diff --git a/docker/compose/docker-compose.env b/docker/compose/docker-compose.env
index c4dbb4cce..a8fc7d5e8 100644
--- a/docker/compose/docker-compose.env
+++ b/docker/compose/docker-compose.env
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@
 # for available languages.
 #PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGES=tur ces
 
+# Configurations for external Database
+# You need to rename docker-compose.env to .env
+# and change the env_file path in docker-compose.yaml to .env to make it work
+#PAPERLESS_DBNAME=paperless
+#PAPERLESS_DBUSER=paperless
+#PAPERLESS_DBPASS=paperless
+
 ###############################################################################
 # Paperless-specific settings                                                 #
 ###############################################################################
diff --git a/docker/compose/docker-compose.mariadb.yml b/docker/compose/docker-compose.mariadb.yml
index 1291b3623..03a422777 100644
--- a/docker/compose/docker-compose.mariadb.yml
+++ b/docker/compose/docker-compose.mariadb.yml
@@ -39,11 +39,12 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     volumes:
       - dbdata:/var/lib/mysql
+    env_file: docker-compose.env
     environment:
       MARIADB_HOST: paperless
-      MARIADB_DATABASE: paperless
-      MARIADB_USER: paperless
-      MARIADB_PASSWORD: paperless
+      MARIADB_DATABASE: ${PAPERLESS_DBNAME:-paperless}
+      MARIADB_USER: ${PAPERLESS_DBUSER:-paperless}
+      MARIADB_PASSWORD: ${PAPERLESS_DBPASS:-paperless}
       MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: paperless
 
   webserver:
diff --git a/docker/compose/docker-compose.portainer.yml b/docker/compose/docker-compose.portainer.yml
index 24a5037d0..62014f995 100644
--- a/docker/compose/docker-compose.portainer.yml
+++ b/docker/compose/docker-compose.portainer.yml
@@ -41,10 +41,11 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     volumes:
       - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+    env_file: docker-compose.env
     environment:
-      POSTGRES_DB: paperless
-      POSTGRES_USER: paperless
-      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: paperless
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${PAPERLESS_DBNAME:-paperless}
+      POSTGRES_USER: ${PAPERLESS_DBUSER:-paperless}
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${PAPERLESS_DBPASS:-paperless}
 
   webserver:
     image: ghcr.io/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx:latest
diff --git a/docker/compose/docker-compose.postgres.yml b/docker/compose/docker-compose.postgres.yml
index bb5b2dd3e..e3c98cbf6 100644
--- a/docker/compose/docker-compose.postgres.yml
+++ b/docker/compose/docker-compose.postgres.yml
@@ -39,10 +39,11 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     volumes:
       - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+    env_file: docker-compose.env
     environment:
-      POSTGRES_DB: paperless
-      POSTGRES_USER: paperless
-      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: paperless
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${PAPERLESS_DBNAME:-paperless}
+      POSTGRES_USER: ${PAPERLESS_DBUSER:-paperless}
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${PAPERLESS_DBPASS:-paperless}
 
   webserver:
     image: ghcr.io/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx:latest