Step-By-Step Guide

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The step-by-step guides collected here are offered to assist panel attorneys with navigating the TrueFiling system and other court filing requirements.

Unfortunately, CCAP is not able to produce guides that will work for everyone. We know that some attorneys prefer to use older versions of their word-processing software or may be using other programs we are not familiar with.

NEW! CCAP has step-by-step instructions for filing documents via TrueFiling 3.0 (number 2 below).

Self-Help Guides & Resources

After the December 2017 update in TrueFiling, panel attorneys are no longer able to add CCAP, the Attorney General, or any other attorney outside the panel attorney’s “TrueFiling firm” to the case contacts list in TrueFiling; panel attorneys can only add these contacts as service recipients for a particular document.

If counsel is using TrueFiling for service and a service recipient is missing from the case contacts list, counsel will need to add the missing person or entity as a service recipient EVERY TIME a document is filed.

If you find that CCAP is missing from the case contacts list when you are ready to file a document, follow CCAP’s instructions for adding a service recipient to add CCAP to the TrueFiling service list for the document you are filing. Alternatively, you may still serve us via email outside of TrueFiling. To assist us in evaluating the problems the panel is experiencing, after you have filed the document, please email resources@capcentral.org to let us know that CCAP is missing from the case. Please include the case name and number in the email.

Thank you for your patience and we hope these problems will be resolved soon.

4. DCA guide for working with electronic briefs

This all-in-one guide was created by the State to help filers who use Word (2007, 2010 and 2013) and Adobe Acrobat Pro.

5. Bookmarking instructions (Third & Fifth District requirement)

Please note that you will need to download the sample brief in order for the PDF bookmarks to display properly. You will not be able to see or access the bookmarks if you only open the sample brief in your Internet browser.

The Courts have indicated that the following items in a brief should be bookmarked in the final PDF:

Table of Contents
Table of Authorities
All headings and subheadings in the brief
Certificate of Word Count
Proof of Service

6. Bookmarking software (what’s out there?)

There are a number of programs available that may be used to create the electronic bookmarks required by the Courts. A few are listed below:

Adobe Acrobat Pro and Adobe Acrobat Standard (External link PDF. Please note that the free version of Adobe Reader does NOT allow the user to create bookmarks)
Foxit Reader
PDFelement
PDFBookmarks
PDFpenPro (Please note that bookmarks are called the table of contents in this program.)

CCAP is not recommending or endorsing any product mentioned above, but we are instead providing this information to alert the panel that there are different options for creating the required bookmarks and to help the panel get started with researching the various alternatives. Please note that some of these programs only work with Windows and others only work with Macs. Many of these programs also have a free trial version so you may be able to try the product first.

7. Pagination instructions (Third and Fifth District requirement)

Court approved work-around for building the table of contents and table of authorities in light of the new pagination requirement

What is the pagination requirement?
The Third and Fifth DCA require that all document pages be consecutively numbered beginning from the cover page of the document and using only the Arabic numbering system, as in 1, 2, 3, to match the PDF page numbering. (Ct. App. Third Dist., Local Rules, rule 5(e)(2) Electronic Filing; Ct. App. Fifth Dist., Local Rules, rule 8(b) Electronic Filing.) The cover page of a brief may show the number 1. This means that briefs may no longer have different numbering systems (so no more numbering the table of contents and the table of authorities with roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv)).
Why is this a problem?
For attorneys who do not have software that can automatically generate and update the tables, or attorneys who choose to do the tables manually, the new pagination requirement has proved to be very difficult. This is because the page numbers for the relevant items in the tables will shift as the tables are built, thus requiring the attorney to essentially redo the tables a second time to ensure that the page numbers are correct.
Is there a solution?
For panel attorneys who have software that automatically generates the table of contents and table of authorities, and that can automatically update the page numbers in the tables, the court’s new requirement should not be a problem. CCAP now has instructions for how to automatically build the tables and update the page numbers in Word and WordPerfect.For attorneys who do not have software that performs this function, the best solution that we have found so far is for counsel to estimate the number of pages that will be required for the tables, and to add a few extra pages as a buffer. For example, if you think the cover page and tables of the brief will take up 7 pages, begin the substantive part of your brief on page 11 or so. After you build the tables, there will likely be some leftover pages. The Third and Fifth DCAs have agreed that counsel may label any blank pages in the tables section of the brief with “THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.” The benefit of this method is that the page number for the first page of the substantive part of the brief, and all the following pages, will be the same after the tables are built. This should alleviate the need to redo the tables several times to correct the page numbers. If you are using this method, it is best to overestimate the number of blank pages that you will need for your tables so you will not need to redo the page numbers once the tables are built. In your final PDF, the PDF numbering and the brief page numbering should match.

8. Combining PDF Copies of a Petition for Review and a Court of Appeal Opinion

Instructions for Merging PDFs With Sedja

9. PDF basics:

Court Guide on how to create a PDF (external link PDF)
How to properly set “INHERIT ZOOM” in a PDF (external link PDF)

10. How to update your email in TrueFiling

TrueFiling requires a current email address. It is important that counsel plan ahead for any change of the email address used for TF. You will not be able to file or receive TF notices on electronic filings if your email address is no longer functioning either because the email has changed, or the mailbox is “full.”

Unfortunately, counsel cannot unilaterally update their own profile email address within the TF system. To update your TF email, you must submit a change of email address to the court pursuant to rule 8.78(d)(1), with service on the parties and CCAP. (Once filed, the court’s database will in turn update TF in a secured upload process that occurs each night.)

Both the Third and the Fifth are okay with submitting a single notice that lists all open cases you are appointed on for that court. Submit the notice via TrueFiling attached to only one case (and one set of fees).

11. TrueFiling’s collection of training videos on YouTube

TrueFiling has posted a training series collection of about 20 videos, each approximately 1 minute long, that includes everything from registering as a new user to the nuts and bolts of filing a document using their site.