Combining forms to file with court

Dave, thank you so much for all your help.  What you're saying makes total sense to me.  Also, thank you for the link to the flattener. 

Susan

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Thanks for all the wonderful assistance!!

I will call the various courts to see if we can use PDF portfolios instead of single PDF.  However, some appellate courts require an elaborate bookmarking scheme for the judges which is supposed to match the table of contents.  And we're required to insert page numbers in the footer of the combined appendices after the set is compiled.  So if I combine 100 docs, then all the docs have to have a consecutive page number at the bottom of the entire set.  Then we have to create a table of contents that describes each of the documents and lists the page number where it appears in the compiled appendix.  Then we have to bookmark each entry in the table of contents so it takes the Judge to the exact document.  Then we have to renumber all the thumbnails to match the page number scheme because the PDF page numbering doesn't match the brief or appendix -- the cover has no page number, the table of contents and table of authorities is numbered with lower case roman numerals, and the page numbers on the actual documents start at 1 and are numbered consecutively.  If we mention page number 524 in a brief, the judge wants to be able to insert 524 in the GoTo page, and go directly to page number 524 even if we've inserted an unnumbered cover sheet and 20 pages of roman numeral table of contents.

Then when the PDF is filed, the federal courts add either a new footer or a new header to every single page in the PDF that lists the case number, document number, filed date, page x of xx, and the actual pageid# of the number of docs filed to date in that case (if 100 pleadings have been filed in this case, this pageid# is the page number of the entire set of all docs.)   So it keeps track of the number of pages filed to date so everyone can refer to pageis# 23,123 and everyone knows which page that is in the case file.  I'm not sure the court could do all this numbering with portfolios because I can't seem to figure out how to bates number portfolios.  But I will check with the courts.

I tried creating an action using "this.flattenPages();" and nothing happened.  I tried downloading something I found on the Adobe legal blog called "Flatten Fields and Comments.sequ" that created an action running JS "event.target.flattenPages();" and nothing happened.  However, I did get this action to flatten digital exhibit stickers that we use which will be really helpful.  If I don't flatten the digital exhibit stickers, the federal courts insert that footer or header automatically that I described above, and if my exhibit sticker isn't place just right it obscures the court's footer information.  So I can definitely use this flatten action for some things.  I just can't get it to flatten this fillable court form. 

I tried running Preflight, Flatten annotations and form fields, and I received an error message, "Preflight is unable to perform any fixups on this document as its author did not grant the necessary permissions. Permissions can be restricted by using encryption or digital signatures."  

Maybe this form just can't be flattened because of the way it was created??  Here's the link:  http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/docs/pdfs/disclosure-of-corporate-affiliations.pdf

I have requested that all attorneys get Acrobat Pro. They often can't file documents because the size is larger than that allowed by each court.  They often have to redact personal identifiers, bates number, insert digital exhibit stickers, rearrange pages, change thumbnail page numbering, extract pages, combine pages, etc.

Thanks again for all your assistance with this problem.

Susan

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Sorry, I"m still not making sense, am I?  The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals offers many fillable PDF forms on their website.  However, they also request that the attorneys "flatten" the forms after filling them out and prior to filing.  They suggest printing to PDF using Acrobat or some other software.  Attorneys who don't have Acrobat just file them without flattening them. They might fill out a form for each defendant and file each of the forms individually.  Then later, they come to me because I have Acrobat Pro and they ask me to insert all of these filed forms into the front of their appellate brief as required by the court and create another single PDF file that is also filed with the court.  I was just using the Combine feature in Acrobat Pro and filing the appellate brief.  Then we noticed that all of the checked boxes on all of the individual disclosure forms became unchecked when they were combined together as one document with the text of the appellate brief.  I was hoping each attorney would start "flattening" these forms when they first file them.  But it sounds like that's not possible using Reader.  They'll need to request Acrobat Pro or ask me to do it for all of their filings if they are PDF fillable forms. Or they will have to print them to paper and scan them, then file them which the court also frowns upon.   Also, I need to start being very careful to check which docs are forms before combining them.  Do I have to individually print each form to PDF before combining?       

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