to Documents, a file is just as good ten years on.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Validity period on the document | NoThe only end date is on a person’s access, not on the document | BasicYes |
| Computed status: upcoming, in force, expiring soon, expired | No | BasicYesColour-coded in the list, no searching needed |
| Automatic notice before expiry | No | BasicYesLead time and recipients set on the document type |
| Expiry calendar | No | BasicYes |
4. “Who is allowed to see the document?”
Both control access, each through a different mechanism.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Read and write rights by group | NoAccess is set per document: all employees, the link, or named people | BasicYesPer document type and per workspace, and both must allow it |
| Access for a named person, with an end date | Yes | No |
| A changed rule applies immediately to every existing document | PartlyAccess is copied onto the document when it is created and propagated when it changes | BasicYes |
| Delegated administration: an owner for one area of the company, without rights everywhere | PartlyAnyone who can edit a folder can manage its access | PlusYesWorkspaces with their own administrators |
| Access audit: who is allowed to see a document, by user and by group | PartlyThe list of people with access to the document | PremiumYes |
5. “What is missing from the file?”
The question a file manager cannot answer, even in principle: it knows only what was uploaded, not what should be there.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Declaring an expectation: “every employee must have a training record” | No | PlusYes |
| A central list of gaps, by partner, employee, vehicle | No | PlusYes |
| A flag on the partner or employee form when their file is incomplete | No | PlusYes |
| Share of complete files, on the dashboard | No | PlusYesAn expired document does not count as present |
6. “How long is it kept, and who is accountable for destroying it?”
Documents has a bin. BP has retention policies and a destruction procedure that leaves a trail.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent deletion after a number of days in the bin | Yes | NoNothing disappears on its own, unless you explicitly decide otherwise in the retention policy |
| Retention policies by type: how long, and starting from when | No | PremiumYesThe policy is frozen on the document, so it cannot change retroactively |
| Controlled destruction: request, approval, execution | No | PremiumYesThe files are deleted, older versions included; the document’s record and the reason remain |
7. “How does the document reach the customer, and come back?”
All of them have public links. They part ways over what happens once the link has been opened, and over how documents get signed.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Public link with an expiry date | PartlyOnly an invited person has an end date, not the link | BasicYesThe link gives access only to the files you choose |
| Download log for the public link: when, and from which IP address | No | PremiumYes |
| Document request to someone outside the company | PartlyAn upload link and an internal activity | PlusYesA request with its own status, a dedicated page, file limits, and acceptance or rejection of each file |
| Several signers on the same document, each with their own proof: file hash, IP address, time | YesThrough the Sign app | PlusYesYou choose per type: tracking only, on-screen signature stamped into the PDF, or the signed copy uploaded by the signer |
| Fields placed on the page, and signing order | YesThrough the Sign app | No |
| Qualified electronic signature | No | NoDocuments that require one go through a qualified provider |
| Supplier bill created from the document | Yes | PremiumYesIn the journal chosen on the document type |
| Task or expense created from the document | YesExpense only | No |
| Word and Excel converted to PDF, with the original kept alongside | No | PremiumYes |
| Document generated from your own Word or Excel template, with data from Odoo | No | BP GeneratorYesWith BP Generator, a separate application |
| Files moved to external S3 storage | No | BP OffloadYesWith BP Offload, which also moves the files of Odoo Documents |
8. “How long before it is usable?”
An empty register helps no one. The biggest difference at go-live is not in what gets uploaded from tomorrow, but in the documents you already have: in binders, on a file server or in an old system.
| Capability | Odoo 19 Documents | BP Documents |
|---|---|---|
| Bulk import from a spreadsheet | PartlyOdoo’s standard import, without the files themselves | BasicYesA dedicated tool, with its own screens |
| Files fetched automatically from the URLs in the spreadsheet | No | BasicYesIn the background, in batches, retried automatically after a failure |
| Check before import, with errors and warnings on every row | PartlyA test run that leaves no trace | BasicYesThe batch is validated first and run afterwards |
| The batch stays on record: what was created, what failed and why | No | BasicYesWith the source file and the result file kept |
| Failed rows run again without duplicating the rest | No | BasicYesEvery row carries its key from the old system |
| Links made during import: partner, employee, vehicle, order | No | BasicYesUp to three links per row, by code or by name |
| One company’s configuration copied to another | No | PlusYes |
| A group of companies brought live in one go: configuration replicated across all companies | No | EnterpriseYes |
What Odoo Documents does better
If your problem is one of those below, the standard app is the answer, and we will tell you so in the very first conversation.
-
Routing files to other apps
A project task, an expense or a job applicant created straight from the document. BP creates only the supplier bill.
-
Everyday work with files
Splitting scanned PDFs into pieces, merging them, editing spreadsheets inside the app, locking a file while you work on it.
-
Files that turn up on their own
Whatever accounting or payroll generates lands in the right folder automatically, without anyone having to declare anything.
-
Signing with fields on the page
Through the Sign app: fields placed exactly where the signature goes, and a signing order. BP collects each signer’s signature, but does not place it on the page.
-
Per-person access, in Odoo 19
Documents and folders shared with a named person, inside or outside the company, with an end date. Plus shortcuts: the same document in several folders.
-
App coverage and automation
Ready-made connections to projects, recruitment and approvals; in Odoo 19, AI sorting into folders and actions configured without code.
Three situations, two behaviours
The file is in its folder, properly scanned. Nobody finds out until the inspection, because the system never knew the document had an expiry date.
30 days ahead, the fleet manager receives a notice. The document shows up in orange in the list and on the expiry calendar.
You open each employee’s folder and check, one by one and from memory, what it should contain.
The list of gaps, by employee and by document type, in two clicks, and the share of complete files on the home screen.
The files stay in the folder forever, or someone deletes them by hand. No trace is left of what was deleted, when or why.
The retention policy sits on the document type. When the time comes, destruction is requested, approved and carried out; the files go, while the document’s record and the reason stay.
What each one involves
An app in the Enterprise edition. It requires an Odoo Enterprise subscription for the users who work with it.
A one-time licence per application; users are not counted. It runs on Odoo Community and installs just as well on top of Enterprise, next to Documents.
Documents as the file intake for the whole company, BP as the register of the documents that carry consequences. With BP Offload, the files of both move to external storage.
If the question is “where did I put that file”, the standard app does the job and we do not try to replace it. If the question is “which documents must I have, are they still valid, who can see them and when are they destroyed”, the standard app answers none of it.
BP Documents is built precisely around these questions, for companies that are accountable to someone for their documents: transport, manufacturing, construction, licensed services, any company that goes through audits.