E-FILING TECHNICAL DIRECTIONS
For submitting documents to the Manitoba Courts
INTRODUCTION
All E-Filed documents being submitted to the Courts must be in PDF format and must be
accompanied by a completed QB E-Filing Form with a Legal Data Resources (Manitoba)
Corporation ("LDRC") digital signature (to conclusively demonstrate the filing is from a lawyer
whose identity is authenticated). Documents are filed by submitting them to the Court’s E-Filing
Centre (a website hosted by LDRC and referred to herein as the "E-Filing Portal") by support staff
or a lawyer with a user ID for that site.
Beginning in January 2017, every lawyer wishing to E-File a document with the Courts must have:
1) the Entrust software and a set of Entrust certificates to enable the lawyer to sign or
encrypt documents; and
2) a user ID and password to access the E-Filing Portal.
These are provided by LDRC free of charge after subscription agreements with LDRC are entered
into.
Support staff may also be issued a user ID and password to access the E-Filing Portal after entering
into a subscription agreement with the law firm, their supervising lawyer and LDRC.
The Courts require documents to be submitted through the E-Filing Portal:
1) in PDF format (described below);
2) with OCR text recognition applied
3) with bookmarks (bookmarks typically correspond to headings and are explained in
detail below);
4) with hyperlinking (also explained below), which is not mandatory but strongly
encouraged.
Adobe Professional is the recommended PDF application as it permits bookmarking and
hyperlinking and is the tool being used by the Courts – however less expensive products (like the
Nuance offering) and free shareware products (like Cute PDF) are also available.
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E-FILING DOCUMENTS A JUDGE WILL SEE
A major purpose of E-Filing is to facilitate navigation and speed of review by Judges of documents
filed with the Courts. The example file below is intended to illustrate navigation and improved
review features in electronic filings.
A Notice of Motion with bookmarking and hyperlinking looks like the following for the Judge in
Adobe Acrobat 10 format:
Clicking on
Schedule A below
makes the
document jump
(hyperlink) to
Schedule A itself.
AND IN THE MATTER OF THE PROPOSAL OF
[REDACTED] CORPORATION
Arrow tool for
highlighting text
Bookmarks
Note: The above Adobe view is the result of the following menu calls: File, Properties, Initial View Tab, Navigation
Tab: choose Bookmarks Panel and Page.
The bookmarking and hyperlinking features permit the Judge to navigate through the filing much
more efficiently than a "raw" PDF filing or a paper filing.
Experience has shown that a "raw" PDF filing can be very disorienting and accordingly
bookmarking has been adopted as a required filing standard. The Registrar will reject E-Filings
which are not bookmarked. Hyperlinking makes navigation through a document more efficient as
well (and will improve the impact of a motion or brief and not waste a Judge's time) but are
inherently discretionary, so they are simply described as "strongly encouraged". Case law text can
easily be highlighted using the arrow tool shown above and that will satisfy the highlighting
expectations of the Courts. Hyperlinking can then be used so a Judge can jump from a case law
text reference in a brief to the highlighted text itself in the cited case.
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Bookmarking is required for Affidavits and other documents filed with the Courts, but is not
required for headings in case law.
DOCUMENT CONVERSION TO PDF FROM AN ELECTRONIC SOURCE
Originating Documents
Originating documents prepared using Microsoft Word (MS Word) can be set up so that all the
headings turn into bookmarks automatically when the document is saved as a "PDF" document
(See Schedule "A" attached) in Word 2007 and subsequent versions. For users with older versions
of MS Word or other word processors altogether but equipped with Adobe Acrobat (or another
PDF product, as described below), it is still always possible to accomplish the bookmarking task
by printing a PDF version of the document (described below), opening it in Adobe Acrobat,
clicking on the bookmark tool (looks like a notched towel on a towel rack in the screen above - or
like a very short notched leather bookmark in Adobe DC) clicking on the arrow tool identified
above (right beside the little hand on the menu) to be able to highlight text, highlighting the text,
right clicking the mouse after the text is highlighted and selecting the "add bookmark" option –
the highlighted (bookmark) words will suddenly appear in the Bookmarks (list) on the left hand
side – then one further click in the text of the document will end the process and confirm the
bookmark.
As noted, for users not able to do a File Save to PDF in MS Word, converting documents to PDF
is accomplished by installing a PDF print driver and printing using that driver. MS Word 2013 and
Excel 2013 have the native ability to print PDF documents. From MS Word (up to version 2010)
