U.S. District Court, Central District of California e-filing PDF requirements

Requirements at a glance

File size	Each PDF up to 35 MB. Split larger files into sub-volumes.
Text-searchable	Required C.D. Cal. L.R. 5-4.3.1: publish to PDF from the word-processing file; scanned PDFs are prohibited, except exhibits and certain records, which must be text-searchable
PDF/A	Not required C.D. Cal. e-filing FAQ: PDFs meeting the PDF/A standard are accepted
Page size	8½ × 11 in (US Letter) C.D. Cal. L.R. 11-3.2 (8½ × 11 in), applied to e-filed documents by L.R. 5-4.3
Documents per PDF	One document per PDF C.D. Cal. L.R. 5-4.3.1: no more than one document, or part of one document, per PDF
Not allowed	Passwords or security settings, JavaScript, Files embedded inside the PDF, Audio, video or 3D content

Editable forms are accepted, but fillable forms made in Safari on a Mac are rejected (e-filing FAQ).
Mac: in Word, save with "Best for electronic distribution", not "Best for printing".
If CM/ECF says the document is malformed or contains code, flatten it by printing to a new PDF (e-filing FAQ).

What is the maximum PDF file size for U.S. District Court, Central District of California?: Each PDF up to 35 MB. Split larger files into sub-volumes.
Do PDFs have to be text-searchable?: Yes. Source: C.D. Cal. L.R. 5-4.3.1: publish to PDF from the word-processing file; scanned PDFs are prohibited, except exhibits and certain records, which must be text-searchable. Scanned pages need OCR before filing; see how to make a PDF text-searchable.
Is PDF/A required?: No. The court's published rules don't require PDF/A.
Can I file a password-protected PDF?: No. Source: C.D. Cal. e-filing FAQ: CM/ECF rejects encrypted or password-protected PDFs. See how to remove PDF security.
Can I combine several documents into one PDF?: No. Source: C.D. Cal. L.R. 5-4.3.1: no more than one document, or part of one document, per PDF.