Preparing Your CM/ECF Filing

Generally exhibits may be e-filed as attachments to the documents they support or as separate docket entries. Exhibits may be included in the same PDF document as the complaint or other primary document, or may be filed separately if the file would exceed 50 MB. Examples provided below illustrate different possibilities when when submitting your filing with exhibits. This is not an exhaustive list.

Example 1The complaint is 500 KB and all exhibits are 2 MB.Recommendation: Combine the complaint and exhibits into one PDF and e-file.

Example 2Your motion, memorandum in support, Declaration in Support with exhibits, and proposed order exceed 50 MB.Recommendation: Split your filing into two filings. Submit the motion, memorandum in support and proposed order as one filing; and your Declaration with supporting exhibits as a separate filing.

Example 3 (Declaration with many exhibits)

• E-file your Declaration all by itself, and relate it to the Motion it supports.
• When complete, click on Civil→Other Supporting Documents→Exhibits (or Civil→Other Supporting Documents→Attachments to Administrative Motion to File Under Seal if filing documents under seal)
• E-file the exhibits (in groups of 5-10) and relate them to the declaration (not to the Motion the Declaration supports).
• Repeat this until all your exhibits are e-filed.

Exhibits

Common types of exhibits associated with motions are declarations attaching evidence and proposed orders. The civil cover sheet is usually filed as an exhibit to the complaint. Exhibits can be part of your main filing, submitted using the attachment feature, or e-filed separately using the ECF event "Exhibits" (located under Motions and Related Filings)

Slip sheets.When one or more exhibits are appended to another document (such as a declaration) and everything is uploaded as one document, or when a group of exhibits is uploaded as one document, slip sheets should be used to separate and identify the exhibits (e.g., a page where the only words printed are “Exhibit A”, a page where the only words printed are “Exhibit B” and so on). Blank pages should not be filed as slip sheets.

Local rule 3-4. If you must file exhibits as a separate e-filing, your filing must conform to the Court's Civil Local Rule 3-4. The exhibits should also be linked to a docket entry where applicable.

Attachments

The attachment feature in ECF allows you to upload exhibits or other necessary documents as additional and separate PDF files to your filing. When uploading an attachment, give the attachment a description using the category drop down menu or the description free text box. They can use used separately or together.

While the majority of both civil and criminal documents can be e-filed, the following list are documents that cannot or should not be e-filed:

1. INITIATING DOCUMENTS IN CRIMINAL OR PRO SE CIVIL CASES Initiating documents in criminal cases and civil cases filed by an unrepresented (pro se) party cannot currently be e-filed. These documents must be filed manually. Effective December 2020, civil miscellaneous (MISC) cases filed by represented parties must be opened using the Attorney Miscellaneous Case Opening procedures in CM/ECF. Civil case initiating documents filed by represented parties must be filed electronically.
2. UNDER SEAL DOCUMENTS IN CRIMINAL CASES Under seal items in criminal cases are currently excluded from the e-filing system. See the page on manual filing for more info and options when e-filing sealed documents in criminal cases. NOTE: Under seal documents in Civil Cases CAN be e-filed. See the E-Filing Under Seal for instruction.
3. EX PARTE FILINGS Because the ECF system automatically notifies all participants in a case (as well as the public in general), ex parte submissions, including those pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act (CJA), should never be e-filed.
4. SENSITIVE PRIVATE INFORMATION Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5-2 and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49-1 restrict the inclusion of personal information in e-filed documents. View a summary of Rule 5-2's privacy protections.
5. DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS & DISCLOSURES Discovery-related communications between counsel are not typically filed, electronically or otherwise, without an order of the court. This includes initial disclosures, discovery responses, and expert disclosures are also not filed. Initial disclosures described in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1) are not to be e-filed but should be provided directly to the other parties in the case. Consult Fed R. Civ. P. 26 for language governing the content and the time for production of initial disclosures.
6. ITEMS THAT CANNOT BE SCANNED Civil Local Rule 5-1 provides that if the document(s) do not exist in electronic format and it is not feasible to convert it, you may use the Manual Filing Notification procedure instead.
7. FILES THAT ARE TOO BIG Files that exceed 50MB cannot be e-filed. See our FAQs on what to do if your file is too big.
8. NON-DOCUMENTS Exhibits which are physical objects or anything other than documents cannot be e-filed. This includes electronic files which can not be converted to .pdf, such as music and video files. Such files must be filed manually in an accessible format.