or Excel (up to version 2010) conversion is quite simple, even if you do not have a full version of
Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer. You can obtain a free PDF writer from the internet
(CutePDF, doPDF, etc.) and then install the software on your computer. After a successful
installation, you will see a new "printer" in your printer selection that will convert the document
to PDF. Users of Adobe Acrobat or another PDF product have the ability to convert within their
MS Office application, or at print time and to insert bookmarks and hyperlinks using Adobe
Acrobat or another PDF product.
The printing process to create a PDF document from Word or Excel is shown below:
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CASE LAW
Whenever possible, case law included in filings should use electronically downloaded case
materials (rather than scanned paper documents) which means the case law can be accessed by
hyperlink and the text is fully searchable. For reasons set out below, CanLII is preferred for case
law citations and textual references. Scanned paper case law is not natively searchable. If the case
law material is a scanned image, an optical character recognition ("OCR") process is required so
it is searchable by a Judge or Court staff. Adobe Acrobat provides an OCR tool for converting
scanned paper case law to searchable text as do many other software products.
As noted, the preferred electronic source for case law downloads is CanLII (Note: The Law Society
of Manitoba has been a major supporter of CanLII for many years). CanLII has become the
preferred source since links to the cited cases on CanLII do not require the searcher to have paid
to be a subscriber to the case law service. Consequently, a citation can be inserted into a motion
brief as a hyperlinked case reference and, when the user is connected to the internet, clicking on
the link will cause the full text of the case to open via the internet. Where case law is cited using a
paid service, (where a reader without a paid subscription cannot gain access), the full electronic
case law text should be attached to the filing. No hyperlinks to the subscription-based source
service should be included for the same reason, though hyperlinks within the cited case text are
still possible and still expected, as is highlighting of case law text where appropriate.
BOOKMARKING AND HYPERLINKING
Bookmarks are required in E-Filing documents to provide an easy method of jumping from one
heading to another and to differentiate different sections of the document from other document
sections. Where exhibit tabs have been inserted, clicking on the bookmark should cause the Judge
or other reader to jump to the first page following the tab (rather than to the essentially blank tab
page). Hyperlinks to case law and for cross references to text within a cited case, are also strongly
encouraged where warranted. Adobe Acrobat includes the tools for creation of these features as
does other PDF software. Microsoft Word may also be used to insert bookmarks and hyperlinks,
which will be carried forward when a "file save as" PDF command is called, but there will be
configuration steps required on the part of the document creator to do so properly (see Schedule
"A"). The Courts also require consistency with page displays and bookmarking – instructions for
such consistent page displays are set out in Schedule "B".
However, typically not all documents to be included in an E-Filing start as electronic documents,
and conversion of documents to electronic form in that case is first required.
DOCUMENT CONVERSION FROM HARD COPY
When the document to be submitted is not available in electronic form, a scanner must be used to
create a PDF file. This method increases file size substantially. If scanning is required, please set
the scanner to black and white and use 200 DPI in order to minimize file size.
As mentioned above, apply OCR to any document that contains one or more scanned images so
that it can be converted to text that can be searched, selected and copied. Note: the original
appearance of the scanned document must be retained and opening a PDF document in Microsoft
Word 2013 or later is not an acceptable way to OCR the PDF file. After scanning and applying
OCR, the headings and other important sections must be bookmarked using Adobe Acrobat or
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another PDF software product prior to filing. Adding hyperlinks for internal or external references
is also very helpful to a Judge.
Once the above steps are complete, a Judge can properly review the previously hard copy text
electronically, electronically search for specific text or references, and copy and paste selected text
for notes or judgment preparation purposes.
STEPS TO E-FILING – E-Filing Form
1) Your office must complete the new QB E-Filing Form (below) that can be obtained from
the LDRC website or the E-Filing Portal. Once on your system the form can be re-used
and saved (it can also be partially pre-filled for specific files, specific contact persons and
