PDF requirements for e-filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

What the court requires

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit accepts PDFs of up to 6.5 MB each in CM/ECF. A larger document must be split into consecutive parts of 6.5 MB or less and filed as the main document followed by attachments, in order. Appendices and records are the documents most often over the limit; split them into volumes and check the circuit's rules on how volumes are numbered. The appellate CM/ECF system is configured for up to 50 MB, but the court's user guide sets 6.5 MB per file; we use 6.5 MB.

“Individual documents that exceed the maximum allowable file size of 6.5 megabytes must be divided into smaller files and uploaded as separate attachments.”

The 1st Circuit hears appeals from federal courts in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico.

Common reasons filings are rejected

• A single PDF is over 6.5 MB, usually a scanned exhibit or record.
• Pages are legal size (8½ × 14 in) or A4 instead of letter.
• The PDF is password-protected or has security restrictions, so CM/ECF can't open it.
• The PDF is password-protected or has security restrictions, so the court's system can't open it.

Questions about the 1st Circuit's PDF rules

What is the maximum PDF file size for the 1st Circuit?

6.5 MB per PDF.

What should I do if my PDF is too large for the 1st Circuit?

Split it into consecutive parts that are each under 6.5 MB, never cutting a page in half, and file the first part as the main document and the rest as attachments named in order (for example "Exhibit A, Part 2 of 3"). For scanned documents, re-scanning in black and white at 300 dpi often shrinks the file enough to avoid splitting. Docket Prime can split the file for you in your browser.

Does the 1st Circuit require text-searchable PDFs?

The published rules we found don't require it. Documents saved directly from a word processor are searchable and much smaller than scans; for paper documents, OCR adds searchable text.

What page size does the 1st Circuit accept?

Letter size (8.5 × 11 inches) is expected. Legal-size or A4 pages may print badly or be refused, so resize them to letter.