PDF requirements for e-filing in the North Carolina Business Court

What the court requires

The limit is 110 MB per document. The Business Court's eFiling system has no limit on the total size of a filing queue, only on each document.

“If a document exceeds 110 MB, you will need to split the document into several smaller documents and upload each one into the filing queue.”

Common reasons filings are rejected

• A single document is over 110 MB.
• Exhibits were combined into one oversized PDF.
• The PDF is password-protected or has security restrictions.
• The PDF is password-protected or has security restrictions, so the court's system can't open it.

Questions about the NC Business Court's PDF rules

What is the maximum PDF file size for the NC Business Court?

110 MB per PDF.

What should I do if my PDF is too large for the NC Business Court?

Split it into consecutive parts that are each under 110 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 NC Business Court require text-searchable PDFs?

It is recommended. 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 NC Business Court 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.