How to Format Exhibits for Federal Court
Exhibits are your evidence — the documents, photos, records, and communications that support your claims or defenses. How you organize and format them matters more than most pro se litigants realize. A well-organized exhibit package signals competence to the judge. A disorganized one can obscure your strongest evidence and frustrate the court.
Labeling Your Exhibits
Every exhibit needs a unique label that you use consistently throughout your filings. There are two common conventions in federal court.
Letters: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, etc. After Z, continue with AA, BB, CC or double letters. This is the most common convention for individual exhibits.
Numbers: Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, Exhibit 3, etc. Some courts and some judges prefer numbers. Some districts assign numbers to plaintiffs and letters to defendants (or vice versa) to avoid confusion.
Check your court's local rules and your judge's individual practices before you start labeling. If neither specifies a convention, letters are the safer default for plaintiff exhibits. Whichever system you choose, use it consistently across all your filings — switching from letters to numbers mid-case creates confusion.
When you reference an exhibit in a motion or brief, always use the full label: "See Exhibit A" or "(Ex. A at 3)" where the number after "at" is the page within the exhibit. This lets the judge find exactly what you're pointing to.
Cover Pages (Slip Sheets)
Each exhibit should have a cover page — sometimes called a slip sheet — that separates it from other exhibits and clearly identifies what follows. A cover page is a single page placed before the exhibit itself containing the exhibit label, a brief description of what the exhibit is, and optionally the case caption.
Cover pages serve two purposes. First, they help the judge and opposing counsel navigate your exhibit package — especially when it's dozens or hundreds of pages. Second, they prevent exhibits from running together in one continuous PDF where it's impossible to tell where one exhibit ends and another begins.
Some courts specifically say not to use blank pages as separators. The Northern District of California, for example, instructs filers to use cover pages with text rather than blank divider pages. Always use a labeled cover page, not a blank sheet.
The Exhibit Index
If you're filing more than three or four exhibits, include an exhibit index (also called an exhibit list or table of exhibits) at the beginning of your exhibit package. The index is a table that lists every exhibit with its label, description, and page range so the reader can find any exhibit instantly.
The exhibit index is especially important for summary judgment filings, where you might be attaching dozens of exhibits to support a statement of material facts. Without an index, the judge has to scroll through your entire PDF to find the specific exhibit you reference — and a frustrated judge is not an advantage.
One PDF or Multiple PDFs?
This depends on your court's preference, your filing type, and your file sizes. There are three common approaches.
Approach 1: All exhibits in one PDF
Combine all exhibits into a single PDF with cover pages between them. This works well when your total exhibit package is under your court's file size limit (usually 35 MB). Advantage: everything is in one file, easy to navigate with bookmarks. Disadvantage: large exhibit sets will exceed file size limits.
Approach 2: Each exhibit as a separate PDF
Upload each exhibit as a separate attachment to the same docket entry in CM/ECF. Label each file clearly: Exhibit_A_Text_Messages.pdf, Exhibit_B_Email.pdf, etc. This is often the best approach for large exhibit sets because each file stays well under the size limit. Many courts prefer this method.
Approach 3: Grouped by size
When you have some small exhibits and some large ones, group them logically. For example: Exhibits A–D in one PDF, Exhibit E (the 200-page medical record) as its own PDF, Exhibits F–J in another PDF. Label each file: Exhibits_A-D.pdf, Exhibit_E_Medical_Records.pdf, Exhibits_F-J.pdf.
Check your court's local rules and the CM/ECF filing instructions for guidance. When in doubt, ask the clerk's office which method they prefer.
Converting Evidence to Exhibit PDFs
Your evidence starts in many formats — phone photos, screenshots, printed letters, emails, medical records, financial statements, handwritten notes. All of it needs to become court-ready PDFs before you can file it.
Text documents (contracts, letters, emails, records)
If the document exists digitally (a Word file, an email, a downloaded PDF), convert or save it directly to PDF. Don't print it and re-scan it — that makes the file 10-50x larger and loses text searchability. If the document is only on paper, scan it at 300 DPI in black and white. See our phone scanning guide for instructions.
Photographs
Phone photos and digital images need to be converted to PDF with proper page sizing. Each photo typically becomes one page. Use Letter size (8.5 × 11) and "contain" fit mode so the full image is visible without cropping. ECF PDF handles this automatically — drop your photos in, arrange the page order, and generate a court-ready PDF.
Screenshots
Text message screenshots, social media posts, emails displayed on screen — these are some of the most common pro se exhibits. Crop each screenshot to show only the relevant content (remove your phone's status bar, unrelated apps, personal notifications). Then convert to PDF the same way as photographs.
Audio and video
CM/ECF does not accept audio or video files. If your evidence includes recordings, you have two options: file a transcript of the recording as a PDF exhibit (transcribe it yourself or use a transcription service), or file a notice with the court explaining that you have audio/video evidence and asking how the court prefers to receive it. Some courts accept physical media (USB drives, CDs) filed conventionally alongside an electronic cover page.
Converting exhibit images to PDF? ECF PDF turns your photos, screenshots, and scans into properly formatted court PDFs — Letter size, correct orientation, file size monitoring. Free, in your browser, files never leave your device.
