United States District Court
Northern District of Texas
ECF Administrative Procedures Manual
(updated 11/2022)
This manual is updated regularly.
Please make sure you are accessing the most recent version found on the court’s website.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. THE ELECTRONIC CASE FILING SYSTEM (“ECF”)
A. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
B. Registration as an ECF User Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
C. Registration as a PACER User Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
D. Portable Document Format (PDF) Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
E. Accessing the ECF System and Menu Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
II. ELECTRONIC CASE FILING AND SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS
A. Filing a Civil or Miscellaneous Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
B. Filing a Pleading, Motion, or Other Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
C. Judge’s Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
D. Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
E. Fee Payable to the Clerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
F. Proposed Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
G. Selecting an Event Consistent With the Title of the Document . . . . . 4
H. When ECF is Down and Other Technical Failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
III. FILING OF DOCUMENTS WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
A. Document to be Filed Under Seal and/or Ex Parte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
B. Document Related to a Presentence Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
C. Document Granted Leave to File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
D. Non-Documentary or Oversized Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
E. Document Larger Than the Electronic File Size Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
F. Document to Be Issued by the Clerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
G. Consent to Proceed Before a United States Magistrate Judge . . . . . . 5
IV. AMENDMENT OF THIS MANUAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
V. ECF HELP DESK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ECF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
I. THE ELECTRONIC CASE FILING SYSTEM (“ECF”)
A. Introduction
Under LR 5.1(e) and LCrR 49.2(f), unless the presiding judge otherwise directs, you
must file any pleading (except a complaint in a civil case, or an indictment or
information in a criminal case), motion, or other paper by electronic means. Under
LR 3.1, you are permitted, but not required, to file a complaint by electronic means.
You may, for cause, move to be excused from the requirement of electronic filing.
See LR 5.1(e), and LCrR 49.2(f).
B. Registration as an ECF User Required
Registration is required within 14 days of the date you appear in a case. See LR
5.1(f) and LCrR 49.2(g). To register, follow the procedure on the court’s website on
the E-File Registration page.
To maintain your login and password and the contact information covered by LR
83.13(b) or LCrR 57.13(b) —your business address, e-mail address, telephone
number, facsimile number, or name—follow the procedure on the court’s website
under Maintaining Your Account.
Please protect the security of your PACER account credentials. Sharing your filing
credentials with a third-party service provider will give the provider access to sealed
case information and documents in violation of a court order. You are urged to use
caution in your computer security practices to ensure that sealed documents to which
you have access are not disclosed. Also, since designating a third-party service
provider as a secondary recipient of a Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) will give
sealed docket text access to the provider, the Clerk will remove third-party service
providers when they are identified as secondary NEF recipients for an ECF user. If
you believe your password has been compromised, you should change it
immediately. If you do not know your PACER credentials, please use the Forgot
Username or Password? link.
C. Registration as a PACER User Required
You must have a PACER account to file or view electronically stored document
images. To obtain a PACER login, register online at www.pacer.uscourts.gov or
contact the PACER Service Center at (800) 676-6856.
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D. Portable Document Format (PDF) Required
Except for proposed orders, documents must be filed in Portable Document Format
(PDF). When using a PDF fillable form, you must “flatten” the document after
completing the form fields to ensure it can be viewed on all devices. Follow the
procedures on the court’s website for Flattening a PDF.
E. Accessing the ECF System and Menu Features
You may connect to ECF at https://ecf.txnd.uscourts.gov. The options in the
blue menu bar at the top of the opening screen provide the functionality noted
below:
• Civil - To electronically file civil documents;
• Criminal - To electronically file criminal documents;
• Query - To obtain specific case information and view or print
docket sheets or previously filed documents;
• Reports - To obtain cases-filed reports and docket sheets;
• Utilities - To view your personal transaction log and maintain
your secondary e-mail addresses;
• Search - To search by keyword for the most applicable event
for the document you intend to file; and
• Logout - To exit the system after completing your transactions.
II. ELECTRONIC CASE FILING AND SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS
A. Filing a Civil or Miscellaneous Case
To file a civil case, follow the procedure on the court’s website under Opening a
Civil Case/Filing a Complaint.
To file a miscellaneous case, follow the procedure on the court’s website under
Opening a Miscellaneous Case.
B. Filing a Pleading, Motion, or Other Paper
To file a pleading, motion, or other paper, follow the procedure on the court’s
website under Filing a Pleading, Motion, or Other Paper. ECF will e-mail a Notice
of Electronic Filing to each registered user in the case (including a non-prisoner pro
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se party) at the user’s primary and secondary e-mail addresses, as maintained within
PACER and the ECF systems. Review the Notice of Electronic Filing to determine
who received electronic service and who you must serve by other means.
