diff --git a/paperless.conf.example b/paperless.conf.example
index 85709698f..6b2a102ab 100644
--- a/paperless.conf.example
+++ b/paperless.conf.example
@@ -80,3 +80,8 @@ PAPERLESS_SHARED_SECRET=""
 # For more information on how to use this value, you should probably search
 # the web for "MAGICK_TMPDIR".
 #PAPERLESS_CONVERT_TMPDIR=/var/tmp/paperless
+
+# You can specify where you want the SQLite database to be stored instead of 
+# the default location
+#PAPERLESS_DBDIR=/path/to/database/file
+
diff --git a/src/paperless/settings.py b/src/paperless/settings.py
index c80434bc7..de25313c6 100644
--- a/src/paperless/settings.py
+++ b/src/paperless/settings.py
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ LOGIN_URL = '/admin/login'
 
 ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
 
+# Tap paperless.conf if it's available
+if os.path.exists("/etc/paperless.conf"):
+    load_dotenv("/etc/paperless.conf")
+
+
 
 # Application definition
 
@@ -90,9 +95,16 @@ WSGI_APPLICATION = 'paperless.wsgi.application'
 DATABASES = {
     "default": {
         "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.sqlite3",
-        "NAME": os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "..", "data", "db.sqlite3"),
+        "NAME": os.path.join(
+                    os.getenv(
+                        "PAPERLESS_DBDIR",
+                        os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "..", "data")
+                    ),
+                    "db.sqlite3"
+                )
     }
 }
+
 if os.getenv("PAPERLESS_DBUSER") and os.getenv("PAPERLESS_DBPASS"):
     DATABASES["default"] = {
         "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2",
@@ -150,11 +162,6 @@ MEDIA_URL = "/media/"
 # values in /etc/paperless.conf instead.
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-# Tap paperless.conf if it's available
-if os.path.exists("/etc/paperless.conf"):
-    load_dotenv("/etc/paperless.conf")
-
-
 # Logging
 
 LOGGING = {