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S.C. E-Filing Attorney Guide: efilingusermanual

efilingusermanual

activein force · 2015-11-01 – presentcompiled-edition

Electronic Filing – Filer Interface

Complete User Guide

South Carolina Electronic Filing System

November 2015

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 2

Introduction to E-Filing........................................................... 6

E‐Filing Basics........................................................................................................ 6

Document Preparation Prior to Login................................................................... 6

Getting Started....................................................................... 7

Figure 1: AIS Registration........................................................................................................ 8

Figure 2: Request Account – Non‐Attorney Users.................................................................. 9

Figure 3: Reading and Accepting User Agreement................................................................ 10

Figure 4: Association with a User Role.................................................................................. 11

Figure 5: Profile Information................................................................................................. 11

Figure 6: Notification of User Account Request.................................................................... 12

Figure 7: Login Screen............................................................................................................ 13

Figure 8: Request Password Links......................................................................................... 14

Figure 9: Request Password Reset........................................................................................ 15

Figure 10: Forgot User Name................................................................................................ 16

Home Page.......................................................................................................... 16

Figure 11: Home Page............................................................................................................ 16

E-File.................................................................................... 18

New Case............................................................................................................ 18

Figure 12: Select a County..................................................................................................... 18

Figure 13: Select a Case Type................................................................................................ 19

Figure 14: Select a Case Subtype........................................................................................... 19

Figure 15: Case Initiation Page.............................................................................................. 20

Figure 16: Jury Demand and ADR Requirement.................................................................... 21

Figure 17: Adding a Plaintiff.................................................................................................. 21

Figure 18: Add a Party ‐ Plaintiff............................................................................................ 22

Figure 20: Adding an Attorney to the Case........................................................................... 24

Figure 21: Additional Attorneys Listed.................................................................................. 25

Figure 22: Deleting an Attorney............................................................................................ 26

Figure 23: Adding an Additional Alias/Business Name......................................................... 27

Figure 24: Additional Alias/Business Name Listed................................................................ 28

Figure 25: Deleting an Alias/Business Name......................................................................... 29

Figure 26: Adding a Defendant.............................................................................................. 30

Figure 27: Add a Party ‐ Defendant....................................................................................... 31

Figure 28: Adding an Additional Alias/Business Name ‐ Defendant..................................... 32

Figure 29: Additional Alias/Business Name Listed................................................................ 33

Figure 30: Add a Document (Action) Page............................................................................ 34

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 3

Figure 31: Browse for Document.......................................................................................... 35

Figure 32: Acceptable File Format(s) – New Case................................................................. 35

Figure 33: Incorrect Document File Format.......................................................................... 36

Figure 34: Action Added........................................................................................................ 36

Figure 35: Select the “On Behalf of” Party............................................................................ 37

Figure 36: Removing an Added Document............................................................................ 38

Figure 37: Review and Approve Page ‐ Client # ..................................................................... 39

Figure 38: Fee Payment Requirement for Filing.................................................................... 40

Figure 39: Changing Filing Information................................................................................. 42

Figure 40: Adding or Removing Documents.......................................................................... 43

Figure 41: Cancel (Delete) a Filing......................................................................................... 44

Figure 42: Payment Vendor Site............................................................................................ 45

Figure 43: Payment Vendor Receipt...................................................................................... 46

Figure 44: Filing Submission Confirmation Page................................................................... 47

Existing Case....................................................................................................... 47

Figure 45: Existing Cases Page............................................................................................... 48

Figure 46: Existing Cases Page – Case Number Search......................................................... 49

Figure 47: Existing Cases Page – Search Cases...................................................................... 50

Figure 48: Existing Cases Page – Selecting a Case................................................................. 50

Figure 49: Yellow Banner on Existing Case Add a Document Page....................................... 51

Figure 50: Incorrect Document File Format – Existing Case.................................................. 52

Figure 51: Action‐Associated Additional Required Information........................................... 52

Figure 52: Action and “on Behalf of” Added to Submission................................................. 53

Figure 53: Client #‐ Existing Case Review and Approve Page................................................ 55

Figure 54: Fee Payment Requirement for Filing – Existing Case........................................... 56

Figure 55: Adding or Removing Documents – Existing Case................................................. 57

Figure 56: Cancel (Delete) a Filing – Existing Case................................................................ 58

Figure 57: Payment Vendor Site............................................................................................ 59

Figure 58: Payment Vendor Receipt...................................................................................... 60

Figure 59: Filing Submission Confirmation Page – Existing Case.......................................... 61

My Filings............................................................................................................ 61

Figure 60: My Filings Page..................................................................................................... 63

Figure 61: My Filings – Filter Options.................................................................................... 64

Figure 62: My Filings – Viewing Documents.......................................................................... 65

Figure 63: My Filings – Status Information............................................................................ 66

Figure 64: Filing Status Page.................................................................................................. 67

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 4

Figure 65: Confirmation of Receipt....................................................................................... 68

Figure 66: Resubmit Button for a Rejected Filing.................................................................. 69

Figure 67: Reason for Rejection on Filing Status Page.......................................................... 69

Draft Filings......................................................................................................... 70

Figure 68: List of Draft Filings................................................................................................ 71

Figure 69: Deleting a Draft Filing........................................................................................... 72

Cases..................................................................................... 72

Cases................................................................................................................... 72

Figure 70 List of “Cases” ........................................................................................................ 73

Figure 71: Cases –Case Summary/History Button................................................................. 74

Figure 72: Cases – Case Summary/Case Number Link.......................................................... 75

Figure 73: Case Summary Page............................................................................................. 76

Figure 74: Cases –Service List/Button................................................................................... 77

Figure 75: Cases –Service List/Link........................................................................................ 77

Figure 76: Service List............................................................................................................ 78

Figure 77: Search Cases......................................................................................................... 79

Figure 78: All Matches to Partial Case Caption Search......................................................... 80

Figure 79: Show Active, Show Inactive & Show Both Filters................................................. 80

Figure 80: Marking a Case “Inactive” .................................................................................... 81

Figure 81: Cases – Show Inactive........................................................................................... 81

Figure 82: Cases – Move Inactive to Active........................................................................... 82

Figure 83: Cases – Show Both................................................................................................ 83

Figure 84: Cases – Default Table Order................................................................................. 84

Figure 85: Cases – Column Sort Descending......................................................................... 84

Figure 86: Cases – Column Sort Ascending........................................................................... 85

Figure 87: Case Caption Expansion Button (+)...................................................................... 86

Notifications........................................................................................................ 86

Figure 88: Accessing Notifications......................................................................................... 87

Figure 89: Notifications per Page Dropdown........................................................................ 87

Figure 90: List of Notifications............................................................................................... 88

Figure 91: Notice of Electronic Filing..................................................................................... 89

Figure 92: Viewing Documents from the Notifications Page................................................ 89

Figure 93: Search by Parameters........................................................................................... 90

Figure 94: Deleting a Notification.......................................................................................... 91

Figure 95: Marking a Notification as Read............................................................................ 92

Figure 96: Notifications – Column Sort Default..................................................................... 93

Figure 97: Notifications – Column Sort Arrow...................................................................... 93

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 5

Filing Charges...................................................................................................... 94

Figure 98: Filing Charges........................................................................................................ 94

Figure 99: Filing Charges – Column Sort Default................................................................... 95

Figure 100: Filing Charges – Column Sort Arrow................................................................... 96

My Profile.............................................................................. 96

My Profile............................................................................................................ 96

Figure 101: Attorney – My User Profile................................................................................. 97

Figure 102: Attorney – Modify User Profile.......................................................................... 97

Figure 103: Firm Financial Administrators – My User Profile............................................... 98

Figure 104: Firm Financial Administrator – Modify User Profile......................................... 100

Change Password.............................................................................................. 101

Figure 105: Change Password Screen.................................................................................. 102

Figure 106: Login History..................................................................................................... 103

Appendix A: PDF and Other Documents............................... 104

PDF Basics......................................................................................................... 104

Creating Documents......................................................................................... 104

Including Paper Exhibits.................................................................................... 104

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 6

Introduction to E-Filing

E-Filing Basics

The South Carolina Court System’s E-Filing system is designed to make the work

associated with initiating and processing a case more efficient for both filers and court

personnel. For the initial phase, the web-ba sed filer interface allows users to submit

documents to the court electronically. The f iler interface also provides the means for

users to view case histories and check the status of submissions.

For court personnel, the software routes the filings to the appropriate personnel for

review, response, generation of additional documents, or further action. For case

submissions in which documents are filed in hard copy and the court personnel has

scanned the documents, the filer interface distributes a courtesy notice to electronic

participants on the case so those participants can access the documents

electronically.

This user’s guide is intended to instruct electronic filers on the features of the E-Filing

System. Check the South Carolina Court’s E-Filing portal page for E-Filing training

resources.

In order to progress through the E-Filing sy stem with the greatest ease, following the

steps outlined in this manual is highly recommended, including document preparation

as discussed below.

Also, for best results, users are strongly encouraged to use only the navigation buttons

that are displayed on the E-Filing interfa ce. These buttons appear at the bottom of

each page and will give the user options such as Back or Next. Additionally, the user

may use the menu bar located at the top of each page, just below the South Carolina

Courts banner. Another navigation option is the breadcrumb trail at the top of every

page. The active links (blue) appear just below the menu bar and show the pages

which the user has visited to arrive at the current page. Clicking on any of these links

will take the user back to the pa ge listed. It is important to avoid using the internet

browser back arrow during the preparation and submission of a filing.