specific lawyers, like individualized stationery). Versions can be saved using the free
Adobe product, Adobe Reader, and Adobe Acrobat or other PDF software is not required.
2) Once the form is completed, it must be digitally signed by a lawyer in the firm (with his or
her LDRC/Entrust certificate). It is a good idea to save it in a location that can be easily
found by the lawyer or staff who submits the documents (including the signed form) to the
E-Filing Centre.
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Accordingly, the staff steps are as follows:
1) Fill out the required sections of the form.
2) In the Documents section, provide a title or description for each document to be filed,
and select the applicable version from the drop-down list.
3) Provide the completed form to the lawyer for review and authentication of the
documents by the lawyer.
The only lawyer step is to review the documents and then authenticate them and authorize their
filing by Digitally Signing the E-Filing Form. Digital Signing is done by clicking on the digital
signature box on the completed E-Filing Form (see the box immediately below the Lawyer's
Name on the Form above) and following the prompts (which will include a prompt for the
lawyer’s Entrust password unless the lawyer has used that Entrust signature within the past 30
minutes). Before the prompts end and the focus is returned to the digitally signed document,
the lawyer will be prompted to save the document. It can be saved with a different name or to
a different location (especially if you wish to keep the unsigned version and reuse it for
subsequent filings for the same proceeding). Keeping an unsigned version does still require
an updating of the document fields when the form is reused and a further digital signature for
each further filing.
This digitally signed copy of the E-Filing Form must be submitted to the E-Filing Portal at the
same time as the documents that are listed in the form are being filed or the E-Filing process will
not proceed.
DOCUMENT RETENTION
By signing the E-Filing Form the lawyer undertakes to retain the original documents, unless the
Court orders otherwise, for the longer of
1)
10 years following closing of the lawyer's file; and
2)
5 years after the last appeal period expires for a document:
(a)
(b)
(c)
to be used as evidence in Court,
whose authenticity is subject to a challenge, or
that is subject to cross-examination.
LDRC’s E-FILING PORTAL
The new E-Filing Portal (described below) replaces the previous LDRC/SharePoint site which was
a simple drop off portal for documents and looked like the screen below.
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The new E-Filing Portal is a single-page web application, hosted by LDRC, with different tabs for
instructions, submitting documents, and viewing your firm’s recently filed documents and filing
fees.
Documents may be submitted by an authorized lawyer or an authorized staff member as soon as
she or he has submitted the required subscription agreement and the lawyer has been given an
Entrust digital signature and both lawyer and staff have been given an ID and password for the EFiling Portal.
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SUBMITTING DOCUMENTS
Documents are submitted under the Submit Documents tab.
Select the type of filing action from the 3 options. The resulting form is different for each
option.
1
Initiate a New Proceeding
With this option, there is no prior QB case file or record of the proceeding in the E-Filing
Centre and the information you provide will be used to create a new QB case file and
record.
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Accordingly:
(a)
Provide your proposed short title (style of cause) for the proceeding
 This can be edited by Registry staff when they assign a QB file No.
(b)
Select the type of proceeding from the drop-down list
 As at January 2017, only 3 options will be enabled
(i) CCAA applications
(ii) Receiver Manager applications
(iii) Applications for Judicial Review
(c)
Select the Court location
 As at January 2017, only Winnipeg Centre will be enabled
(d)
After completing the first 3 fields, a section on parties becomes visible. Name each
party to the proceeding and
 select the party’s role (e.g. applicant, respondent, etc.)
 if you (the person completing the entry screen) are not the lawyer of
record, choose the lawyer of record in your firm from the drop-down list
 Note: only lawyers with an E-Filing Portal user ID will be listed as
options. They must be registered in order to receive automatically
generated email confirmations and notices.
 Note: the parties section of the entry screen does not appear until you
have completed prior steps
(e)
Add parties as necessary
(f)
For billing purposes, you may (but are not required to) insert your client ID and/or
your firm file no.
(g)
Click "Browse" to add more documents.
 The "Browse" button remains disabled until you have entered all the rest
of the required information.
 Note: all the documents to be submitted must be selected at once and,
therefore, must be in the same folder in your system.

