GENERAL

INFO.

 

At some point during the electronic filing of each pleading, a “Select the pdf document” screen will display.  This screen allows you to browse your computer for the .pdf image of the pleading you are electronically filing.  You will then need to insert path information about the .pdf image of the pleading into the “Filename” field.

 

The instructions below illustrate the steps that you will take each time you browse for the .pdf image of the pleading you are filing.

 

The .pdf image used in the steps below is a “Voluntary Petition”, but the same steps would be used for any kind of pleading being electronically filed.

 

 

 

SELECT

THE PDF

IMAGE

SCREEN

 

 

At some point during electronic filing, the “Select the pdf document” screen is displayed.

 

 

 

 

WARNING

MESSAGE

 

If you click on the  button to advance without attaching a .pdf document, a “Warning Message” will be displayed.

 

 

Click the  button to close the message.

 

 

 

STEP 1

 

Click the  button to search for your .pdf documents. 

 

 

 

STEP 2

 

 

A “File Upload” window will open which will differ from the one below because it will contain whatever file folders you have established on your office computer.

 

 

 

 

STEP 3

 

Click the  button next to the “Look in” field. 

 

Double click on the drive where the .pdf images of bankruptcy pleadings are being stored.  In our example, we are using the “Local Disk [c:/]” drive, but at your law firm, the .pdf documents may be stored on a network drive or the “c:/” drive of a staff member’s computer.

 

 

 

 

STEP 4

 

The name of the drive that you double clicked will now be in the “Look in:” field.  The contents of the drive that you double clicked will appear below.

 

 

You may store the .pdf images of your bankruptcy pleadings in a folder with any name you wish or following whatever rules are already established in your office. 

 

For the example above, we created a folder to hold the files/pleadings of all the training sessions.  Then we created a subfolder that we named “Bankruptcy Cases”. 

 

 

Double click on the folder that has your .pdf images. 

 

In our example, the user would double click on the appropriate training folder, then, double click on the “Bankruptcy Cases” subfolder.

 

 

 

STEP 5

 

The contents of your .pdf documents folder will now display.  In our example, the contents of the “Bankruptcy Cases” folder are now displayed.

 

 

We created subfolders for each of our clients.  The examples above show two ways that you could name your clients’ folders.  These are just examples, if you create subfolders, you may name them as you wish or following whatever rules are already established in your office.

 

NOTE:  If you don’t have subfolders, just jump from this point to the Step 6 to continue.

 

If you have created subfolders, double click the appropriate subfolder.  In our example, we double clicked on the “Onassis_Jacqueline” folder.  The contents will display but will appear to be empty.

 

 

 

 

STEP 6

 

Click the drop down arrow next to

 

and change the type from HTML to “All Files (*.*)”

 

 

Now the .pdf and .txt files will all appear.

 

 

 

 

STEP 7

 

Right-click on the .pdf document that you wish to file.  In the example below, we right-clicked on the “Onassis_Jacqueline_Petition.pdf” file.  On the shortcut menu that appears, left-click “Open”.

 

 

 

 

STEP 8

 

Adobe Acrobat Reader will now open and will display the .pdf document.

 

 

Use Adobe’s  (page forward) button or Adobe’s  (end of document) button or scroll down to verify that this is the .pdf document that you wish to file.  In our example, the first page of the Onassis petition is shown above and the last page is shown below.

 

 

 

 

STEP 9

 

Click Adobe’s minimize button to leave Adobe open and go back to CM/ECF. 

 

NOTE:  Keeping Adobe open on your desktop will greatly speed up the amount of time it takes to open the .pdf documents that you have to review before filing.

 

 

 

STEP 10

 

The .pdf document will now appear in the “File Name” field.

 

 

Click the  button (the document won’t really open) in the “File Upload” dialog box or double click the .pdf file to select the document.

 

 

 

STEP 11

 

The path of the .pdf document will now be inserted in the field next to the browse button.

 

  

 

 

 

STEP 12

 

As long as you don’t need to add attachments, leave the “Attachments” radio button set to “No”. 

 

 

If you do need to add attachments, click the “Yes” radio button, and see the separate instructions on “Adding Attachments”.

 

 

 

STEP 13

 

As long as you don’t need add attachments, click the  button to continue filing your pleading.

 

 

 

MESSAGE IF

NON-PDF FORMAT USED

 

You may have both the original “Word” or “WordPerfect” document and the .pdf version of the document in your file folder (depending no where you save your .pdf versions).  So, it is easy to accidentally insert the wrong document into the path.  If you insert a document that is not in .pdf format, the message shown below will display.