Document Preparation Prior to Login

For most types of cases, the filer will need to attach documents with the initial filing.

These documents, and any additional documents that are submitted at a later time,

need to be submitted as searchable Adobe® Acrobat® PDF files (Portable Document

Format). There are some documents, such as proposed orders, that are exceptions to

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 7

this rule and must be submitted as Microsoft® Word 2003 or higher (.doc or .docx). It

is best to have all documents prepared before logging into the E-Filing system.

The requirement for submitting documents as PDF files also applies to paper exhibits

such as copies of contracts or copies of cancelled checks. Such paper exhibits must be

scanned and saved as a PDF. Because color sc ans add to the file size, it is highly

recommended that black and white settings be used with a lower resolution setting of

200-300 dpi (dots per inch) when scanning paper exhibits unless the loss of the color

degrades the value of the evidence. Please be aware that many newer copy

machine/scanners have a default setting that is color. The machine will scan with the

color setting, thus creating much larger f iles, even if the items being scanned are all

just black and white text.

Note: Individual document size is limited to 8 MB and the size limitation for the

entire submission is 40 MB. Multiple documents can be included in a single

s u b m i s s i o n. I f a s i n g l e d o c u m e n t i s l a r g e r t h a n t h e 8 M B l i m i t, i t w i l l b e

necessary to split the document into a set of smaller files. When the large

documents are split into parts, it is helpful to save the individual parts with file

names such as “Part 2 of Motion,” “Part 3 of Motion,” etc. Preparing large

documents in this manner prior to beginning the case initiation will save time.

Note: See Appendix A for additional information on document preparation.

Getting Started

Note: When using this guide, there may be screens and instructions that are not

pertinent to each user’s individual responsibilities. The ability to navigate within

the system and access particular screens is configured based on the user role.

The navigation should be in accordance with normal work-flow needs as

determined by the Clerk of Court for each individual county and is configured

by the System Administrator.

To Register for E-Filing - Attorneys:

User accounts for Attorneys are provided by the South Carolina Judicial Department

through the Attorney Information System (AIS). The Supreme Court of South Carolina

assigns a Bar number to all newly licensed attorneys. Attorneys use their Bar number

and password to login to AIS. Once the atto rney has logged into the AIS, the attorney

will click on the E-File tab and follow instructions. As a courtesy, a link to the AIS

website has been provided on the Login page of the E-Filing portal.

1. Click the AIS Registration button on the South Caro lina E-Filing Login page.

The “South Carolina Judicial Department/AIS” home page will appear.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 8

Note: Attorneys logging into E-Filing must be in good standing as indicated in

AIS. Attorneys not in good standing will not be allowed to E-File.

Note: Email addresses in AIS will be used to notify attorneys of activity in E-Filing. All attorneys are required to update their email addresses within 5 days

of any changes.

Figure 1: AIS Registration

2. Log on to AIS, click on the E-Filing tab, and accept the E-Filing terms and

conditions to become a registered user of E-Filing.

To Request an Account – Non-Attorneys:

User accounts for Firm Financial Manage rs (Non-Attorney Users) are requested

through the E-Filing system. To request an account, please follow the steps below.

1. Click the Request Account button on the Login page. The “User Agreement”

page will display.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 9

Figure 2: Request Account – Non-Attorney Users

2. After reading the terms of the user agreement, accept the terms by selecting the

proper radio button and click Submit. The “User Roles” page will appear.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 10

Figure 3: Reading and Accepting User Agreement

3. Each E-Filing user must have an assigned role. Select the user role by clicking

the appropriate radio button.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 11

Figure 4: Association with a User Role

4. Click Next. The “Request a User Account” page will open.

Figure 5: Profile Information

5. Create an E-Filing profile by entering the correct information in each of the

provided textboxes. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 12

6. The user must select three security ques tions and complete the answers to the

questions before being able to submit the account request. Be sure to select

questions with memorable answers as answers to the selected questions will

need to be correctly provided in the even t the user has forgotten either the user

name or password for the E-Filing system.

7. The Default County dropdown is provided for filers and allows the account

holder to set a default county that is employed in the case initiation process,

eliminating the need to select a county during the filing process if the filing is to

the default county.

Note: The “User Name” for a “Firm Financial Manager” account will include

“FFM-” at the beginning. The system defaults to include these 3 letters in the

“User Name” field and they cannot be deleted.

Note: Passwords must be at least 6 characters long, contain a symbol other than

a character or number, and must be different than the user name. Strong

passwords contain upper and lower case characters, symbols, and numbers and

are case sensitive. It is important that you do not share your user id and

password with others.

Note: For a non-filing user, the email address entered on this registration will be

the email address used to respond to a password re-set request.

8. After entering all the information, click Submit. If everything is correct, the

“User Account Requested” page will appear.

Figure 6: Notification of User Account Request

9. Click OK to be returned to the “Login” page.

Note: When the registration is complete, the request will route through the

Court’s approval process for manual review. The account user will receive an

email notifying him or her of the approval or rejection of the account. Once

approved, the user will then be able to log into the E-Filing system using the

username and password that was requested during the registration process.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 13

To Login:

Each user will log into the E-Filing System (Filer Interface) using a specific user name

and password. It is important that you remember your user name and password.

Figure 7: Login Screen

1. On the login page, enter the user name and password in the spaces provided.

2. Click the box next to the “I have read, understand, and will comply with the

redaction rules.”

Note: The Redaction Policy can be accessed through the link on the blue menu

bar located directly below the South Carolina Courts banner.

3. Click Log In.

Note: The “Login” page is also the place where, periodically, the System

Administrator may communicate with the filers. For example, the System

Administrator may post a message notifying filers of upcoming system

maintenance, new policies, and new courts/counties that are now E-Filing.

These messages will display in the left column.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 14

To Recover a Password:

1. If the password has been forgotten, click the “Forgot Your Password” link on the

The “ AIS Password Reset" page will appear for Attorneys.

Figure 8: Request Password Links

Note: There are two different links to recover a password; one for an Attorney

and one for Non-Attorneys. To recover the user password, click the appropriate

link.

2. Upon page refresh, non-attorney users will enter the “User Name” and click

Submit.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 15

Figure 9: Request Password Reset

3. For non-attorney users, an email containing a link to a temporary password will

be sent to the primary email address listed in the “User Profile”.

Note: The temporary password link is only sent to the primary email on the

profile. No alternate emails will receive the temporary password link.

4. After receiving the temporary password via email, return to the Log In page and

use the temporary password to log into the E-Filing system.

Note: The temporary password is for one-time access to the system. After

logging in, the user will need to reset th e password. Refer to the section titled,

“To Change or Expire a Password” in this user manual.

To Recover a User Name:

1. For non-attorney users, if the user name has been forgotten, click the “Forgot

Your Username” link on the Login page.

2. The “Forgot User Name” pa ge will appear. Enter the primary email address

associated with the account, and click Submit. The “Forgot User Name” page

will appear.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 16

Figure 10: Forgot User Name

3. An email containing a link to a temporary user name will be sent to the primary

email address listed in the “User Profile”.

4. After receiving the temporary user name via email, return to the Log In page

and use the temporary user name to access the user account.

Home Page

The “Home Page” is the default screen after the filer logs in. The basic filer functions

can be accessed from the home page or by using the navigation buttons located on the

menu bar at the top of the page. By rolling the mouse over the listings on the menu

bar, options not available in the list of but tons at the left of the home page will be

seen. For example, by rolling the mouse to “My Profile”, a dropdown list allows the

user to access pages for viewing and modifyin g profile information, including changing

a password.

Figure 11: Home Page

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 17

1. The basic filer functions are accessed by clicking the appropriate buttons on the

“Home” page.

2. Additional functions can be accessed by using the menu bar below the South

Carolina Courts banner. The menu bar is located across the top of every page.

3. The user name appears on the right side just below the banner.

Note: The E-Filing system is a web applic ation. If there is no activity on the

webpage for 30 minutes, the web session will terminate automatically. A session

is considered active as long as the Filer is interacting with the web server. For

example, if the Filer does not click a Submit, Next, or Save button within the

designated time period, the session will time out and terminate automatically.

When the session times out, the screen will not change, but it will appear as if

the Filer is still logged on. However, as soon as the Filer clicks an action button,

a login prompt will appear. Typing in a text field does not count as being

“active”.

In addition, web browsers keep “session data”. For this reason, it is important that

the Filer only open one instance of E-Filing at any given time. Having multiple

windows of E-Filing open at the same time on one computer could cause significant

problems with the filings because the info rmation for web sessions is not stored

separately by the browser. This could possib ly create duplicate filings or merge data

from separate filings into one filing.

To Log Out:

Click the Logout button on the right side of the menu bar at the top of any page.

1. If the user has filings that are incomp lete, a warning message concerning draft

filings will appear.

2. Clicking “Yes” will log the user off the system and the filings will be saved for

the next log in. Clicking “No” will route the user to the draft filings page of the

system, enabling the filer to access partially completed filings.

Note: Review the list of incomplete filings. Because E-Filing saves information

entered for a filing after the addition of parties (Save to Drafts is clicked) or

documents (Move to Draft is clicked), a user is able to leave the E-Filing session

before finalizing the filing. Once the user begins adding documents to the filing,

the E-Filing system automatically executes a save action on incomplete filings

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 18

when a user selects Logout. The informatio n entered will be saved in draft form

and accessible for completion on subsequent logins.