C. Judge’s Copy
A “judge’s copy” is a paper copy of an original pleading, motion, or other paper
submitted for use by the presiding judge. To comply with LR 5.1(b) and LCrR
49.2(b), you must provide the judge’s copy according to the requirements on the
court’s website under Judges’ Copy Requirements.
D. Signature
An example of a signature block that complies with FED. R. CIV. P. 5(d)(3)(c) is:
John Doe
John Doe
Bar Number: 12345
123 Main Street
Dallas, TX 75201
E-mail:
[email protected]
Telephone: (214) 123-4567
Fax: (214) 123-4567
E. Fee Payable to the Clerk
Your filing fee will be collected online by credit card or debit card when you follow
the instructions for opening the case. If you inadvertently failed to pay a filing fee,
you may use the “Payment of Fee” event.
F. Proposed Order
To satisfy the requirement of LR 7.1(c) or LCrR 47.1(c), you must use the “Proposed
Orders” event and submit the proposed order in a word-processing format (e.g., Word
or WordPerfect, not PDF). To serve a copy, you may attach a PDF version as an
exhibit to the motion, but this does not satisfy the requirement to submit a proposed
order to the judge.
G. Selecting an Event Consistent With the Title of the Document
When you file a pleading, motion or other paper, you must select the appropriate
category (e.g., “Initial Pleadings and Service,” “Motions and Related Filings,” “Other
Filings”), and then the event most consistent with the title of your document (e.g.,
Motions, Notices, ADR Documents). Use the “Search” feature from the main menu
to search by keyword.
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H. When ECF is Down and Other Technical Failures
If you are at risk of missing a deadline because ECF is down, follow the procedures
on the court’s website under Emergency Filing Information (if our system is down).
If you are at risk of missing a deadline because your system is down, follow the
procedures under Emergency Filing Information (if your system is down).
III. FILING OF DOCUMENTS WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
A. Document to be Filed Under Seal and/or Ex Parte
To file a pleading, motion, or other paper under seal, except a document related to
a Presentence Report, follow the applicable procedure on the court’s website under
Filing a Sealed and/or Ex Parte Document in a Civil Case or Filing a Sealed and/or
Ex Parte Document in a Criminal Case. Access to the document will be immediately
restricted consistent with the choices you make when filing the document.
Access to this restricted entry is granted via the PACER login of the filing attorney.
To access a restricted document, follow the procedure on the court’s website under
Accessing Restricted Documents.
B. Document Related to a Presentence Report
To submit a document related to a Presentence Report, follow the procedure on the
court’s website under Using ECF to Electronically Submit Documents Related to the
Presentence Report. A Notice of Electronic Filing will be sent only to the Assistant
U.S. Attorney, the attorney(s) for the related defendant (not to any co-defendant’s
attorney), and the U.S. Probation Office. The original must be received by the
presiding judge on or before the date the document is submitted using ECF.
Access to these restricted documents is granted via the PACER credentials of the
attorney for the applicable defendant or the government. To access a restricted
document, follow the procedure on the court’s website under Accessing Restricted
Documents.
C. Document Granted Leave to File
If you are granted leave to file a document that is available in the Court’s record
(e.g., attached as an exhibit to your motion for leave to file), the clerk will file the
document as of the date of the order granting leave. If the document is not
available in the court’s record because you have not submitted it yet, you must
electronically file the document upon receipt of the order granting leave.
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D. Non-Documentary or Oversized Object
If you are unable to electronically file a non-documentary or oversized object
because of its physical size or character, submit it to the clerk’s office for filing.
The clerk will docket a text-only event, generating a Notice of Electronic Filing,
that describes the non-documentary or oversized object filed.
E. Document Larger than the Electronic File Size Limit
The maximum size for any file is thirty five megabytes. To file a pleading, motion,
or other paper that is larger than thirty five megabytes, follow the procedure on the
court’s website under Filing Large Documents and Adding Attachments.
F. Document to Be Issued by the Clerk
To request the clerk to tax costs, use the “Bill of Costs” event. To request the clerk
to issue any other type of document (e.g., Clerk’s Entry of Default, abstract of
judgment, etc.), use the “Request for Clerk to Issue Document” event.
G. Consent to Proceed Before a United States Magistrate Judge
To consent to the disposition of a civil case by a United States Magistrate Judge,
complete the “Consent to Proceed Before U.S. Magistrate Judge” event. Each party
will receive a Notice of Electronic Filing, but the information will not be displayed
on the docket sheet unless the presiding judge reassigns the case.
IV. AMENDMENT OF THIS MANUAL
The clerk’s office may amend this ECF Administrative Procedures Manual, which includes
by reference, all of the linked procedures, at any time, without prior notice.
V. ECF HELP DESK
For assistance, please contact your local clerk’s office or ECF Help Desk.
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