Appellate Appendix PDF: Building a Searchable Record

To build an appellate appendix PDF, collect the designated record items as the best electronic copies you can get, run OCR on the ones that are only scans, and put them in the required order behind a table of contents. Then paginate the appendix consecutively, split it into volumes, bookmark each document and check it against the court's own checklist.

The federal rule sets the contents and order. Each court of appeals adds the electronic details, and they do not agree with one another. This post reads the rule and four courts' published guidance, then walks through assembly. It explains document handling and is not legal advice. Open your own court's rules before you build anything.

What do appellate rules require of an appendix PDF?

Rule 30 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure sets what goes in an appendix and in what order, and says nothing about PDF. The electronic requirements, such as searchable text, bookmarks, volume length and file size, come from each circuit's local rules, ECF manual and checklists. State appellate courts have their own rules.

What the federal rule fixes

Under Rule 30(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, the appellant's appendix contains:

• "the relevant docket entries in the proceeding below"
• "the relevant portions of the pleadings, charge, findings, or opinion"
• "the judgment, order, or decision in question"
• "other parts of the record to which the parties wish to direct the court's attention"

Rule 30(d) sets the format: "The appendix must begin with a table of contents identifying the page at which each part begins. The relevant docket entries must follow the table of contents. Other parts of the record must follow chronologically." For transcript pages it adds that "the transcript page numbers must be shown in brackets immediately before the included pages."

Two more parts of the rule shape the file. Rule 30(e) allows exhibits to be "reproduced in a separate volume, or volumes, suitably indexed." Rule 30(f) lets a court "dispense with the appendix and permit an appeal to proceed on the original record." So the first question in any appeal is whether your court wants an appendix at all.

What courts add for the electronic file

Four courts' own documents show how far the electronic terms differ.

The Tenth Circuit's word is "native." Ask the clerk how that applies to an item that exists only on paper and has been scanned with OCR. The Sixth Circuit document makes a further point: where the district court's record is electronic, "an appendix is not required," and the party designates the electronic documents in the brief. The D.C. Circuit notice is dated March 1, 2016, so confirm it against that court's current rules.

California's reviewing courts have their own format rule, with page-counter, bookmark and size terms. It is set out in the section on how California appellate PDF requirements differ under rule 8.74.

Why is the record on appeal mostly scanned paper?

The record on appeal is not always mostly scanned paper. The Sixth Circuit's checklist says that in that court and its district courts "most record items are filed electronically." The scanned part of a record is whatever began on paper: exhibits, older paper filings, state court records and signed originals. Count yours before you plan the work.

The courts' own documents name the paper sources.

• Early paper filings. The Sixth Circuit checklist requires an appendix for record items "that are not filed electronically, such as early paper filings."
• Trial exhibits. The same checklist warns that "District courts do not universally retain trial exhibits" and that a party should not assume the court of appeals can reach them. Exhibits admitted on paper have to be scanned by someone.
• State court records. For death penalty appeals, the checklist addresses a district court record that includes a state court record "in paper."
• Anything with no word-processing original. The D.C. Circuit notice says "Appendix items may be scanned if a word-processing version is not available," and then adds: "even scanned documents should be rendered text searchable when they are included in the appendix."
• Administrative records. Check who files the agency record in your kind of case and in what form. The Sixth Circuit checklist, for example, says the immigration agency files its administrative record electronically.

There is a second, quieter source of image-only pages. A document that was filed electronically may itself have been a scan. An affidavit signed in ink, a contract attached to a complaint and a printed email attached to a motion were all images on the day they were filed, and the docket copy you download today is still an image.

A quick census of the record

Before you assemble anything, sort the designated items into three piles. Open each PDF and search for a word you can see on its first and last page.

Write the pile next to each item on your designation list. The count of image-only pages tells you how much conversion work there is and how much of the appendix depends on OCR in a court with a strict searchability term.

When you add a page to the appendix, write the record citation beside the bookmark. The appellant and the appellee cite that page from the appellate brief. A pinpoint citation lines up only when the printed page number matches the number you type. If an amicus curiae brief quotes the same record, it needs that same page. Check any stare decisis passage against the court opinion page you included.