E-File

There are four options under the menu bar option labeled “E-File”; they are:

 New Case

 Existing Case

 My Filings

 Draft Filings

New Case

To Initiate a Case:

Prior to initiating a new case, prepare all documents associated with the case. The

default limitations are 8 MB per document and 40 megabytes per submission. For

more information on document preparation, see the “Document Pr eparation Prior to

1. Click New Case on the home page or select E-File > New Case from the menu

bar at the top of any page. The “County” page will appear.

Figure 12: Select a County

2. The County dropdown is in alphabetical order. If the filer has set a “Default

County” in his or her profile, the default w ill appear in the text field. Select the

County to which the filing is to be submitted from the dropdown.

3. Click Next. The “Case Type” page will appear.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 19

Figure 13: Select a Case Type

4. Click the Case Type of the filing to be submitted. In most cases, the “Case

Subtype” page will appear. Dependent upon the user’s Case Type selection, the

user may also be routed to the “Case Initiation” page.

Figure 14: Select a Case Subtype

5. Click the Case Subtype of the filing to be submitted. The “Case Initiation” page

will appear.

Note: The Case Initiation page may look slightly different from that pictured

below, based on the particular case type and case subtype the filer selected.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 20

There may be more or less information that the filer is asked to provide in

initiating the case.

Figure 15: Case Initiation Page

To Add Case Data through the Case Initiation Page:

Before adding a Plaintiff and a Defendant, the user will check the “Jury Demand” and

an "Alternative Dispute Resolution” (ADR) radi o button that is pertinent to the case.

These two questions require a selection before the user can attach any documents to

the filing. If the case initiation page requests additional information, the filer will need

to select the radio button that is most appropriate in the given filing.

1. Check a Yes or No radio button to make a selection for “Jury Demand.”

2. Select the appropriate radio button to indicate whether the case is subject to

mediation, arbitration, or is exempt from the ADR process.

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Figure 16: Jury Demand and ADR Requirement

To Add a Plaintiff to a Case:

1. Click Add a Plaintiff. The “Add a Party” page for Plaintiff will appear.

Figure 17: Adding a Plaintiff

2. Enter all required information on the page.

Note: Fields marked with an asterisk are required by the system to add a

Plaintiff on the case.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 22

Figure 18: Add a Party - Plaintiff

3. After all information is entered, click Next to return to the “Case Initiation” page. The added

party will now display in the list of “Participants”.

4. Follow steps 1 through 3 to add additional Plaintiffs to the fil i n g. T h e r e i s n o l i m i t t o t h e

number of Plaintiffs that can be added to a filing.

To Add an Attorney to a Filing - Plaintiff:

Note: The E-Filing system automatically associates the Plaintiff to the Attorney

who is logged in and initiating the case. This association occurs when the

Attorney clicks the Add a Plaintiff button.

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Figure 19: Plaintiff/Attorney Association

1. Add an additional Attorney by entering the data in the “Add an Attorney for this

Party” section.

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Figure 20: Adding an Attorney to the Case

2. Click Add. The additional Attorney will now display on the table with the

system-added attorney.

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Figure 21: Additional Attorneys Listed

3. Follow steps 1 and 2 to add additional Attorneys. There is no limit to the

number of Attorneys that can be added to a filing.

4. Click Next to capture the participant information and to return to the “Case

Initiation” page where the the party is listed on the Case Participants’ table.

To Delete an Attorney from a Filing - Plaintiff:

At any time during the case initiation, the user can return to the “Add a Party –

Plaintiff” page and delete any Attorneys who have been manually added.

1. In the “Add an Attorney for this Party” section, click the red X (delete) for the

Attorney to be deleted. The page will re fresh and the Attorney will no longer be

listed.

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Figure 22: Deleting an Attorney

2. Click Next to return to the “Case Initiation” page.

To Add DBA/AKA Names to a Filing - Plaintiff:

There may be times when a “Doing Business As” or "Also Known As” name should be

added to the filing.

1. Add an Alias/Business Name by entering the data in the “Doing Business

As/Also Known As” section.

2. Although other fields may be left blank, the Last Name (or Business Name) field

is required if a DBA/AKA is to be added.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 27

Figure 23: Adding an Additional Alias/Business Name

3. Click Add. The additional Alias/Business Name will now display on the table

directly below that section.

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Figure 24: Additional Alias/Business Name Listed

4. Follow steps 1 through 3 to add addition al Aliases/Business Names. There is

no limit to the number of Aliases/Business Names that can be added to a filing.

5. Click Next to return to the “Case Initiation” page.

To Delete an Alias/Business Name from a Filing - Plaintiff:

At any time during the case initiation, the user can return to the “Add a Party –

Plaintiff” page and delete any Aliases/Business Names.

1. In the “Doing Business As/Also Known As” section, click the red X (delete) for

the Alias/Business Name to be deleted. The page will refresh and the

Alias/Business Name will no longer be listed.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 29

Figure 25: Deleting an Alias/Business Name

2. Click Next to return to the “Case Initiation” page.

Note: At this point in the the filing, th e data has not been saved. If the user

logs out or times out, the data will be lost. To “Save” the information, answer

all the questions, add at least one defendant as per the instructions below, and

click Save to Draft on the “Case Initiation” page.

To Add a Defendant to a Case:

The process of adding a party with any type of defendant role is similar to adding the

plaintiff role parties. Two differences between adding a plaintiff and adding a

defendant are the button clicked to initiate the process and the attorney associated

with the party. The button the user clicks limits the choice of party type. In a case

initiation, for a defendant party type, the South Carolina E-Filing system does not

allow entry of attorney information.

1. Click Add a Defendant. The “Add a Party” page for Defendant will display.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 30

Figure 26: Adding a Defendant

2. Enter the Company name or the Person name on the page.

Note: Fields marked with an asterisk are required by the system to add a

Defendant on the case.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 31

Figure 27: Add a Party - Defendant

3. Click Next to return to the “Case Initiation” page. The added defendant will now

display in the list of “Case Participants.”

4. Follow steps 1 through 3 to add additional Defendants to the filing. There is no

limit to the number of Defendants that can be added to a filing.

Note: At this point in the the filing, th e data has not been saved. If the user

logs out or times out, the data will be lost. To “Save” the information, answer

all the questions, add at least one plaintiff and one defendant, and click Save to

Draft on the “Case Initiation” page.

To Add DBA/AKA Names to a Filing - Defendant:

There may be times when an Alias or Business Name should be added to the filing. To

do so, follow the steps below.

1. Add an Alias/Business Name by entering the data in the “Doing Business

As/Also Known As” section.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 32

Figure 28: Adding an Additional Alias/Business Name - Defendant

2. Click Add. The additional Alias/Business Name will now display.

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Figure 29: Additional Alias/Business Name Listed

3. Follow steps 1 and 2 to add additional Aliases/Business Names. There is no

limit to the number of Aliases/Business Names that can be added to a filing.

4. Click Next to return to the “Case Initiation” page. The newly added defendant

party will display on the “Case Participants” table.

Note: At this point in the the filing, th e data has not been saved. If the user

logs out or times out, the data will be lost. To “Save” the information, answer

all the questions, add at least one plaintiff and one defendant, and click Save to

Draft on the “Case Initiation” page.

To Delete an Alias/Business Name from a Filing - Defendant:

At any time during the case initiation, the user can return to the “Add a Party –

Defendant” page and delete any “additional” Aliases/Business Names.

1. In the “Doing Business As/ Also Known As” section, click the red X (delete) for

the Alias/Business Name to be deleted. The page will refresh and the

Alias/Business Name will no longer be listed.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 34

2. Click Next to return to the “Case Initiation” page. The newly added defendant

party will display on the “Case Participants” table.

To Add a Document to a New Case:

1. Click Next on the “Case Initiation” page; the “Add a Document” page will

display.

Figure 30: Add a Document (Action) Page

2. Select the Action Type to be added from the “Action Type” dropdown menu.

Note: Although the Action Type is NOT a required field, selecting an Action Type

is a convenience feature limiting the nu mber of Actions that display on the

Action dropdown list. If a filer is unsure of what type the Action would be

classified as, skip the Action Type and go directly to the Action dropdown to

view all the possible Actions for the case type.

3. Select the Action to be added from the “Action” dropdown menu.

Note: More than one action (document) can be added to the submission, but

each action must be added individually. Repeat each step of this section to add

additional actions to a submission.

4. Click Browse to search for the action (document) to attach to the filing.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 35

Figure 31: Browse for Document

Note: Documents must be filed using the correct format for the document (pdf,

doc, or docx). After selecting the “Action”, the “Acceptable File Format” will

appear on the screen indicating the correct format for the document. Please see

instructions for “Document Preparation Prior to Login” at the beginning of this

guide or “Appendix A” at the end of this guide.

Figure 32: Acceptable File Format(s) – New Case

Note: Failure to attach documents in the correct format will generate an error

message.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 36

Figure 33: Incorrect Document File Format

5. Click Add to attach the document to the filing. The document will now display

on the table at the bottom of the page.

Figure 34: Action Added

6. Optional: Clicking the “View Document” link of each entry allows the user to

view the document that was attached to the filing.

7. All documents must be associated with a party on whose behalf the ACTION is

being filed. Use the “On Behalf of” dropdown to select the appropriate party or

parties from the list of possibilities.

