diff --git a/paperbackup-symmetric.sh b/paperbackup-symmetric.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2f0eefe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paperbackup-symmetric.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Encrypts specified file with gpg default symmetric cipher algorithm
+# and prepares paperbackup PDF of encrypted version
+#
+# USAGE: paperbackup-symmetric.sh plaintext_fpath output_fpath cipher
+#    or  paperbackup-symmetric.sh - output_fpath cipher
+#
+#   where plaintext_fpath is plaintext file to encode (can be text or binary).
+#   encrypted and base64 encoded version of plaintext will be written
+#   to output_fpath.
+#   If first argument is '-' the script reads input data from stdin.
+#   The script uses gpg2 for symmetric encryption and falls back to gpg
+#   if gpg2 is not available.
+#   Encryption algorithm can be specified in third optional argument.
+#   Default is AES256.
+#
+#   output_encrypted_path will then be passed to paperbackup.py and
+#   result written to output_encrypted_path.pdf
+
+set -ef -o pipefail
+
+PAPERBACKUPPATH="$(readlink -f $(dirname $0))"
+
+if ! GPGPATH=$(command -v gpg2) ; then
+  if ! GPGPATH=$(command -v gpg) ; then
+    echo "ERROR: gpg and gpg2 commands not found"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+echo "${GPGPATH} will be used for encryption"
+
+if [ -z "$3" ] ; then
+  CIPHER_ALGO="AES256"
+else
+  CIPHER_ALGO="$3"
+fi
+
+if [ $1 = "-" ]; then
+  ${GPGPATH} --symmetric --cipher-algo $CIPHER_ALGO <&0 | base64 > "$2"
+else
+  ${GPGPATH} --symmetric --cipher-algo $CIPHER_ALGO -o- "$1" | base64 > "$2"
+fi
+${PAPERBACKUPPATH}/paperbackup.py "$2"
+bash ${PAPERBACKUPPATH}/paperbackup-verify.sh "${2}.pdf"
+
diff --git a/paperrestore-symmetric.sh b/paperrestore-symmetric.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d047a14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paperrestore-symmetric.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Restores data from scanned pages created with paperbackup-symmetric.sh
+#
+# USAGE: paperrestore-symmetric.sh input_fpath output_fpath
+#    or  paperrestore-symmetric.sh input_fpath -
+#
+#   where input_fpath is path to PDF with scanned paper backup
+#   previously created with paperbackup-symmetric.sh.
+#   Decrypted plaintext will be written to output_fpath.
+#   If second argument is '-' the script will write decrypted data to stdout.
+#   The script uses gpg2 for decryption and falls back to gpg
+#   if gpg2 is not available.
+
+set -euf -o pipefail
+
+PAPERBACKUPPATH="$(readlink -f $(dirname $0))"
+
+if ! GPGPATH=$(command -v gpg2) ; then
+  if ! GPGPATH=$(command -v gpg) ; then
+    echo "ERROR: gpg and gpg2 commands not found"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+echo "${GPGPATH} will be used for encryption"
+
+if [ $2 = "-" ]; then
+  ${PAPERBACKUPPATH}/paperrestore.sh "$1" | base64 --decode | ${GPGPATH} -d
+else
+  ${PAPERBACKUPPATH}/paperrestore.sh "$1" | base64 --decode | ${GPGPATH} -d > "$2"
+fi