Assembling a searchable appendix from trial court filings and transcripts

Assemble from the cleanest sources: the docketed PDF of each filing, the reporter's electronic transcript, and a fresh scan of anything held only on paper. Convert the image-only items first, then combine everything in the required order, and only then add page numbers, the table of contents and bookmarks.

The order of work matters, because each step can undo the one before it.

1. Fix the contents. Work from the agreed or designated list. Rule 30(b)(1) encourages the parties to agree on the contents and sets a 14-day exchange of designations when they do not.
2. Download the docketed copy of each filing. The Tenth Circuit guide says the district courts' CM/ECF "Create Appendix" option may be used, and notes that "Sealed documents may not be accessible" that way.
3. Get transcripts as electronic files from the reporter. A transcript printed and scanned loses its text. If a scanned transcript is all you have, treat it as an image-only item.
4. Scan paper-only items. Use the resolution and color settings your court publishes, and scan each item as its own file.
5. Run OCR on every image-only item. Keep the page image exactly as it is and add text behind it. In Schema Law that means uploading the scan and exporting a searchable PDF. Uploads are limited to 20 MB, and the Free, Solo and Team plans each set a page limit per document, shown on the pricing page, so a long exhibit may need to go through in parts.
6. Check each converted item against its source: same page count, same order, and a successful search on the first and last page.
7. Combine in the required order. Under Rule 30(d) that is the table of contents, then the docket entries, then the other parts chronologically. The Tenth Circuit guide says the same in its own words: "beginning with the oldest document."
8. Paginate, build the table of contents, and bookmark. Do these on the combined file.
9. Test and split into volumes.

What OCR must not change

An appendix reproduces the record. A page in it has to look the way it looked in the trial court, with the filing header, stamps, signatures and handwriting where they were. A searchable PDF that keeps the scan and adds a text layer does that. A conversion that re-types the page does not belong in an appendix.

Recognition is strongest on clean print and weaker on faint faxes, stamps over text and handwriting. Nothing in a Schema Law export marks a passage as uncertain, so the search test is yours to run. The D.C. Circuit notice recognizes limits too, with an exception for an item that is "odd-sized or illegible when scanned."

Transcripts need one extra step

Rule 30(d) wants the transcript's own page numbers "shown in brackets immediately before the included pages." The Sixth Circuit checklist puts it as "for transcript, include original pagination in brackets." If you include excerpts, each run of transcript pages needs its original page number visible. Rule 30(d) also says omissions "must be indicated by asterisks."

A worked example. In a fictional appeal, Castellano v. Ridgeline Freight, the designated record is 41 items. Thirty-three are docketed filings with text. Five are trial exhibits that were admitted on paper, two are signed declarations that were scanned before filing, and one is a 1998 lease attached to the complaint as an image. Eight items, about 190 pages, need OCR. That is far better found on day one than on the day the appendix is due.

Consecutive pagination, volume splits and the appendix index

Number the appendix pages in one consecutive run, split it into volumes at the length your court sets, and put a table of contents where the court wants one. All three are court-specific. The First Circuit's instructions say the appendix must begin with a table of contents, and the Tenth and Sixth Circuits ask for one in each volume.

Pagination

The First Circuit instructions say the appendix "must be consecutively paginated and begin with a table of contents identifying the page at which each part begins." The Tenth Circuit gives a choice across volumes: "you may begin each volume at page 1, or you may consecutively paginate the appendix across all volumes." The Sixth Circuit checklist says pagination "for all volumes, both appellant's and appellee's, must be consecutive."

Practical points for a scanned-heavy appendix:

• Stamp after combining. Page numbers added before the final order is settled will be wrong.
• Pick a clear spot. Scanned pages have Bates stamps, fax headers and docket headers in the margins. Place the appendix number where it does not sit on any of them.
• Use a prefix if your court's citation form has one. Then a search for the cite finds the page.
• Make the stamp real text. A page number added as text by your PDF software is searchable. One burned into the image is not, unless you run OCR again.
• Decide what the cover counts as. Where a court requires the PDF's own page counter to match the printed number, as California's rule 8.74 does, the cover is page 1.

Volumes

The Tenth Circuit guide is specific: "No volume should exceed 300 pages," and each volume "must have its own cover page, identifying the volume and the pages included (e.g., Volume 2, Pages 542 to 813)." It also asks filers to "Use the same naming convention for each e-filed volume."