Important: one of the documents to be submitted must be the E-Filing
Form that lists the documents now being added and that bears the
lawyer’s Entrust digital signature.
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
Adding documents lists each document and provides 3 fields of
information for each.
(i) The Title field is derived from the filename. You can change this
if you want a more descriptive title (preferably the one used for
that document in the E-Filing Form)
(ii) Select the applicable version from the drop-down list
(iii) Select the applicable document type from the drop-down list
(which lists the doctypes available and their applicable Registry
fee).
Note: if you need help in selecting the doctype, check with Registry
staff.
(h)
Click "Submit Documents"
 This starts the upload process. Give it a few seconds to complete
(longer if you have very large documents).
 When the upload is complete, the page will refresh and automatically
change the on-screen view to the "Documents Recently Submitted" tab.
If the documents submitted do not appear at the top of the list, or not all
of them appear, wait a few seconds (10) and then click "Documents
Recently Submitted" to refresh the list. Repeat as necessary.
 Important: Do not try to cancel or close the window after clicking the
SUBMIT button. Some documents may already have been uploaded
(and they will impede further filings if that has happened). If you wish
to cancel the process, you must do so before clicking "SUBMIT".
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2
Existing Proceeding: First Filing by Your Firm
(i)
With this option, you need to first retrieve the E-Filing Portal’s record of the
proceeding so that you can add to that record by establishing your firm as acting
for one of the parties.
(j)
To get the case information,
 select the appropriate Court Division and Court Location and enter the
year initiated (if necessary)
 type in the last trailing digits of the QB File No.
 click "Get Case Info"
(k)
Ensure you have the right proceeding, then select or add the party you represent
and, as in Step 1(f), complete the parties section of the form
(l)
As in Step 1(h), complete the information for billing purposes
(m)
As in Steps 1(i) and (j), add documents and click "Submit Documents"
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3
Existing Proceeding: Additional Filing
(n)
With this option, the E-Filing Portal already has a record of your information for
the proceeding (Title, type of proceeding, responsible lawyer, party represented,
client ID and firm file no.).
(o)
From the drop-down list of Court files, select the applicable proceeding. This list
of options contains only those current proceedings in which someone in your firm
is on record as counsel (having previously E-Filed documents in that proceeding).
(p)
As in Steps 1(i) and (j), add documents and click "Submit Documents".
Confirmation of submitted documents
As soon as your set of documents have been uploaded, the E-Filing Portal automatically sends you
a confirmation email setting out:
1) that the document set has been received and is pending review and approval or
rejection,
2) the date and time the document set was submitted,
3) the title and document type of each document submitted (other than the E-Filing
Form),
4) the proceeding to which the set relates, and
5) your firm’s client ID and file no. (if included in the E-Filing Form)
A copy of this email is also sent to Registry staff to alert them that there is a document set to
process for approval.
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Approval process
Registry staff logs in to the E-Filing Portal and reviews the documents submitted.

