E-filing PDF requirements in the Southern District of New York
What the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York says about the PDF you upload, quoted from the court’s own rules, and how to check a file against it before you file.
Updated September 5, 2026. Not legal advice; confirm the current rule, the local rules and any order in your case.
What the court requires
Quoted from Electronic Case Filing Rules & Instructions, effective February 2, 2026 (nysd.uscourts.gov), read September 5, 2026.
Format (§23.2)
All documents electronically filed on the ECF system must be in PDF-A format
Check: PDF/A readiness: embedded fonts, no encryption, no scripts, no attachments, no transparency the standard forbids, an XMP identifier. ExhibitSet embeds the fonts it draws with, but it does not write PDF/A metadata or an output intent, so convert from the source with a PDF/A-capable tool, then check.
Searchable text (§23.3)
Documents filed by parties on the ECF system must be in text searchable format. The filing of exhibits in text searchable format is encouraged but not required.
Check: Every page of the document itself must carry a text layer. Scanned exhibits are encouraged to; OCR them first so the court can search them too.
Size (§23.4)
No single PDF file may be larger than 15.0 megabytes (15.0 mb)
Check: File size before upload. Scanned exhibits at high resolution are the usual cause; 300 dpi black-and-white scans are far smaller than colour.
Oversized files (§23.5)
separate an oversized file into 2 or more parts. Simply label each file 1a, 1b, 1c
Check: Split at document boundaries where you can, so an exhibit is not cut in half, and label the parts as the rule says.
The same rules require PDF-A copies of certain filings in criminal cases (§1.4) and, for civil case-opening documents sent by e-mail, separate PDF-A files of no more than 15 MB each.
PDF/A is the requirement most often missed. A file that opens fine and looks right can still be rejected: PDF/A is about what is inside the file (embedded fonts, no encryption, no JavaScript, declared colour), not what it looks like.
Text-searchable and PDF/A are separate checks. A scanned PDF converted to PDF/A without OCR meets §23.2 and fails §23.3.
Read the current rules before every filing. The February 2026 rules replaced earlier versions and may be revised again; individual judges' practices add requirements of their own.
How to check a file before filing
- File size, against the court’s per-file limit, and a plan for splitting at document boundaries if it is over.
- A text layer on every page; OCR scanned pages and check that search finds a word on each.
- No encryption, no JavaScript, no launch or external actions, no attachments, no XFA forms: the things that make a viewer or a clerk’s system reject a file.
- Fonts embedded, if the court requires PDF/A; standard fonts that are not embedded are the usual failure.
- Bookmarks for each exhibit and a flattened set of form fields, so the reader sees what you see.
- The current rule, read today. Court guidance changes without notice.
The general checklist, with state courts and the common causes of a bounced filing, is in E-filing preflight.
How ExhibitSet handles it
ExhibitSet's filing check runs a court profile against the file in your browser: size, text on every page, encryption, scripts and external actions, attachments, fonts, page size, comments, forms, bookmarks, web links and PDF/A readiness, with the rules and their sources shown with the report. Safe fixes (strip active content, flatten forms, remove comments) apply with one click, and an oversized file splits into labelled parts, each with its own report. Every limit is editable, because courts change theirs. Nothing is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 15 MB limit apply to exhibits?
The limit in §23.4 is per PDF file, whatever the file contains. An oversized exhibit is split into parts labelled 1a, 1b, 1c under §23.5.
Do exhibits have to be text-searchable in S.D.N.Y.?
Under §23.3 the documents filed by parties must be text-searchable; exhibits are encouraged but not required to be. Making them searchable is still the better practice.
How do I know whether a PDF is PDF/A?
Open the file's properties in a viewer that reports the PDF/A conformance level, or run it through a validator. Fonts that are not embedded, encryption, JavaScript and attachments are the common reasons a file is not PDF/A.