The article is devoted to the history of office work in the first half of the 19th century, using the example of the workflow of the Department of Appanages. On the basis of published materials and archival sources, the author examines the general principles of office work of state institutions of the Russian Empire, explores the evolution of document flow in the first half of the 19th century, evaluates the effectiveness of measures to reduce document flow, and identifies common and different features of the evolution of office work of the Department of Appanages. The office work reform in the Russian Empire had a complex character. Both the form of documents and the principles of circulation of documents have undergone changes. The effectiveness of the work of the governing bodies was assessed by the number of incoming and outgoing documentation. Despite the fact that the basic principles laid down by the office work reform were of a nationwide nature, they could acquire their own specific features in the state institutions themselves. In the Department of appanages, this was due to the gradual removal of the management of the appanage from the competence of other authorities of the Russian Empire. In the second quarter of the XIX century the exclusive right to manage all internal issues relating to the department was finally assigned to the specific authorities, which were directly subordinate to the emperor through the minister.