The Local Rules no longer require courtesy copies, although some judges require them in specific instances. Please review the assigned judge’s standing orders for details.

In theory, as many as you like. In practice, this depends on the file size of each of your attachments.

In testing, we found that we could reliably e-file seven (7) nearly 50 MB attachments and up to 8 attachments of various file size.

You may combine smaller exhibits into one file, as long as that file is under 50.0 MB. Or if needed, break your filing out into smaller sections. We suggest you divide the document in logical places (such as between chapters or sections of the document if possible. You may label them something like,
Exhibit A, Part 1 of 3
Exhibit A, Part 2 of 3
Exhibit A, Part 3 of 3

Generally, we recommend you keep the number of files to a minimum to avoid timing out.

Per Civil Local Rule 5.1, all documents submitted under the attorney's login and password are automatically considered signed by that attorney, so the login and password are considered the attorney's "electronic signature".  You may indicate that the document is signed by the attorney using a conformed signature in place of a scan.

Additionally, Civil L.R. 5.1 states that any document which is signed by someone other than the attorney who e-files it does not need to be scanned. You may use a conformed signature as long as the e-filing attorney includes the signature attestation. 

A conformed signature is used to indicate that a "real" signature is in place of an original.

Simply have a signature block of the form:

/S/ (name of person who signed the document)
 

EXAMPLE 1:

 /S/  John Doe

OR EXAMPLE 2:

 /S/ 
John Doe

A signature attestation is required to state that the e-filing attorney has the original signatures on-file for any signatures which are not imaged, but indicated only with a conformed signature within an e-filing.

This attestation is required if any signature is indicated only with a conformed signature, even for other attorneys within the same firm (registered for ECF or not).

This attestation is NOT required:

1. For the e-filing attorney's own signature
2. When signatures are scanned into the main e-filed document
3. When signatures are attached as a scanned "signature page exhibit" to the e-filed document

The attestation may be incorporated anywhere within the body of the document, or in a separate document which is attached (like an exhibit) to the e-filing.

EXAMPLE:
"I hereby attest that I have on file all holographic signatures corresponding to any signatures indicated by a conformed signature (/S/) within this e-filed document."

The original with the holograph (ink) signature should be kept by the filing attorney for subsequent production for the court, if so ordered, or for inspection upon request by a party until one year after final resolution of the action (including appeal, if any).

If you are an e-filer in a case, you should only manually file a document if it cannot be e-filed for some reason, such as the instances described below. If you must manually file an item, you are also responsible for serving opposing counsel and providing a Proof of Service (which you can then e-file).

The local rules no longer require provision of a “courtesy copy” or “chambers copy.” Please do not send in a courtesy copy of a filing unless required by a judge’s standing order or by direct request from the judge or Clerk’s Office.

When manually filing a document in an e-filing case, you should also e-file a Manual Filing Notification (MFN) in place of the physical document.  You should use the MFN as a cover page for the manually-filed document.

Example:

You plan to file a Motion to Dismiss with Exhibit A (a 50-page contract) and Exhibit B (a 900-page copy of a book). You will: (1) create a PDF copy of the Motion in MS Word or another word processing program; (2) scan the 50-page Exhibit A into a PDF file; and (3) create a MFN for Exhibit B, the 900-page book.

When you e-file, select Motion to Dismiss and tell the system you have attachments to the Motion. On the attachments page, you will e-file the Exhibit A PDF file (and call it "Exhibit A"), then submit the MFN PDF document in place of of the "real" 900-page Exhibit B.

In doing this, the docket will be accurate and complete. The only anomaly will be that instead of a 900-page book in Exhibit B, PACER users will see the MFN and know they need to come to the courthouse to access the physical document.

Please do not e-file the MFN as a "Notice" of any activity. The MFN is meant to be a place-holder (like an index card) for the real filing, not an event unto itself.

Creating a Manual Filing Notification

• View a sample MFN.

To create a Manual Filing Notification, copy the following text and insert it in your standard pleading template (check off any that apply):

This file format (or file-type) is used to preserve the original layout of documents, such as case files. PDF allows each document to look exactly the same way on any computer at any time.