8. When the selected name appears in the “On Behalf of” textfield, click the Add

button.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 37

Note: If the document is being submitted On Behalf of multiple plaintiffs or

multiple defendants, the filer can select “All My Parties” from the “On Behalf of”

dropdown. When the user clicks Add, every party the user represents will be

listed for the selected document.

Figure 35: Select the “On Behalf of” Party

9. Optional: To remove a document before filing the submission, click the icon

under the “Remove” column.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 38

Figure 36: Removing an Added Document

10. Optional: Click the “Edit Data” icon to the right of a listed document to change

the additional information that was entered on the system while uploading the

document. If no information was collect ed for that specific document, the “Edit

Data” icon will not be displayed.

11. Optional: The “Move to Draft” feature works as a “Save” feature and allows the

user to save the filing to submit at a later time. Save the filing by clicking the

Move to Draft button.

12. On the “Add a Document” page click the Next button at the bottom of the page.

The “Review and Approve Filing” page will display.

To Submit the Initial Filing:

Clicking the Next button at the bottom of the “Add a Document” page takes the user

to the “Review and Approve Filing” page. On this page, the user can review and verify

the data that has been entered for the pending submission as well as select the

payment method, change filing information, or add and remove documents (Actions).

In addition, special filing instructions can be provided for the Clerk if needed.

Note: Below the light blue banner at th e top of the “Review and Approve Filing”

page (Agency, Case Type, and Case Subtype) is an entry box labeled “Client #.”

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 39

This is an optional field that can be used to enter a client’s identification

number used as part of the law firm’s internal record system. The Client # can

be any combination of numbers, letters, and symbols, and is for convenience

only. The Client # is not recorded or used by the court.

Figure 37: Review and Approve Page - Client #

Note: If a fee is required with the filing, it will display on the “Review and

Approve Filing” page. The Payment Method must be selected to move forward in

the submission process. All submissions incurring a court fee will be paid by

credit card and that is, therefore, the first payment option listed. The breakdown

of total charges is visible under the “Pay by Credit Card” selection.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 40

Figure 38: Fee Payment Requirement for Filing

1. Use the dropdown provided to select a “Payment on behalf of.” Payment on

behalf of must be included. Select one party. This informatio n is used solely to

record the payment in the Case Management System. It has no affect on the

filing or the case.

2. Select the payment method by selecting the appropriate radio button. Most

filings will not qualify for a waiver so “Pay by Credit Card” is the default choice.

Note: With the “Pay by Credit Card” radio button filled in, when the Submit the

Filing button is activated, the filer will be prompted to enter credit card

information. When payments are made, E-Filing records the payments and keeps

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 41

track of charges associated with each case. Payments made are tracked for a

twelve month period (see section titled “Filing Charges”).

3. Optional: At times, such as when indigenc y has been approved or is being

requested, it may be appropriate to ha ve filing fees waived. When appropriate,

the filer may select a waiver option. No credit card information is requested

when a waiver option has been selected.

Note: A filer who selects a waiver option without appropriate documentation can

expect the clerk to reject the filing.

Note: Because a third party vendor is used for payments, E-Filing does not store

any credit card information. Therefore, a filer must enter credit card information

with each submission where a filing fee is incurred.

4. Optional: Case information can be edited by clicking the Change Case Data

button. Upon activating the Change Case Data button, the filer is returned to

the Case initiation page where case info rmation, including party information,

can be added, changed, or removed (ref er to the section titled “To Add Case

Data through the Case Initiation").

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 42

Figure 39: Changing Filing Information

5. Optional: To change the Action types or any documents that were included in a

submission, click the Add/Remove Documents button or the Back button.

The user will be directed to the “Add a Document” page where the filer can view

the Actions/documents, remove the Actions/documents, or add more

Actions/documents (refer to the section titled “To Add Actions to a New Case”).

6. Optional: Document links listed under the “Document(s) to Be Submitted”

heading allow the filer to validate that the appropriate document was attached

to the filing.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 43

7. Optional: Special Instructions for the Clerk can be used to communicate a

special circumstance with the filing or to replace the Cover Letter to the Clerk

typically accompanying paper filings.

Figure 40: Adding or Removing Documents

8. Optional: To cancel a filing submission, click the Cancel (Delete) button. A

warning dialog box will ask if the filer really wants to take the Cancel action.

Clicking “OK” means the entire submission will be deleted and no record will

remain.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 44

Figure 41: Cancel (Delete) a Filing

9. Optional: The submission can be left in a “draft” state and finished at a later

time by clicking the Move to Draft button.

10. After reviewing the information displayed on the page and determining

everything is accurate, click Submit the Filing.

Note: Clicking Cancel on the “Submissi on is Complete” pop-up returns the user

to the “Review and Approve Filing” page.

11. If a fee is required on the submission, the user will be redirected to the SC.Gov

payment screen. Enter all required data, complete the required verification,

and activate the button to submit the payment.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 45

Figure 42: Payment Vendor Site

12. After the payment is processed, the user can print the receipt. Otherwise, the

filer can scroll down to the bottom of the receipt page and click Continue to be

returned to the E-Filing system.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 46

Figure 43: Payment Vendor Receipt

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 47

13. In the E-Filing system, the filer will view the submission confirmation page

indicating the submission is being transmitted to the Court for review.

Additionally, payment information is posted for the filer’s review.

Figure 44: Filing Submission Confirmation Page

14. Optional: Clicking the Filing Status button directs the user to the “My Filings”

page where the user can review the st atus of the submission. For more

information on “Filing Status”, please refer to the “Understanding Filing Status”

section of this user guide.

Note: Case numbers are not assigned until the submission has been reviewed

and accepted by the court.

Existing Case

To File to an Existing Case:

Filing to an existing case, either as an at torney for the defendant or as the attorney

who originated the case and needs to submit additional Actions, is a process similar to

filing a case initiation. The beginning of the Existing Case filing process is slightly

different than that in filing a case initiation.

1. To begin the filing process for an Existing Case, click Cases on the home page

or select E-File > Existing Case from the menu bar at the top of any page. The

“Cases” page will display.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 48

Figure 45: Existing Cases Page

Note: The “Cases” page has both access to case summaries and access to the

Existing Case E-Filing process. Cases listed on the page are cases on which the

user is already listed as Counsel of Record. Only cases on which E-Filing has

taken place, or for which a case history search has been completed, are listed on

the page. To find a specific case, use the “Case Number” entry field, select from

the list of cases, or use the Search Cases button.

2. Option One: If the Case number is known, enter the number in the “Case

Number” textbox, select the correct Co unty from the dropdown, and click E-File. The “Add a Document” page will ap pear. This process works for both

cases on which the filer is already counsel of record and for exsiting cases on

which the filer has yet to enter a Notice of Appearance.

Note: An attorney filing to an existing case for the first time must first file a

Notice of Appearance prior to submitting any other documents to the case. The

Notice of Appearance does not require a document upload, but it does require

the attorney to enter specific information during the submission process.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 49

Figure 46: Existing Cases Page – Case Number Search

Note: In some instances, when the E-File link has been activated, the filer will

not be routed to the “Add a Document” page, but will be presented an error page

indicating that the case is not available for E-Filing.

3. Option Two: Clicking the Search Cases button will cause a dialog box to pop-up. Enter the Case Caption and/or Case Number, and click Search. The

listings on the “Cases” page will be lim ited to the specific case number.

Clicking E-File will cause the “Add a Document” page to display. This option is

also available for use by both attorneys already listed on the case as well as by

attorneys who have yet to file a Notice of Appearance.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 50

Figure 47: Existing Cases Page – Search Cases

4. Option Three: Click E-File to the right of the appropriate case number from

the list of cases displayed on the “Cases” page. This action causes the user to

be routed to the “Add a Document” page. Only attorneys who are already listed

as counsel of record on a case will have this option.

Figure 48: Existing Cases Page – Selecting a Case

To Add a Document to an Existing Case:

1. After selecting the existing case, the “Add a Document” page will display.

Note: The “Add a Document” page for an existing case is easily distinguished by

a yellow banner at the top of the page. The yellow banner does not show on the

“Add a Document” page for a new case.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 51

2. Verify that the case title and case number displayed in the yellow banner are

correct for the submission that is being created.

Figure 49: Yellow Banner on Existing Case Add a Document Page

3. Optional: Select the Action Type to be added from the “Action Type”

dropdown menu. Although selecting an Action Type is not required, an

Action Type selection will limit the Action dropdown to display only Actions

that are valid for the Action Type select ed. If the Action Type is left blank,

the Action dropdown will display every Action that could potentially be filed

on the case type.

4. Select the Action to be added from the “Action” dropdown menu. This is

required in order to move off of the page and forward in the filing process.

5. Click Browse to search the local computer or network for the action

(document) to attach to the filing.

Note: Actions (documents) must be filed using the correct format for the

document (pdf, doc, etc.). After selecting the “Action”, the “Acceptable File

Format” will appear on the screen indicating the correct format for the

document. Failure to attach documents in the correct format will generate an

error message.

For help with document requirements, please see instructions for “Document

Preparation Prior to Login” at the beginning of this guide or “Appendix A” at the

end of this guide.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 52

Figure 50: Incorrect Document File Format – Existing Case

6. Click Add to attach the action to the f iling. A dialog box will warn the user

to wait during document upload. Do not take additional steps on the E-Filing interface while waiting for the upload to complete.

7. For some Actions, such as Motions, the Court requires additional

information to be submitted along with the attached document. If the filer

selects an Action that requires addi tional information, the filer will

automatically be routed to a form designed to collect the information. This

routing will occur when the filer clic ks the Add button. When the filer

completes the form and clicks Next, the system will finalize the previously

activated upload of the document.

