The court requires a document filed in CM/ECF or submitted to
the appropriate e-mail box upon the filing of a paper copy in
pre-2010 cases to be in Portable Document Format (PDF). Local
Rule 25.1(c)(1); Local Rule 25.2(b)(2). To upload a
document to the CM/ECF system or submit the document to the
appropriate e-mail box in PDF, a filer must have computer
software that (1) enables a document's conversion to PDF from
a word processor format or (2) reads a scanned copy of a
document and converts the image to PDF. Adobe Acrobat Standard
or Professional is software that will enable either
conversion. While Adobe Acrobat Reader works with the CM/ECF
system, it offers read-only capabilities. The Court recommends
Adobe Acrobat Standard or Adobe Acrobat Professional as either
has writing capabilities that permit a filer to manipulate a
PDF document and even perform some basic editing.
A PDF document filed in CM/ECF or submitted to the Court in
addition to any required paper copy of a document must be
text-searchable. Local Rule
25.1(e); Local Rule
25.2(b)(3). Adobe Acrobat Standard or Adobe Acrobat
Professional permits a filer to perform an Optimal Character
Recognition ("OCR") scan that will convert the document to a
text-searchable format. The Court deems any PDF that is not
text-searchable to be non-conforming, and the Court will
return a PDF that is not text-searchable to a filer for
resubmission.
A filer uploading a fillable PDF to NextGen CM/ECF must
"flatten" the PDF before uploading. Flattening ensures that the document can be viewed on all devices, and prevents others from manipulating or editing the information.
A filer must also combine multiple PDFs into one PDF in
certain instances, see, e.g., Local Rule
27.1(a)(2), alter a
PDF's pagination so that it matches the way the filer
initially paginated the submitted document (i.e., make the
page numbers properly text-searchable), and divide an
oversized PDF for appropriate submission in CM/ECF, see Local
Rule 25.1(j)(3). Adobe Acrobat Standard or Adobe Acrobat
Professional enables a user, among other things, to combine
multiple separate PDFs into one PDF as required. Either
program also permits necessary adjustment of a PDF's default
pagination which designates the first page of a document as
Arabic number 1 and continues with sequential Arabic numbering
even when the filer has paginated the document differently
(e.g., when a filer paginates a brief's table of contents and
table of authorities with Roman numerals and argument sections
in Arabic numerals). Either program also provides easy
manipulation of a PDF so that it can be broken down when its
file size is too large.
The CM/ECF system accommodates Adobe Acrobat Version 5 and
higher. If a user's computer does not meet this software
requirement, a filer can obtain Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe
Acrobat Standard, or Adobe Acrobat Professional software from Adobe's website.
The following instructions apply only to Adobe Acrobat
Professional and Adobe Acrobat Standard.
A filer who uses software other than Adobe Acrobat
Professional or Standard to create a PDF must consult the
software vendor for information on making the PDF
text-searchable, combining the PDF with at least one other
PDF, and appropriately paginating the PDF.
More information about PDFs:
Creating a PDF from Word or WordPerfect
Making a PDF text-searchable
Flattening a fillable PDF
Combining multiple PDFs into a single PDF
Paginating a PDF
Dividing an oversized PDF
Last modified at 8/27/2010
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