Open ECF PDF →File Size Management
Exhibits are where file size problems hit hardest. A 30-page brief is rarely more than a few hundred KB. But 20 phone photos as exhibits can easily be 40-80 MB — well over most courts' 35 MB limit.
| Exhibit Type | Typical Size Per Page | Pages per 35 MB |
|---|---|---|
| Scanned text (B&W, 300 DPI) | 100–200 KB | 175–350 |
| Scanned text (color, 300 DPI) | 300–600 KB | 58–117 |
| Phone photo (full resolution) | 3–8 MB | 4–12 |
| Screenshot | 200 KB–1 MB | 35–175 |
| Text saved from Word/Docs | 10–50 KB | 700–3,500 |
If your exhibit package exceeds the limit, split it into multiple PDFs (see "One PDF or Multiple" above). For detailed strategies on reducing file size, see our file size reduction guide.
Bookmarks for Long Exhibits
If you're filing a single PDF with multiple exhibits totaling more than 20-30 pages, add PDF bookmarks. Bookmarks create a clickable navigation panel on the left side of the PDF that lets the reader jump directly to any exhibit. Some courts require bookmarks for exhibit packages; all courts appreciate them.
Creating bookmarks requires Acrobat or a similar PDF editor. In Acrobat: open the PDF → go to the Bookmarks panel → navigate to each exhibit's cover page → click "New Bookmark" → type the exhibit label (e.g., "Exhibit A — Text Messages"). Repeat for each exhibit. The result is a table of contents that makes your 100-page exhibit package as easy to navigate as a 5-page brief.
Exhibit Formatting Checklist
- Choose a labeling system (letters or numbers) and use it consistently. Check local rules and judge preferences.
- Create a cover page for each exhibit with the exhibit label, description, and case caption.
- Build an exhibit index listing all exhibits with descriptions and page ranges. Place it at the front of your exhibit package.
- Convert all materials to PDF. Save digital documents directly to PDF. Scan paper documents at 300 DPI B&W. Convert photos and screenshots using ecfpdf.org.
- Check page orientation. Landscape documents (wide spreadsheets, photos) should be on landscape pages. Portrait documents on portrait pages. Don't force everything into one orientation.
- Verify legibility. Open every PDF and scroll through every page. Can you read all text? Are photos clear enough to see what they depict? If not, re-scan or re-convert at higher quality.
- Check file sizes against your court's CM/ECF limit. Split oversized files. Label split files clearly (e.g., "Exhibit C — Part 1 of 2").
- Add bookmarks if your exhibit package exceeds 20-30 pages in a single PDF.
- Redact protected information per FRCP 5.2: only last four SSN digits, birth year only, minors' initials only, last four of financial accounts.
- Name files descriptively. Use clear filenames like
Exhibit_A_Text_Messages.pdf— notscan001.pdforIMG_4523.pdf.
What Not to Include as Exhibits
Don't attach exhibits "just in case." Every exhibit should be referenced in your motion, brief, or complaint. Filing 500 pages of exhibits that you never reference in your argument wastes the court's time and buries your strong evidence under irrelevant material.
Don't file entire documents when only a portion is relevant. If one page of a 50-page contract supports your argument, consider filing just that page (or a few pages for context) rather than the entire contract. Note in your filing that you're providing a relevant excerpt and that the full document is available upon request.
Don't file privileged or confidential materials without a protective order. If your exhibits contain trade secrets, medical records not your own, or attorney-client communications, you may need to file them under seal or with redactions. Discuss with the court if you're unsure.
Special Considerations for Different Filing Types
Complaint exhibits
You don't need to attach exhibits to your initial complaint in most cases — the complaint should be self-contained with factual allegations. However, if your claims are based on a specific document (a contract, a government letter, a notice), attaching that document as an exhibit can strengthen your pleading. Keep it minimal at the complaint stage.
Motion to dismiss opposition
Generally, you should not attach exhibits when opposing a motion to dismiss. At the 12(b)(6) stage, the court evaluates your complaint on its face — adding evidence outside the complaint risks converting the motion into a summary judgment motion under Rule 12(d). See our motion to dismiss guide for details.
Summary judgment
This is where exhibits matter most. Every fact you assert in your statement of material facts must be supported by a citation to evidence in the record — declarations, deposition transcripts, documents, photographs. Your exhibit package at summary judgment is often the largest filing in the entire case. Organization is critical. See our summary judgment guide.
Trial exhibits
Pre-trial, the court typically issues an order requiring parties to exchange exhibit lists and copies of all trial exhibits. The format requirements for trial exhibits may differ from regular filing exhibits — some courts require physical binders with numbered tabs, others accept electronic-only exhibits. Check the pretrial order carefully.
Authenticate your exhibits. An exhibit isn't evidence until it's authenticated — meaning you've established that it is what you say it is. For documents you created or received, your own declaration can authenticate them. For business records, medical records, and government records, specific rules under Federal Rules of Evidence 803(6), 803(8), and 902 apply. You don't need to worry about authentication at the filing stage (just at trial or summary judgment), but plan ahead.