Figure 51: Action-Associated Additional Required Information

8. Once a document and any additional information that might have been

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 53

gathered has finished uploading, the Ac tion will list on the table toward the

bottom of the page.

9. Each Action displayed includes an “On Behalf of” dropdown field. The filer

must select the individual or individuals to whom the filing is associated.

Once selected, click Add. Failure to add an “On Behalf of” listing will prevent

the filer from moving forward to submission.

Figure 52: Action and “on Behalf of” Added to Submission

Note: More than one action (document) can be added to the submission, but

each action must be added individually. Repeat each step of this section to add

additional actions to a submission.

10. Optional: Clicking the “View Document” link of each entry allows the user

to view the document that was attached to the submission.

11. Optional: Click the “Edit Data” icon next to any listed document to change

the information that was entered with that document. If no information was

collected for a particular documen t, the “Edit Data” icon will not be

displayed.

12. Optional: To remove a document before filing the submission, click the icon

under the “Remove” column.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 54

13. Optional: The “Move to Draft” feature works as a “Save” feature and allows

the user to save the filing and submit at a later time. To save the filing, click

the Move to Draft button.

14. On the “Add a Document” page click the Next button at the bottom of the

page. The “Review and Approve Filing” page will display.

To Submit the Existing Case Filing:

Clicking the Next button at the bottom of the “Add a Document” page takes the user

to the “Review and Approve Filing” page. On this page, the user can review and verify

the data that has been entered for the pending submission as well as select the

payment method, change filing information, or add and remove documents, including

changing the selected Action. In addition, special filing instructions can be provided

for the Clerk if needed.

Note: Below the light blue banner at th e top of the “Review and Approve Filing”

page (Agency, Case Type, and Case Subtype) is an entry box labeled “Client #”.

This is an optional field that can be used to enter a client’s identification

number used as part of the law firm’s internal record system. The Client # can

be any combination of numbers, letters, and symbols, and is for convenience

only. The Client # is not recorded or used by the court.

1. Enter a the law firm’s client identification number in the Client # textfield if

the firm is cross referencing the E-Filing activity with the law firm’s internal

filing system.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 55

Figure 53: Client #- Existing Case Review and Approve Page

Note: If a fee is required with the filing, it will display on the “Review and

Approve Filing” page. Payment of fees must be completed before the filing can be

submitted to the court. Technology fe es are determined based on the Actions

that are being filed.

2. Use the dropdown provided to select “Payment on behalf of.”

3. Select the payment method by clicking the appropriate button.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 56

Figure 54: Fee Payment Requirement for Filing – Existing Case

Note: With the “Pay by Credit Card” radi o button filled in, when the Submit the

Filing button is clicked, the filer will be redirected to SC.Gov. When payments

are made, E-Filing records the payments and keeps track of charges associated

with each case. Payments made are tracked for a twelve month period (see

section titled “Filing Charges”).

4. Optional: At times, such as when indigenc y has been approved or is being

requested, it may be appropriate to ha ve filing fees waived. When appropriate,

the filer may select a waiver option. No credit card information is requested

when a waiver option has been selected.

Note: A filer who selects a waiver option without appropriate documentation can

expect the clerk to reject the filing.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 57

Note: Because a third party vendor is used for payments, E-Filing does not store

any credit card information. Therefore, a filer will enter credit card information

with each submission where a filing fee is incurred.

5. Optional: To change the documents that were included in a submission, click

the Add/Remove Documents button or the Back button. The user will be

directed to the “Add a Document” page (refer to the section titled “To Add a

Document to an Existing Case").

Figure 55: Adding or Removing Documents – Existing Case

6. Optional: To cancel a filing submission, clic k the Cancel (Delete) button. A

warning dialog box will ask if the filer re ally wants to take the Cancel action.

Clicking “OK” means the entire submissi on will be deleted and no record will

remain.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 58

Figure 56: Cancel (Delete) a Filing – Existing Case

7. Optional: The submission can be left in a “draft” state and finished at a later

time by clicking the Move to Draft button.

8. After reviewing the information and verif ying the information included in the

submission is complete and accurate, click Submit the Filing.

9. A “Your submission is complete” pop-up message appears. Clicking OK begins

the final process of submission.

Note: Clicking Cancel on the “Submissi on is Complete” pop-up returns the user

to the “Review and Approve Filing” page.

10. If a fee is required on the submission, the user will be redirected to the SC Gov

payment screen. Enter all required data, complete the required verification,

and activate the button to submit the payment.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 59

Figure 57: Payment Vendor Site

11. After the payment is processed, the user can print the receipt. Otherwise, the

filer can scroll down to the bottom of the receipt page and click Continue to be

returned to the E-Filing system.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 60

Figure 58: Payment Vendor Receipt

12. In the E-Filing system, the filer will view the submission confirmation page

indicating the submission is being transmitted to the Court for review.

Additionally, payment information is posted for the filer’s review.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 61

Figure 59: Filing Submission Confirmation Page – Existing Case

13. Optional: Clicking the Filing Status button directs the user to the “My Filings”

page where the user can review the status of the submission. For more

information on “Filing Status”, please refer to the “Understanding Filing Status”

section of this user guide.

My Filings

After a case is submitted to the court, the st atus of the filing is updated to reflect its

progress. The “My Filings” page displays the status of each submission as it

progresses until a final status of “Filed” has been posted. A filing can have the status

of:

 Awaiting Approval – The submission is in a queue awaiting review by the

clerk.

 Filed – No further action. The filer should look at the case history and

receipt of submission to download signed documents and check for notes

from the court.

 Filed, Awaiting Receipt – The submission has been approved and is being

processed.

 Filed – Presented to Judge – The filing has been accepted and routed to a

Judicial Queue for a Judge to review. This means that even though the

submission has been filed, the prop osed document, such as a proposed

order, may not have been reviewed at this time. Other documents included

with the submission have been file-stamped and recorded on the case. The

proposed order is awaiting the judge’s action.

 Package Pending – The submission is being prepared for the court but has

not been sent.

 Packaged – The submission is prepared and sent to the court.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 62

 Payment Pending – The filing cannot move forward until payment is made

by the filer.

 Rejected – Submission was denied. See the note on the denial for an

explanation.

 Rejected Icon – An exclamation point inside a yellow box indicates a note

from the clerk explaining the rejection can be accessed by clicking the status

link.

 Receipt Pending – An error or delay has occu rred in communications. Wait

a few seconds and refresh the page. If the problem is not resolved, call the

E-Filing Helpdesk.

 Received – The submission has been received at the court and a time stamp

has been reserved pending the Clerk’s Approval.

 Rejected, Duplicated – The submission was “Rejected” and the filer

activated the one-time-use Resubmit button. Activation of the Resubmit

button caused the system to pull inform ation from the dead, rejected filing

to begin a new submission. The entry with a Rejected, Duplicated status has

no future value, and the filer needs to look at the new filing’s submission

status.

Note: Although a status may show “Filed”, it is recommended that each entry on

the “My Filings” page be checked. There may be a note from the Clerk of the

Court to the filer.

Note: Each entry on the “My Filings” page is temporary and is deleted after a

certain period of time. The period of time is configurable by the E-Filing System

Administrator and is not less than 90 days.

To Check the Status of a Submission:

1. From the Home page, click Filing Status or click E-File > My Filings from the

menu bar at the top of any page.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 63

Figure 60: My Filings Page

Note: If a filer exited the payment proc ess without completing payment for the

submission, the filing will be listed on the My Filings page with a status of

“Payment Pending” and will include a Make Payment button to the right of the

listing. The filing has NOT been submitted to the court. To complete the

submission, the filer must click Make Payment. The filer will then be routed to

SC.Gov whereupon completion of payment will move the submission to the

court.

2. Optional: Filter the list of cases displayed on the My Filings page by using the

calendar and dropdown menus, or text fields to limit the display, and then click

Go to activate the search parameters.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 64

Figure 61: My Filings – Filter Options

Note: Upon first entry into the My Filings page, the initial “View Filings

Between” field is set to the current date. Filings submitted on that date will be

displayed regardless of when or if the filing has been approved. If the second

date field is left blank, it, too, defaults to the current date.

Note: Entering information in any of the Filing ID, Court Case or Client # fields

grays out the other fields and disables the calendar.

3. When the list of filings has been returned, click the “+” symbol in the “Filing ID”

column to display the documents associated with a particular submission.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 65

Figure 62: My Filings – Viewing Documents

4. Optional: Click the document name link that appears after clicking the

expansion button (+) to view/download the filer’s original document. The

original document does NOT have a court time stamp.

5. Optional: Once a filing has reached a status of “Filed” or “Filed – Presented to

Judge,” clicking the NEF icon will cause a new browser tab to open and the NEF

to display when appropriate. There are circumstances in which an NEF is not

sent. Some Actions may not generate an NEF.

