diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 3a4960f82..675a929bf 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -590,6 +590,14 @@ PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_POLLING=<num>
 
     Defaults to 0, which disables polling and uses filesystem notifications.
 
+PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_INOTIFY_DELAY=<num>
+    Sets the time in seconds the consumer will wait for additional events
+    from inotify before the consumer will consider a file ready and begin consumption.
+    Certain scanners or network setups may generate multiple events for a single file,
+    leading to multiple consumers working on the same file.  Configure this to
+    prevent that.
+
+    Defaults to 0.5 seconds.
 
 PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DELETE_DUPLICATES=<bool>
     When the consumer detects a duplicate document, it will not touch the
diff --git a/src/documents/management/commands/document_consumer.py b/src/documents/management/commands/document_consumer.py
index 87e3af2c3..bddb566aa 100644
--- a/src/documents/management/commands/document_consumer.py
+++ b/src/documents/management/commands/document_consumer.py
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
         try:
 
-            inotify_debounce: Final[float] = 0.5
+            inotify_debounce: Final[float] = settings.CONSUMER_INOTIFY_DELAY
             notified_files = {}
 
             while not self.stop_flag:
@@ -234,10 +234,23 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                 for filepath in notified_files:
                     # Time of the last inotify event for this file
                     last_event_time = notified_files[filepath]
-                    if (monotonic() - last_event_time) > inotify_debounce:
+
+                    # Current time - last time over the configured timeout
+                    waited_long_enough = (
+                        monotonic() - last_event_time
+                    ) > inotify_debounce
+
+                    # Also make sure the file exists still, some scanners might write a
+                    # temporary file first
+                    file_still_exists = os.path.exists(filepath) and os.path.isfile(
+                        filepath,
+                    )
+
+                    if waited_long_enough and file_still_exists:
                         _consume(filepath)
-                    else:
+                    elif file_still_exists:
                         still_waiting[filepath] = last_event_time
+
                 # These files are still waiting to hit the timeout
                 notified_files = still_waiting
 
diff --git a/src/documents/tests/test_management_consumer.py b/src/documents/tests/test_management_consumer.py
index e8463ab64..32b04282b 100644
--- a/src/documents/tests/test_management_consumer.py
+++ b/src/documents/tests/test_management_consumer.py
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@ class ConsumerMixin:
             print("file completed.")
 
 
+@override_settings(
+    CONSUMER_INOTIFY_DELAY=0.01,
+)
 class TestConsumer(DirectoriesMixin, ConsumerMixin, TransactionTestCase):
     def test_consume_file(self):
         self.t_start()
@@ -286,7 +289,7 @@ class TestConsumerPolling(TestConsumer):
     pass
 
 
-@override_settings(CONSUMER_RECURSIVE=True)
+@override_settings(CONSUMER_INOTIFY_DELAY=0.01, CONSUMER_RECURSIVE=True)
 class TestConsumerRecursive(TestConsumer):
     # just do all the tests with recursive
     pass
diff --git a/src/paperless/settings.py b/src/paperless/settings.py
index b5be6c420..9b779d575 100644
--- a/src/paperless/settings.py
+++ b/src/paperless/settings.py
@@ -48,6 +48,13 @@ def __get_int(key: str, default: int) -> int:
     return int(os.getenv(key, default))
 
 
+def __get_float(key: str, default: float) -> float:
+    """
+    Return an integer value based on the environment variable or a default
+    """
+    return float(os.getenv(key, default))
+
+
 # NEVER RUN WITH DEBUG IN PRODUCTION.
 DEBUG = __get_boolean("PAPERLESS_DEBUG", "NO")
 
@@ -485,6 +492,11 @@ CONSUMER_POLLING_RETRY_COUNT = int(
     os.getenv("PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_POLLING_RETRY_COUNT", 5),
 )
 
+CONSUMER_INOTIFY_DELAY: Final[float] = __get_float(
+    "PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_INOTIFY_DELAY",
+    0.5,
+)
+
 CONSUMER_DELETE_DUPLICATES = __get_boolean("PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_DELETE_DUPLICATES")
 
 CONSUMER_RECURSIVE = __get_boolean("PAPERLESS_CONSUMER_RECURSIVE")