Volume length and file size are different limits, and a scanned volume can break the second while meeting the first. Three hundred pages of color scans can exceed a 30 MB cap. The Tenth Circuit guide deals with that case: when you split one volume into parts to fit e-filing, "each part is considered a separate volume" for matching any paper copy. How to cut an oversized scanned file and label the parts is covered in the section on splitting an oversized exhibit into volumes the clerk will accept.

Split at a document boundary where you can. A volume that ends in the middle of a deposition excerpt is harder to cite and to bookmark.

The index or table of contents

The Tenth Circuit guide says each volume must include an index or table of contents that lists "each document by original document title" and "the page number of the appendix on which the document begins." The Sixth Circuit wants "the record entry number of the item and the appendix page where it appears."

Build the table from a spreadsheet with one row per document:

Fill in the page column last, from the paginated file, and check every row by going to that page.

How do bookmarks and record cites work together in an appendix?

A record cite in the brief tells the judge which appendix page to open, and a bookmark gets the judge to the right document in one click. They work together when the bookmark names the document the way the table of contents does and the page the cite names is the page the PDF shows.

Federal Rule 28(e) of the appellate rules sets the cite: "References to the parts of the record contained in the appendix filed with the appellant's brief must be to the pages of the appendix." So the appendix page number is the address everything else has to agree with.

The Tenth Circuit guide shows what a court can ask of a bookmark: one on each document, naming its district court docket number, pleading name and filing date. It adds that although the Create Appendix function makes bookmarks automatically, "you should manually edit the bookmarks to clearly identify the pleadings." That court's wording, other courts' bookmark rules and how to phrase labels belong to the guide on how to bookmark a PDF for court filing. For an appendix, three things tie bookmarks to cites:

1. Same names in three places. The table of contents row, the bookmark title and any short form in the brief should describe a document with the same words.
2. One bookmark per document, at its first appendix page. Add nested bookmarks for exhibits inside a filing if your court asks for them.
3. Cites that can be searched. If a brief cites "App. 311," a judge who types 311 into the page box, or searches for the stamp, should arrive at the same page.

Hyperlinks from the brief

A court may allow links from the brief to the appendix. The Tenth Circuit guide calls hyperlinks "optional" and says that for technical reasons they "may only link to materials already on the docket, i.e., the appendix must be filed before the brief if the brief is to contain hyperlinks to the appendix." If you plan to link, that sequence controls your calendar. Check what your court says before you promise linked cites to anyone.

What breaks the connection

• Combining after bookmarking. Merging files can drop or reorder bookmarks. Bookmark the final file.
• Renumbering after the brief is drafted. A late addition to volume 1 moves every later page. Freeze the appendix before cites are finalized, or add late items at the end.
• Compression that rebuilds the file. Re-check bookmarks and the search test after any size reduction.

Checking an appendix PDF against the appellate court's checklist

Print your court's checklist, or make one from its rules if it publishes none, and test the final files against it line by line. Check the things a scanned-heavy appendix gets wrong: pages without text, page numbers that do not match the table, bookmarks that land in the wrong place, and volumes over the size limit.

This checklist is built from the terms quoted in this post. Replace each line with your court's own wording.

The search test, done properly

A single search on page one proves little in a file built from forty sources. For an appendix:

• Search each volume for a word that appears only in a scanned item, such as a name from a paper exhibit.
• Select a line on a scanned page and paste it into a blank document. Read what comes out.
• Search for an appendix page cite as the brief writes it.
• Open the file in a second PDF reader and repeat one search.

Sealed and private material

Check the record for sealed items before anything is combined. The Tenth Circuit guide requires sealed materials to be "filed in a separate volume," and the First Circuit instructions require sealed or non-public documents to go in paper form only, in a separate volume clearly marked "FILED UNDER SEAL." A sealed page in a public volume is a serious error, so run this check twice. For the same reason, think about where a sealed scan goes when you run OCR on it. Schema Law's security commitments are listed on the homepage, and you can delete a document as soon as its export is saved.

If your court has no checklist, call the clerk's office with specific questions. The Sixth Circuit's checklist ends with an invitation that reflects the right approach anywhere: "If uncertain of any electronic filing procedure or the contents of an appendix to be filed, please contact the case manager before attempting to file."