6. Optional: For additional information relating to the filing, click the “Status”

link under the column labeled “Status”. This information includes items such

as submission identification information, links to the Filer’s original documents,

links to the Court’s Response with time-stamped documents, a downloadable

receipt link, an NEF link, and, in the ca se of a rejected filing, a note from the

clerk indicating the reason for rejection.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 66

Figure 63: My Filings – Status Information

7. Optional: On the “Filing Status” page that appears after clicking the “Status”

link, documents can be downloaded by clicking the “View Document” link.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 67

Figure 64: Filing Status Page

Note: It is highly recommended that the Receipt and NEF documents listed

under the “Response” section be saved or printed. Because the E-Filing system

is NOT designed to be a permanent stor age solution, the submissions listed on

the My Filings page will be removed from the E-Filing system after a specific

period of time determined by the court. The period of time is configurable by the

E-Filing System Administrator and is usually not less than 90 days.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 68

Figure 65: Confirmation of Receipt

To Handle a “Rejected” Status Message:

If a submission is “Rejected,” the reason for the rejection will be shown on the top of

the Filing Details, which is accessed through the filing Status link on the My Filings

page as outlined above.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 69

Although a filing with a status of ‘Rejected’ is complete and cannot be reactivated, the

E-Filing system provides the ability to pull in formation from the dead, rejected filing to

begin a new submission through a one-time-use Resubmit button. The new

submission, based off the information in the rejected filing, will have a new Filing ID,

Tracking #, and new reserved time for the time stamp.

1. When a submission is “Rejected,” a one-time-use Resubmit button will appear

on the “My Filings” page next to the status of the filing.

Figure 66: Resubmit Button for a Rejected Filing

2. Before activating the “Resubmit” button, click the “Status” (Rejected) to view the

reason for the rejection. The reason will show on the “Filing Status” page.

Figure 67: Reason for Rejection on Filing Status Page

3. After viewing the reason for the rejection on the “Filing Status” page, click Back

to return to the “My Filings” page.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 70

4. Click Resubmit to begin the process of cr eating a new submission based on the

previously rejected submission. The filer is immediately routed to the “Add a

Document” page. Meanwhile, the status of the rejected filing has been changed

to “Rejected, Duplicated” and a Resubmit button is no longer displayed.

5. If the filing is a Case Initiation and had been rejected for a problem with the

case information, including party information, the user can navigate back to the

Case Initiation page clicking either the Edit Data icon to the right of the Case

Data listing or by clicking the Back button at the bottom of the page. After the

information has been corrected, the file r can move forward with the submission

by clicking the Next button and following the steps as explained in the Case

Initiation section of this document.

6. If the original submission is either a Ca se Initiation filing or an Existing Case

filing and was rejected due to a problem with the Actions submitted, the filer

will stay on the “Add a Document” page to correct the problem. Additional

Actions can be added or Actions listed can be removed and re-added by

following the “Add an Action” steps explained above.

7. After correcting the filing, submit the filing to the court by following the steps

outlined in the “To Add an Action (Doc ument)” sections of this manual. Should

the new submission be approved, the new time-stamp for the resubmitted filing

will be the date and time when the filer completes the new filing by clicking

Submit the Filing.

Note: The “Status” of a filing that has had the Resubmit button activated will

display as “Rejected, Duplicated”. This status does NOT necessarily mean the

new filing has been submitted to the court. To determine if the new filing has

been submitted to the court, the user can check Draft Filings, My Filings, and

the Case History.

Draft Filings

The “Draft” feature of E-Filing has been designed so the filer can backup (save) a filing

and work on the filing at a future time. It also acts as an automatic safeguard to save

the filing if the power or internet connect ion is lost during the filing process. The

automatic save feature is activated once the filer arrives at the “Add a Document”

page.

To manually save a filing, click the Save to Draft button on any of the case initiation

pages after parties have been added to the f iling. After saving a filing to “draft”, the

filer can continue work on the filing at a future time.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 71

Note: Each time a filer logs out of the E-Filing system, a prompt will appear

reminding the filer that there are incomplete filings if any filings are listed on

the Draft Filings page.

To Access a Draft Filing:

1. Click E-File > Draft Filings from the menu bar at the top of any page to see a

list of incomplete submissions.

2. To work on a draft filing, click the a ppropriate case subtype link in the “Filing

Description” column.

Figure 68: List of Draft Filings

3. The user is routed to the “Add an Action (Document)” page where he or she can

continue with the submission process.

Note: If the filing is a new case and changes need to be made on the Case

Initiation pages (parties, jury demand, etc.), click the Back button or the Edit

Data icon on the “Add an Action (Document)” page.

To Delete a Draft Filing:

Because the E-Filing system is not designed to be a permanent storage solution, there

is an automatic-cleanout of draft filings configured based on the elapsed time since

the draft was created. The “Days Until Deletion” is noted in the column to the right of

the Draft Filings table.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 72

1. The user can also manually control the length of the draft filings list by

completing a manual clean-out of the filin gs in a draft state. Deleting a draft

filing is a permanent action. The filing and its associated information will not be

retrievable. Select the draft filing or filings to be deleted by clicking on the

checkbox to the left of the listing.

2. Click the Delete button.

3. A warning dialog box will appear; click OK to confirm the deletion. Deletion of a

draft filing is a permanent action.

Figure 69: Deleting a Draft Filing

Cases

There are three options under the menu bar option labeled “Cases”. They are:

 Cases

 Notifications

 Filing Charges

When a new case is filed or additional Actions are filed on an existing case, the case

number is added to the list of “Cases” if the user is listed as counsel of record on the

case. Additionally, the user can complete a case history search for a case on which he

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 73

or she is not listed as counsel of record and the case will be added to the list of

“Cases” displayed.

What a filer will be able to view on any case history pulled through the E-Filing system

is determined by the filer’s association to the case or lack thereof.

Note: Counsel of Record is established using the E-Filing system when an

attorney user initiates a case and the automatic relationship between plaintiff

and attorney is established on the Add My Parties page. Upon clerk approval of

the submission, the attorney will be listed as counsel of record in the Court’s

case management system and is recognized as such by the E-Filing system.

Additionally, an E-Filing attorney user may establish himself or herself as

counsel of record through filing a Notice of Appearance. When filing the Action,

the user’s bar number and name is listed and the user is asked to select the

party or parties he or she is representing. Upon approval of the submission, the

case will be added to the user’s list of cases.

To View Cases:

To navigate to the Cases page, click Cases on the home page or select Cases > Cases

from the menu bar at the top of any page.

Figure 70 List of “Cases”

The options available through the “Cases” page are:

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 74

 E-File to a case.

 View a case history.

 View the Service List.

 Search for cases.

 Filter cases by active, inactive, or both.

 View case documents.

Note: It is possible that cases may be listed on the Attorney’s list of cases even

though the Attorney has not E-Filed to them. If the Clerk has indexed an

Attorney as representing a party on a case, the E-Filing system will update the

list of cases when something is electronically filed on that case by any party or

when any party on the case searches for the case history.

Note: On the Cases page, using the option of E-Filing to a case has already been

outlined in the “To File to an Existing Case” section of this document and will

not be reviewed here.

To View a Case History:

1. Click Cases on the home page or select Cases > Cases from the menu bar at

the top of any page.

2. Optional: Limit or expand the number of cases listed by clicking on the

“Number of Cases Displayed per Page” dropdown menu in the upper right

corner of the page.

3. From the “Cases” page, there are two options to view a Case Summary.

a. Enter the Case Number in the “Case Number” field, select the correct

County and Court Agency, and click History.

Figure 71: Cases –Case Summary/History Button

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 75

b. If the case is already displayed on the list of cases, the user can also click

the “Case Number” link to view the Case Summary.

Figure 72: Cases – Case Summary/Case Number Link

Note: For either option listed above, a Case Summary will open in a new browser

window.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 76

Figure 73: Case Summary Page

4. Optional: Click the +/- (expansion button) next to the “Show/Hide

Participants” to view the parties on the case.

5. Click a link under the “Description” column to view associated documents on

the case. The ability to access documents on the case is determined by the

“security level” set by the court. Se aled Actions will not have viewable

documents.

To View a Service List:

The E-Filing system generates a Service List to inform the user which case

participants will be notified electronically and which case participants will need to be

served by Traditional Means of service.

1. Click Cases on the home page or select Cases > Cases from the menu bar at

the top of any page.

2. Optional: Limit or expand the number of cases listed by clicking on the

“Number of Cases Displayed per Page” dropdown menu in the upper right

corner of the page.

3. From the “Cases” page, there are two options to view Service List.

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a. Enter the Case Number in the “Case Number” field, select the correct

County and Court Agency, and click Service List.

Figure 74: Cases –Service List/Button

b. On the table listing, find the appropriate case and, to the table’s right,

click the “Service List” link to view the document listing participants

receiving electronic service and those needing service by traditional

means.

Figure 75: Cases –Service List/Link

Note: For either option listed above, a Se rvice List will open in a new browser

window.

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Figure 76: Service List

Note: The “Service List” lists the electronic participants first. Those participants

who need to be notified by Traditional means (in paper) will be under the heading

“The following people have not be notified electronically. They will need to be

notified by traditional means.”

To Search Cases:

1. Click Cases on the home page or select Cases > Cases from the menu bar at

the top of any page.

2. Optional: Limit or expand the number of cases listed by clicking on the

“Number of Cases Displayed per Page” dropdown menu in the upper right

corner of the page.

3. Click the Search Cases button and a dialog box will appear.

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Figure 77: Search Cases

4. To search for a case for which the filer is counsel of record, enter part of a Case

Caption or the complete Case Number in the appropriate fields and click

Search. (The Case Number must follow the pattern in the example with no

dashes or spaces.) The “Cases” page will refresh and list the case with an exact

match to the case number or will display any case with a match to the partial

case caption.

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Figure 78: All Matches to Partial Case Caption Search

5. Optional: After searching for an individual case, click the All My Cases button

to display all cases on the “Cases” page.

