diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/paperless.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/paperless.nix
index 1845d8ad29b..0683a1f922a 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/paperless.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/paperless.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ let
 
   defaultUser = "paperless";
   nltkDir = "/var/cache/paperless/nltk";
+  defaultFont = "${pkgs.liberation_ttf}/share/fonts/truetype/LiberationSerif-Regular.ttf";
 
   # Don't start a redis instance if the user sets a custom redis connection
   enableRedis = !hasAttr "PAPERLESS_REDIS" cfg.extraConfig;
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ let
     PAPERLESS_MEDIA_ROOT = cfg.mediaDir;
     PAPERLESS_CONSUMPTION_DIR = cfg.consumptionDir;
     PAPERLESS_NLTK_DIR = nltkDir;
+    PAPERLESS_THUMBNAIL_FONT_NAME = defaultFont;
     GUNICORN_CMD_ARGS = "--bind=${cfg.address}:${toString cfg.port}";
   } // optionalAttrs (config.time.timeZone != null) {
     PAPERLESS_TIME_ZONE = config.time.timeZone;