ECF treats PDF documents as originals by using PDF as an archival format, where no changes can be made to the original document once uploaded to the system.

Converting to PDF. Word processing applications such as Word and WordPerfect can "print" word processing files to PDF when you select Adobe PDF as the "printer." Some versions of these programs have built-in "convert to PDF" or "save as PDF" features. Any of these methods can produce satisfactory results for e-filing.

Scanning to PDF. Only documents that cannot be directly converted to PDF should be scanned. If you need to file a document with signatures, see our Signatures on E-Filed Documents page for further information.

ECF will include the filenames in the Notice of Electronic Filing, be careful not to include confidential information in the filenames. Avoid punctuation in filenames as this can cause errors when e-filing, especially periods and parentheses.

Save your files where you can find them! A common issue the ECF HelpDesk hears is from users who "can't find" their PDFs after theyconvert them.Your PDF software will save files wherever you specify and callthem whatever you name them. You can save your PDF files anywhere, but make a noteof where you save them so that you can find them when you are in the midst of e-filing your documents.

Best practices for locating your PDF include:

• Save your PDF file to your desktop for temporary use.
• Make a file folder on your computer (c:\efiling\) or network drive (N:\efiling\) .

All documents must be in PDF format.

No, not at this time. HOWEVER, note that we have seen that PDF/a documents show the least likelihood of being rejected by ECF for errors such as "ERROR: Document is malformed or contains code which may cause an external action (such as launching an application). This PDF document cannot be accepted." If you attempt to upload a PDF document and get this error, try saving the document in PDF/a format, and upload the document again.

This really depends on your scanner and the resolution at which you scan your documents. According to the National Archives Revised Format Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent Electronic Records:

http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/policy/transfer-guidance-tables.html#scannedtext

Scanned text is a photograph of a printed page produced either by a digital camera or scanner.

General requirements for scanned text include the following:

Agencies must digitize to standards appropriate for the accurate preservation of the information on the printed page. When converting analog or film based material (microfilm, microfiche, slides, etc.), agencies must digitize to standards appropriate for the accurate preservation of the original image. Examples of appropriate methods and formats are available on NARA’s Digitization Services Products and Services page;

Bitonal (1-bit black and white) images must be scanned at 300-600 ppi. Scanning at 600 ppi is recommended. This is appropriate for documents that consist exclusively of clean printed type possessing high inherent contrast (e.g., laser printed or typeset on a white background);

Gray scale (8-bit) must be scanned at 300-400 ppi. Scanning at 400 ppi is recommended.

This is appropriate for textual documents of poor legibility because of low inherent contrast, staining or fading (e.g., carbon copies, thermofax, documents with handwritten annotations or other markings), or that contain halftone illustrations or photographs; and

Color (24-bit RGB [Red, Green, Blue]) must be scanned at 300-400 ppi.Scanning at 400 ppi is recommended. Color mode (if technically available) is appropriate for text containing color information important to interpretation or content.

Our testing shows that a 317 page document scanned:

-- bitonal, at 300 ppi, was 23.86 MB and sufficiently legible, whereas

-- gray scale, at 400 ppi, was 374.47 MB.

Please consult your scanner's documentation or the manufacturer's website/helpdesk for assistance in using your scanner. The ECF HelpDesk cannot provide technical assistance with scanning.

NOTE: On rare occasions when large or multiple PDF files are submitted, the e-filing confirmation page does not appear, but the Notices of Electronic Filing are sent and the filing appears on the electronic docket. In this event, there is no need for concern about your e-filing.

TIP: ECF is less likely to freeze if you submit no more than 8-10 files at a time, no matter what their size. If you have more than 8 documents to submit and ECF stalls, consider filing in smaller batches.

Example: If you have a Declaration and 23 Exhibits, e-file the Declaration as your main document and Exhibits 1 to 7 as attachments; when you finish e-filing these, select Civil or Criminal (as applicable), then "Other Supporting Documents" — Exhibits, file your cover sheet (see Civil Local Rule 3-4 for details) as your main document and Exhibits 8 to 15 as attachments, check the box for "Refer to Existing Events" on the following screen, and make a reference to the Declaration these Exhibits support; when you finish filing these, repeat for Exhibits 16 to 20.

