diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bcd62f4..0b3dee9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,6 +19,14 @@ Paperless Annotations addresses this by allowing highlights, text, and drawings
 - [uv](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) package manager
 - [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/) to install EmbedPDF
 
+## Usage
+
+Once setup, go to `<your paperless annotations url>/view/<your paperless document id>`.
+
+e.g. if the link to your document in paperless is `http://my-paperless/view/93` then to annotate it, go to `http://my-paperless-annotations/view/93`.
+
+If you've enabled `ENABLE_AUTO_UPDATE_LINKS`, links will be added to each document in your paperless archive (after `UPDATE_INTERVAL_MINS`.)
+
 ## Setup
 
 
@@ -104,6 +112,7 @@ Or use the web-based initializer at `http://<your-server-address>:8000/initializ
 - `UPDATE_INTERVAL_MINS` - Interval (minutes) for automatic link updates (default: `60`)
 - `CUSTOM_FIELD_NAME` - Name of the custom field in Paperless-ngx used to store document links (Default: `Annotations`)
 - `ANNO_STORAGE` - Annotation storage backend: `paperless_notes` or `database` (default: `paperless_notes`)
+- `VERIFY_SSL` - disable SSL verification for connections to your Paperless-ngx instance. Work-around for installations with self-signed certificates.
 
 
 ## Auto-update document links
diff --git a/core/settings.py b/core/settings.py
index f0feeb1..3016044 100644
--- a/core/settings.py
+++ b/core/settings.py
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ def _split_csv(value):
 UPDATE_INTERVAL_MINS = int(os.environ.get("UPDATE_INTERVAL_MINS", "60"))
 ANNO_SERIALIZER = os.environ.get("ANNO_SERIALIZER", "85gj")
 ANNO_STORAGE = os.environ.get("ANNO_STORAGE", "paperless_notes").lower()
+VERIFY_SSL = _is_true(os.environ.get("VERIFY_SSL", "true"))
 
 with open(BASE_DIR / "pyproject.toml", "rb") as f:
     VERSION = tomllib.load(f)["project"]["version"]
diff --git a/plannotations/paperless_api.py b/plannotations/paperless_api.py
index e52ce7c..ddec122 100644
--- a/plannotations/paperless_api.py
+++ b/plannotations/paperless_api.py
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Generator
 import requests
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
+from core.settings import (
+    VERIFY_SSL,
+)
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -85,6 +88,7 @@ def __init__(self, base_url: str, api_token: str, timeout: int = 10) -> None:
         self.base_url = base_url.rstrip("/")
         self.timeout = timeout
         self.session = requests.Session()
+        self.session.verify = VERIFY_SSL
         if not api_token:
             raise PaperlessAPIError("paperless api_token is required")
         # Paperless-ngx uses `Token <token>` authorization header