diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/1004_sanity_check_schedule.py b/src/documents/migrations/1004_sanity_check_schedule.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b6346d479
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/documents/migrations/1004_sanity_check_schedule.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Generated by Django 3.1.3 on 2020-11-25 14:53
+
+from django.db import migrations
+from django.db.migrations import RunPython
+from django_q.models import Schedule
+from django_q.tasks import schedule
+
+
+def add_schedules(apps, schema_editor):
+    schedule('documents.tasks.sanity_check', name="Perform sanity check", schedule_type=Schedule.WEEKLY)
+
+
+def remove_schedules(apps, schema_editor):
+    Schedule.objects.filter(func='documents.tasks.sanity_check').delete()
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('documents', '1003_mime_types'),
+        ('django_q', '0013_task_attempt_count'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        RunPython(add_schedules, remove_schedules)
+    ]
diff --git a/src/documents/sanity_checker.py b/src/documents/sanity_checker.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..18bb3781c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/documents/sanity_checker.py
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+import hashlib
+import os
+
+from django.conf import settings
+
+from documents.models import Document
+
+
+class SanityMessage:
+    message = None
+
+
+class SanityWarning(SanityMessage):
+    def __init__(self, message):
+        self.message = message
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return f"Warning: {self.message}"
+
+
+class SanityError(SanityMessage):
+    def __init__(self, message):
+        self.message = message
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return f"ERROR: {self.message}"
+
+
+class SanityFailedError(Exception):
+
+    def __init__(self, messages):
+        self.messages = messages
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        message_string = "\n".join([str(m) for m in self.messages])
+        return (
+            f"The following issuse were found by the sanity checker:\n"
+            f"{message_string}\n\n===============\n\n")
+
+
+def check_sanity():
+    messages = []
+
+    present_files = []
+    for root, subdirs, files in os.walk(settings.MEDIA_ROOT):
+        for f in files:
+            present_files.append(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(root, f)))
+
+    for doc in Document.objects.all():
+        # Check thumbnail
+        if not os.path.isfile(doc.thumbnail_path):
+            messages.append(SanityError(
+                f"Thumbnail of document {doc.pk} does not exist."))
+        else:
+            present_files.remove(os.path.normpath(doc.thumbnail_path))
+            try:
+                with doc.thumbnail_file as f:
+                    f.read()
+            except OSError as e:
+                messages.append(SanityError(
+                    f"Cannot read thumbnail file of document {doc.pk}: {e}"
+                ))
+
+        # Check document
+        if not os.path.isfile(doc.source_path):
+            messages.append(SanityError(
+                f"Original of document {doc.pk} does not exist."))
+        else:
+            present_files.remove(os.path.normpath(doc.source_path))
+            checksum = None
+            try:
+                with doc.source_file as f:
+                    checksum = hashlib.md5(f.read()).hexdigest()
+            except OSError as e:
+                messages.append(SanityError(
+                    f"Cannot read original file of document {doc.pk}: {e}"))
+
+            if checksum and not checksum == doc.checksum:
+                messages.append(SanityError(
+                    f"Checksum mismatch of document {doc.pk}. "
+                    f"Stored: {doc.checksum}, actual: {checksum}."
+                ))
+
+        if not doc.content:
+            messages.append(SanityWarning(
+                f"Document {doc.pk} has no content."
+            ))
+
+    for extra_file in present_files:
+        messages.append(SanityWarning(
+            f"Orphaned file in media dir: {extra_file}"
+        ))
+
+    return messages
diff --git a/src/documents/tasks.py b/src/documents/tasks.py
index 40ed8f25e..3c9baad08 100644
--- a/src/documents/tasks.py
+++ b/src/documents/tasks.py
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@ import logging
 from django.conf import settings
 from whoosh.writing import AsyncWriter
 
-from documents import index
+from documents import index, sanity_checker
 from documents.classifier import DocumentClassifier, \
     IncompatibleClassifierVersionError
 from documents.consumer import Consumer, ConsumerError
 from documents.models import Document
+from documents.sanity_checker import SanityFailedError
 
 
 def index_optimize():
@@ -74,3 +75,12 @@ def consume_file(path,
     else:
         raise ConsumerError("Unknown error: Returned document was null, but "
                             "no error message was given.")
+
+
+def sanity_check():
+    messages = sanity_checker.check_sanity()
+
+    if len(messages) > 0:
+        raise SanityFailedError(messages)
+    else:
+        return "No issues detected."