When you have the file open in Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can get a document summary that will tell you a number of things about the file, including its size. Simply type CTRL+D or click:

File > Document Properties > Summary

to open the Document Summary dialog box. File sizes may be listed in KB (kilobytes) or megabyte (MB). 1000KB = 1MB. ECF will reject anything 50.0MB (50,000KB), or over.

You can also look at the file size from within Windows Explorer.

You have a number of simple options:

• If your .pdf file was scanned, did it really have to be scanned? Only documents which exist in paper-only must be scanned, all others can (and should) be electronically converted from the original computer file. If your document exists anywhere electronically (Word, WordPerfect, Excel, website, digital photo, etc.) it is MUCH better to convert your document to .pdf rather than printing it out and scanning it. Remember, you almost never need to scan to prove the existence of signatures.
• If your scanned document is under 50-70 pages but over 50.0MB in file size, you almost certainly scanned it at "high resolution" or "photo quality". Many scanners come from the factory set for the highest quality mode (no doubt to impress you with their detail and clarity), but this creates an enormous file size in relation to the numbers of pages. Rescan your document at LOW resolution or "draft" quality and you'll create a much smaller file size. As long as the document is legible and under 50.0MB, we are happy to accept it.
• Separate files will keep you file size down so you may scan or convert your exhibits as individual files. Instead of combining exhibits A-D, make four PDF files (one for each), such as: A.pdf, B.pdf, C.pdf and D.pdf (etc)..
  You may still combine small exhibits into one file, as long as that file is under 50.0MB (such as ABCD.pdf). Use your best judgment - if you have five, 1-page documents, and one 50-page document, combine the five, 1-page documents into one PDF file, and keep the 50-page document as a separate PDF.
• The court allows you to e-file your documents in sections, as long as they are identified in the ECF system when you efile them. We suggest you try to divide up the document in logical places (such as between chapters or sections of the document) if possible. You may label them something like,
  Exhibit A, Part 1 of 3
  Exhibit A, Part 2 of 3
  Exhibit A, Part 3 of 3
• You may efile your exhibits as separate filings, as long as you relate the filings to the document they are attached to:
  
   Example (Declaration with many exhibits):
  • E-file your Declaration all by itself, and relate it to the Motion it supports.
  • When complete, click on Civil > Other Supporting Documents > Exhibits (or Civil > Other Supporting Documents > Attachments to Administrative Motion to File Under Seal if filing documents under seal)
  • E-file the exhibits (in groups of 5-10) and relate them to the declaration (not to the Motion the Declaration supports).
  • Repeat this until all your exhibits are efiled.
• Please use one of the methods described above to e-file voluminous documents. The Manual Filing Notification ("MFN") process may be used only if it is impossible to e-file an item due to other restrictions. For voluminous documents, the MFN should not be used in lieu of one of the methods described above.

There are a number of circumstances in which documents should be redacted to remove confidential information before e-filing.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5-2, for example, restricts the filing (either e-filing or manual filing) of certain personal data to:

• Last 4 digits of a social-security or taxpayer ID number;
• Year of an individual's birth (not month or day);
• Minor's initials;
• Last 4 digits of a financial-account number.

Other types of information appropriate for redaction include:

• Medical information;
• Trade secrets;
• Informant names;
• Sensitive security information;
• Other forms of unique identifiers.

We urge e-filers to use the utmost care to make sure that the PDF documents submitted to ECF are correctly redacted using effective redaction practices AND completely free of any hidden metadata which may contain redacted data or other data you do not wish to make public.

The information on this page does not purport to be exhaustive. We offer a summary of both ineffective and effective methods for your convenience. As software may be updated before we are able to update this page, verify that you have the most up-to-date instructions.

A common error in redacting information is to use an out-of-date or otherwise wrong method. Below is a partial list of methods NOT to use:

Changing the font to white

Turning the text white makes the words seem to disappear, but they don't. To see what can happen with this method, highlight (click & drag your mouse over) the sentence below. You will see the words are really there: 
Mrs. Lincoln said that John Wilkes Booth shot her husband.

Blacking out with comment tools

Edits made by graphic and "commenting" tools which can black-out, cover over or remove sections of text can still be removed by anyone to reveal the text underneath. To see what can happen with this method, highlight (click & drag your mouse over) the sentence below. You will see the words are really there:

Mrs. Lincoln said that John Wilkes Booth shot her husband.