To Show Active/Inactive Cases:

The “Show Active,” “Show Inactive,” and “Show Both” radio buttons above the list of

cases allow the user to control the length of the list displayed on the Cases page. The

system default is “Show Active.”

Figure 79: Show Active, Show Inactive & Show Both Filters

1. To mark a case “Inactive” in the E-Filing system, check the box in the row

representing the case to be moved to “I nactive.” The Case will no longer be

displayed when filtered by “Show Active .” The page will refresh and only the

“active” cases will be listed. Status on the Cases screen does not reflect the

status of the case in the Court. This status reflects whether the case is being

actively worked by the attorney in E-Filing through his or her E-Filing account.

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Figure 80: Marking a Case “Inactive”

Note: Marking a case “Inactive” in the E-Filing system does not affect the status

of the case at the court. It is a feature in the system to help the user maintain

organization. If action is taken on a case that is marked as “Inactive,” the user

will receive a notification of that action. The user can then change the status to

“active” if desired.

2. Click the “Show Inactive” radio button to view all “Inactive” cases.

Figure 81: Cases – Show Inactive

Note: The “Inactive” checkbox is checked for all cases listed as “Inactive.”

3. To move a case to “Active” status, click in the checkbox to deselect it. The page

will refresh and only the “Inactive” cases will be listed.

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Figure 82: Cases – Move Inactive to Active

4. Click the “Show Both” radio button to view all cases (Active and Inactive).

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Figure 83: Cases – Show Both

Note: When displaying both active and inactive cases, the “active” cases will

not have a check in the “Inactive” column while “Inactive” cases will have a

check.

5. Click the Show Active radio button to once again show only the “Active” cases.

To Sort Filings using Column Headers:

The E-Filing system allows the user the mean s to sort the cases using the data in the

different columns displayed on the “Cases” page. This feature is provided for ease in

searching for a case, displaying case data by "Case Caption", “County”, etc.

The following columns on the “Cases” page can be sorted:

 Case Caption

 Case Number

 Case Subtype

 Judge

 Court Agency

 County

Note: The default sort for the “Cases” page is the “Case Number” with the lowest

(oldest) case at the bottom of the list.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 84

Figure 84: Cases – Default Table Order

Because the column sort feature is the sa me for each column, only one example of

sorting will be given in this section.

1. Click on the header of the column to be sorted (Case Caption, Case Number,

etc.). The column will sort in descending order.

Figure 85: Cases – Column Sort Descending

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 85

Note: Column sorting will sort the data either alphabetically or numerically,

depending on the data in the column.

2. Click the same column header to sort in ascending order.

Figure 86: Cases – Column Sort Ascending

Note: The first time the column header is clicked, the data will be sorted in

descending order. For example, clicking "Case Caption" will sort the column in

reverse alphabetical order while “Case Number” will sort with the highest

number listed first. The direction of the column sort can be noted by the

direction of the arrow in the column header.

To View Documents from the Cases Page:

There are two options for the user on th e “Cases” page to view and download

documents. This guide has already covered using the Case Number link to access the

Case History and the associated documents in the “To View a Case History” section.

Additionally, the user can follow the steps below.

1. Click the expansion button ( +) next to the Case Caption to view a list of

documents associated with the case.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 86

Figure 87: Case Caption Expansion Button (+)

2. Clicking the Action link will open the time-stamped document.

3. Close the list by clicking the (-) contraction button.

Notifications

The E-Filing system automatically generates emails to communicate with case

participants with E-Filing accounts when action is taken on their cases. The email

does not include the actual documents or all th e details of the submissions, but it is a

means to inform the filer that notices are accessible through logging into the E-Filing

account.

A “Notice of Electronic Filing” (NEF) is a no tice of documents that are filed on a case

electronically. Participants on the case who do not have an E-Filing account will need

to be served by Traditional means in accordance with the South Carolina Rules of Civil

Procedure (including filing Proof of Service).

Once a filer has been added as counsel of r ecord on a case by the Clerk of court, the

case number is stored within a database along with the filer’s name and bar number.

When additional actions are submitted on any case to which the filer has been indexed

as a participant, the filer will receive an email notifying the filer of the action(s). Filers

indexed to the case cannot opt out of the NEF. However, the filer can opt out of the

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emailed status updates (received, accepted, rejected) by changing settings in the user

profile.

To Access Notifications:

1. Click Notifications on the home page or select Cases > Notifications from the

menu bar at the top of any page.

Note: A number in parentheses, such as (21), may appear next to the

Notifications button on the “Home” page. This number represents the number of

notifications that have not yet been accessed.

Figure 88: Accessing Notifications

Note: Notifications are not permanent. They are deleted after a period of time

determined by the court, generally 90 days. Please refer to the South Carolina

Rules of Civil Procedure and the E-Filing Policies and Guidelines for more

information about Traditional Service in E-Filing cases.

2. Optional: The number of notifications to be viewed can be controlled by using

the “Notifications per page” dropdown.

Figure 89: Notifications per Page Dropdown

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3. An unopened envelope icon will appear to the left of each Notification that has

not yet been viewed. Additionally, the text identifying the NEF in the

“Document(s) filed by…” column is bolded if the NEF has not been viewed.

Figure 90: List of Notifications

4. Click the “Document(s) filed by…” link of the submission to view. The “Notice of

Electronic Filing” will open in another page showing which participants have

been served electronically and which participants need to be served by

traditional means.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 89

Figure 91: Notice of Electronic Filing

5. If documents are included in the Notification, a sub-listing of each document

will display below the “Document(s) filed by…” link on the “N otifications” page.

Click on the document link to view an d/or download a PDF version of the

document.

Figure 92: Viewing Documents from the Notifications Page

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 90

Note: Upon the next entry to the Notifications page, the envelope icon will be

changed to an open envelope if the notification has been viewed.

6. After the notification has been viewed and related documents have been

downloaded, the notification can be deleted by selecting the checkbox to the left

of the notification and clicking the Delete button. The page will refresh, and the

deleted notification will no longer appear on the list.

To Search Notifications:

Notifications can be searched and displayed using one of the following parameters:

 All (the E-Filing system defaults to this parameter)

 Notification ID

 Description

 Case Title

 Case Number

 Court Agency

1. Select the parameter from the “Search By” dropdown.

2. Enter the text (alpha or numeric) in the “Search By” box.

Note: The E-Filing system will perform a search if only a portion of the text is

entered. For example, if the user wants to search for a “Retraction Notice”, the

system will perform the search if only a few letters, such as “retr” are entered in

the text box.

Figure 93: Search by Parameters

3. Click Go. The page will refresh and display only the notifications that fit the

search parameter.

4. Click Clear Search and then Go to refresh the page and display all

notifications.

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To Delete Notifications:

Note: Notifications are not permanent. They are deleted after a period of time

determined by the court, generally 90 days. Please refer to the South Carolina

Rules of Civil Procedure and the E-Filing Policies and Guidelines for more

information about Traditional Service in E-Filing cases.

The user has the ability to delete notification s if they are deemed no longer necessary.

This is a permanent action so prudence is recommended when deleting a notification.

1. Check the box next to the notification to be deleted.

Note: Multiple notifications can be deleted at the same time by checking the box

next to each notification to be deleted.

Figure 94: Deleting a Notification

2. Click Delete.

3. A warning box will appear asking for conf irmation of the deletion. Click OK to

continue. The page will refresh and the notification(s) that were checked for

deletion will no longer display.

Note: All notifications can be deleted at one time by checking the box at the top

of the column and selecting delete. When this box is checked, all notifications

will be checked. This is a permanent action so prudence is recommended when

deleting all notifications.

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To Mark Notifications as Read/Unread:

The user has the ability to mark a notificati on as “read” or “unread” as a means of

organization and efficiency. For example, i f a u s e r d o e s n o t w a n t t o o p e n a l l

notifications that are “Proposed Orders” but wants them to remain on the list, he or

she can do so by using the following process to accomplish that objective.

1. Check the box next to the “unread” notification to be marked as read.

Note: Multiple notifications can be marked as read at the same time by checking

the box next to each notification to be marked.

Figure 95: Marking a Notification as Read

2. Click Mark As Read. The page will refresh and the envelope icon will now show

“open” indicating that the notification was read.

3. To mark a notification as “unread”, check the box next to a “read” notification.

4. Click Mark as Unread. The page will refresh and the envelope icon will now

show “closed” indicating that the notification has not been read.

To Sort Notifications using Column Headers:

The E-Filing system allows the user the mean s to sort notifications using the data in

the different columns displayed on the “Notif ications” page. This feature is provided

for ease in searching for a notification.

The following columns on the “Notifications” page can be sorted:

 Notification ID

 Document(s) filed by…

 Cas

e Caption

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 93

 Case Number

 Court Agency

 County

 File Date

Note: The default sort for the “Notifications” page is the “File Date” with the

oldest notification at the bottom of the list.

Because the column sort feature is the sa me for each column, only one example of

sorting will be given in this section.

1. Click on the header of the column to be sorted (Notification ID, Case Number,

etc.). The column will sort in descending order.

Figure 96: Notifications – Column Sort Default

Note: Column sorting will sort the data either alphabetically or numerically,

depending on the data in the column. For example, clicking "Case Caption" will

sort alphabetically while “Case Number” will sort numerically.