Deleting

Word-processing programs (such as Word or WordPerfect) retain embedded and hidden code called "metadata" containing revision history and other information. Metadata can reveal anything that was contained in the file at any time, even text that was previously deleted or changed, and even if the file was re-saved. Metadata are useful for tracking revisions, but if it is not purged from the document, anyone can view deleted information, even after the document has been converted to PDF.

Covering text with black marker, tape or paper

A scanned document redacted this way may still provide enough image detail to enable someone to see what was assumed hidden; this method should especially if that same data repeats a number of times across a document.

1. The best way to redact your document is to make sure that the source contains no unwanted text or data to begin with. One way is to use a simple-text editor (such as Windows Notepad : Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad) to create the final redacted version of the document. Notepad cannot save any hidden code, since it only uses simple-text (.txt) format, "what you see is what you get". Here's how (we will assume for these instructions that you are using Microsoft Word:
   1. In your original Word document, replace all the text want redacted with the word [REDACTED]. 
      
      Example: Replace all instances of "John Wilkes Booth" with "[NAME REDACTED]", "JWB" or whatever you deem fit. Be careful that you do this for all instances and for all variants of the text you need to redact (if you do a find/replace for "John Wilkes Booth", it will not replace "John Booth" or "John Wilkes Booth's" or "J. Wilkes Booth" because those phrases are totally different to the computer.)
      
      Save this as a new "temp-redacted" version, then...
   2. Copy all the text from Word and paste it into Notepad*:
      1. Select all the text in Word
         (type CTRL+A, or click Edit > Select All)
      2. Copy all the text in Word
         (type CTRL+C or click Edit > Copy)
      3. Paste all the text into Notepad
         Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad, or
         Start > Run, type notepad, click OK.
         To paste, type CTRL+V or click Edit > Paste into Notepad. This will remove all hidden code from the document, but as you will notice, it will also remove most of the formatting (page numbering, tabs, justification, paragraph numbering/bullets, bold/italics/underlining, fonts, etc.). If you now PDF this Notepad document directly from within Notepad, the PDF file will contain only the info you see within Notepad and nothing more, so it is totally safe.
      4. Save this file in Notepad as the "text-redacted" version. It will now be a text (.txt) file.
   3. If you must reformat the document (usually you will), then you must re-open the "text-redacted" version back in Word because Notepad can not do any formatting. You must place the text onto a brand new document, not the same document you originally had the information on. Here's how:
      1. Save and close the Notepad file.
      2. In Word, select File > Open, then open the "text-redacted" text (.txt) version.
      3. You may then reformat the text however you need and save you work as the "final-redacted" version.
         Be sure you do not change any text, just the formatting.
   4. You can convert this Word document to PDF and it will contain only the text and formatting you see on your screen. Convert/Save this file as the "PDF-redacted" version and e-file it.
   5. The "text-redacted" and "temp-redacted" versions may now be deleted (and should be).

*NOTE: Windows Notepad may not be able to work with large files. You could try working with the file in sections, or you could try using a different simple-text editor, such as Notepad2 (free), Crimson Editor (free), and others.

Current versions of Adobe Acrobat Professional (not standard) can redact PDF documents using built-in redactions tools. Visit Adobe's website for instructions and downloads for the current version. There are also plug-ins (add-on software) for Acrobat which can do this.

Before scanning the document:

1. Cut-out (literally) all the text to be redacted and properly dispose of (shred) the clippings. This method will always be 100% effective.
2. Use opaque (100% impenetrable by light; neither transparent nor translucent) tape or paper to cover over the sections to be redacted. Do not use plain-paper as the scanner may pick up images through the paper. Even some black paper may allow some light reflection - so be careful.

This is a two step process:

1. Go through the document and mark all confidential words and/or phrases for redaction. You can mark for redaction by going to Tools > Mark for Redaction.
2. You will then need to create and save a copy of the newly redacted version in either Word or PDF format. Redaction marks are turned into black bars.

1. Open up a Word 2010 (also works for 2007) document.
2. Click File to bring up Backstage View.
3. Once there, click Prepare for Sharing→Check for Issues→Inspect Document.