Figure 97: Notifications – Column Sort Arrow

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 94

2. Click the same column header to sort in ascending order.

Note: The first time the column header is clicked, the data will be sorted in

descending order. For example, clicking "Case Caption" will sort the column in

reverse alphabetical order while “Case Number” will sort with the highest

number listed first.

Filing Charges

Some documents require court fees. Before a submission is filed to the court, the final

step is to review the data and documents in the submission (see the section titled “To

Submit the Initial Filing”). If one of the documents requires a court fee, the filer will be

prompted to enter credit card information prior to submitting the filing. When

payments are made, E-Filing records the payments and keeps track of charges

associated with each case. Payments made are tracked for a twelve month period.

Note: Because a third party vendor is used for payments, E-Filing does not store

any credit card information.

To View Filing Charges:

1. Select Cases > Filing Charges from the menu at the top of any page.

Note: The default setting for the filing charges will be the current month.

Figure 98: Filing Charges

2. Select the month to view by changing the “Report Month” dropdown.

Information about each payment made during that month, including the case

number, case title, method of payment, and the amount, is displayed.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 95

3. Submissions incurring court fees but filed with a waiver are listed on the Filing

Charges table. However, the fees associated with the submission as well as the

total charges for the submission all re ad as a zero amount, and no dollar

amount is included in the total charges listed at the bottom of the table.

To Sort Filing Charges using Column Headers:

The E-Filing system allows the user the mean s to sort filing charges using the data in

the different columns displayed on the “Filing Charges” page. This feature is provided

for ease in searching filing charges for a given month.

The following columns on the “Filing Charges” page can be sorted:

 Case Caption

 Client #

 Court Case #

 Court Agency

 County

 Description

 Date

 Account

 Authorization Code

 Fee

 Technology Fee

 Convenience Fee

 Total Charge

Note: The default sort for the “Filing Charges” page is the “Date” with the oldest

filing charge at the top of the list.

Because the column sort feature is the sa me for each column, only one example of

sorting will be given in this section.

Figure 99: Filing Charges – Column Sort Default

1. Click on the header of the column to be sorted (Case Caption, Description, etc.).

The column will sort in descending order.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 96

Note: Column sorting will sort the data either alphabetically or numerically,

depending on the data in the column. For example, clicking "Case Caption" will

sort alphabetically while “Date” will sort numerically.

Figure 100: Filing Charges – Column Sort Arrow

Note: The first time the column header is clicked, the data will be sorted in

descending order. For example, clicking "Case Caption" will sort the column in

reverse alphabetical order while “Case Number” will sort with the highest

number listed first.

2. Click the same column header to sort in ascending order.

My Profile

User accounts for Attorneys are provided by the South Carolina Judicial Department.

To request an account, please visit the Attorney Information System. As a courtesy, a

link to their website has been provided on the Login page of the E-Filing portal (see

section titled “To Request an Account – Attorneys”).

Most profile information for South Carolin a Attorneys must be updated through the

AIS website. However, attorneys can set a Default County and E-Filing email

preferences via the user profile in the E-Filing system.

User accounts for Firm Financial Managers are requested through the E-Filing portal

(see section titled “To Request an Account – Non-Attorneys”).

To View a User Profile – Attorneys:

1. Select My Profile > My Profile from the menu bar at the top of any page. The

“User Profile” page will appear and disp lay the information entered when the

user account was created.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 97

Figure 101: Attorney – My User Profile

2. To change the Default County or email preferences in the user profile, click the

Modify User Profile button to cause the “Modify User Profile” page to appear.

Figure 102: Attorney – Modify User Profile

3. Optional: Select the default county from the “Default County” dropdown.

Note: Selecting a default county will list the selected county as the first option

on the county dropdown in the Case Initiation filing process.

4. Opti

onal: Select the “Email Notifications” to be received.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 98

Note: Checking a box next to an “Email Notification” will stop the emails from

going to any email listed in AIS.

5. Click Submit to save modifications.

Note: It is required that the email addresses associated with an account be kept

up to date. If a user creates a new email address and does not record the new

email information in AIS, the Notices of Electronic Filings will not be received at

the new email address. However, notifications can still be viewed through the

“Notifications” page.

To View a User Profile – Firm Financial Manager:

The Firm Financial Manager will have the ability to modify all settings in his or her

“User Profile” after the profile has been approved.

In addition, the Firm Financial Manager ha s the ability to edit the three required

security questions. These questio ns will be used if the Firm Financial Manager needs

help desk support.

1. Select My Profile > My Profile from the menu bar at the top of any page. The

“User Profile” page will appear and disp lay the information entered when the

user account was created.

Figure 103: Firm Financial Administrators – My User Profile

2. Optional: Click View Security Questions to see the three security questions

that were selected when the account was created.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 99

3. To change the information in the user profile, click the Modify User Profile

button to cause the “Modify User Profile” page to appear.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 100

Figure 104: Firm Financial Administrator – Modify User Profile

100

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 101

101

4. Selecting a Default County has associated functionality for attorneys. The

Default County has no functionality for non-filing users.

5. Optional: Edit answers for already selected Security Questions or select new

“Security Questions” from the available dropdowns. Enter the “Answer” in the

textbox provided.

6. Non-filing users will not be receiving em ails with status updates. The email

settings are for filers.

7. Optional: Make any changes to the “Profile” by entering the new data in the

text boxes provided.

8. Click Submit to save modifications and return to the “User Profile” page.

Note: The alternate email address is not in use on the SC E-Filing System.

Change Password

Each user account includes an associat ed profile. Attorney profiles, including

passwords, are established and maintained through the South Carolina AIS system.

Attorneys needing to change a password must do so through the AIS system.

Users with a Firm Financial Manager account can update the E-Filing password as

described below. As part of this featur e, all users have the ability to change their

passwords as frequently as needed.

To Change a Password:

1. Select My Profile > Change Password from the menu bar at the top of the page

or from the “User Profile” page, click the Change Password button.

Note: The user will not be able to see the current password.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 102

102

Figure 105: Change Password Screen

2. Enter the new password in the “New Password” field.

Note: A password will be a minimum of 6 characters and can include alpha or

numeric characters. At least one symbol other than a letter or number must be

included. The password CANNOT be the same as the username.

3. Enter the new password in the “Confirm New Password” field. The “New

Password” and the “Confirm New Password” must match to proceed.

4. Click Submit to set the new password and be returned to the “User Profile”

page.

The “Login History” shows the successful and failed login attempts and helps in

monitoring unauthorized login attempts.

If an account has too many login failures, the system will automatically suspend the

account. If an account is suspended, co ntact the E-Filing Help Desk to have the

account reinstated. Changing a password on a regular basis can help avoid

unauthorized access to an account.

Viewing Login History

1. Select My Profile > View Login History from the menu bar at the top of any

page to open the “Login History” page.

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 103

Figure 106: Login History

Note: In addition to showing successful logins, the list shows the failed login

attempts along with the date and IP address of the requesting machine.

2. Optional: Use the “Entries per page” dropdown to limit the number of entries

displayed on the “Login History” page.

103

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104

Appendix A: PDF and Other Documents

PDF Basics

PDF (Portable Document Format) is a po pular format created by Adobe Systems

Incorporated. Documents using this format can be read by Adobe Reader®, a free

application available from the Adobe website. This type of document is considered a

final form document because it is not designed to be edited. It is fixed and appears

the same on nearly every machine using Ad obe Reader. Because the document looks

the same regardless of the machine, the co urt’s policy is to send documents as PDF

documents except for specifically identified documents such as “Proposed Orders.” A

PDF document has the extension “.pdf” appended to the file name.

Creating Documents

To create original documents a word proce ssing application, such as Microsoft Word,

WordPerfect, or another word processor will be needed. Standard fonts should be used

when creating the original document. Select ing standard fonts helps ensure that the

document formatting converts to PDF correctly.

Note: All documents eventually will be converted to a PDF file. “Proposed

Orders” must be submitted in Microsoft Word format and will be converted to

PDF by the court later in the E-Filing process.

If a user is working in Microsoft 2007 or newer version of Microsoft Word, there is a

built in Acrobat pdf creator included, genera lly located on the File > Save As >Save As

Type dropdown list. There are some free PDF printer drivers as well as products

available for purchase.

Proposed Orders must be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.docx or .doc). When

the court is finished editing the document the court will convert from the Microsoft

Word format to PDF.

Including Paper Exhibits

There may be times when copies of paper documents, such as a copy of a contract or a

copy of a bounced check need to be including in the submission. These paper

documents need to be scanned and saved as a PDF document; an option which is

found on today’s scanners.

Please note the court requirements for file size, color, and resolution. It is

recommended that all scans use black-and-white settings with a low resolution (300

dpi) resulting in 25 to 50 KB per page in size. Using color adds to the size of the file, so

Complete User Guide – Filer Interface – 105

color scans should only be used when color is a vital element of the exhibit. If the scan

includes color, lower the resolution enough to reduce the file size but not destroy the

ability to view the image (see the scanner's user documentation for more information).

Note: Many newer scanners, especially those that are also color copiers, come

with a default setting to scan in color. Even if the document being scanned is

black and white, the scanner still scans as if the document was a 4-color scan.

This default setting is at a resolution higher than desirable for E-Filing purposes.

105

Provenance

Source: www.sccourts.org
Retrieved: 2026-10-02
Edition: supplied-sc-08-01-efilingusermanual-2015-11-01
Content hash: 6e3a03802faaf3ea5e364150c0767b3f04870fcb96617736ae95b3cc547b6479

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Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.

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