In the case of a new proceeding, Registry staff will first review the proceeding title and
type and assign a QB File No. (unless the documents are not acceptable for E-Filing). That
assigned number will automatically appear in all further actions and views on the E-Filing
Portal.

Registry staff then:
o Downloads the document set
o For each document (other than the E-Filing Form):

Completes any information to be completed by Registry staff,

Assigns a Doc No. to the document and stamps it in the upper right corner,

Stamps "Original Court Copy" at the bottom of each page,

Provides the assigned Judge with a stamped copy as their working copy,

Digitally signs and locks the document with the staff member’s Entrust
certificate (with a signature stamp "Filed in the Court of Queen’s Bench"),
and

Enters and attaches the document into the Court Registry System.
o Uploads the processed document set (other than the E-Filing Form and any
encrypted document(s)) back to the E-Filing Portal. The stamped and digitally
signed version of each document is an official Court copy and it replaces the version
submitted by the firm under the "Documents Recently Submitted" tab (on the main
E-Filing Portal menu) showing intake status from time to time .
o Clicks an "Approved" button, which:

records all applicable filing fees for the document set, and

sends an automatic confirmation email to the person who submitted the
document. This email has the same detail as the earlier email confirming
the submission of the documents, except that it confirms that the documents
have been approved and sets out the date and time of the approval.
Rejection Notice
At any time before or during the approval process, Registry staff may determine that one or more
of the documents are not acceptable for filing. The E-Filing Portal provides them with tools for
generating a customized rejection notice (in PDF format) specifying the document set or specified
document(s) being rejected and the reason(s) for the rejection.
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Registry staff upload the rejection notice to the E-Filing Portal and, when that occurs, an email is
automatically sent to the lawyer (and staff person) responsible for the document set. The email
contains a link to the rejection notice. A rejection notice fee may be recorded. Registry staff may
also enter and attach the rejection notice into the Court Registry System.
CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL
If requested or if a document (file) to be filed is confidential (such as where you are seeking a
sealing order) you will need to encrypt and digitally sign the file for the Registrar. As you will see
below, files can also be encrypted for a Judge and the Registrar, or could be encrypted for access
by other lawyers (who have an Entrust ID issued by LDRC). For filings where a sealing order is
being requested, such files should be encrypted for both the applicable Judge and the Registrar
unless a Judge orders otherwise.
With the LDRC Entrust system installed on your computer, to encrypt the file you will choose the
file you wish to encrypt, right-click on the file and choose encrypt and digitally sign file from the
menu. An encrypt and sign wizard will appear as shown below:
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Click next, leave the default selections, and place a check mark in the encrypt files for others in
addition to myself check box.
Click next, and the additional recipient’s box will appear. In the search box enter the name of the
person you are encrypting for (in this instance we are encrypting for the "QB Registry" account as
requested by the Registrar).
QB Registry
[email protected]
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Click on (and highlight) the users name and click next. You will be prompted to enter your Entrust
password (if you are not already logged in) and the file will be encrypted and saved into the same
folder where the original file was stored.
Click Finish. You will have a new file with the extension ".p7m". This is the encrypted file that
you will be uploading to the E-Filing Portal.
Documents that are encrypted for a Judge and for the Registrar (typically because the firm is
seeking a sealing order), are processed differently through the E-Filing Portal. On receipt, such
documents will be decrypted, processed, re-encrypted for the Judge, Registrar and filing counsel
and entered into the Court Registry System. Such files will also be uploaded back to the E-Filing
Portal in encrypted form so Counsel will have a copy of the official filing. Following review by
the Judge, if the document is ordered to be sealed as requested, it will be retained in encrypted
form on the Court Registry. If the Judge directs that the filing not be sealed, it will be decrypted
and stored on the Court Registry in that form, and if the filing is ordered to be expunged, it will be
removed from the Court Registry. .
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SCHEDULE "A"
AUTOMATIC BOOKMARKING WHEN
CONVERTING A WORD DOCUMENT TO ADOBE PDF
Summary
This is an example of how bookmarks are created automatically when you convert a Word file to an Adobe
PDF file. However, to do so automatically you must use heading levels correctly and you must indicate
that you want to create bookmarks using heading levels when you save your file as a PDF document.
The Screen Capture below shows what option to select when saving your Word document as a PDF so that
bookmarks are automatically created based on the headings in your Word document.
Conclusion
If you use heading levels correctly in Word, and set the option correctly in Word, when you convert your
document from Word to PDF, bookmarks will be created with the same name as the heading in the Word
document.
Screen Capture – Changing your Options While Saving as a PDF
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Screen Capture – The PDF file showing bookmarks in the bookmark panel
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SCHEDULE "B"
PDF BOOKMARK ZOOM SETTING
A PDF bookmark has the following properties:

Appearance
o Style
o Color

Actions, typically
o Go to Page x in this document
o Apply zoom level: xxxxxxx
If PDF bookmarks are created by converting a document from MS Word to PDF from within
Word, and choosing to create bookmarks from headings, the Zoom Level is automatically set at
"Inherit Zoom" for Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat viewing.
That is the preferred setting for the Judges. It means that a Judge’s zoom setting will not change
when clicking on a bookmark. It is quite an annoyance for any user if, every time a bookmark is
clicked, the zoom setting changes.
Problem:
When a bookmark is created in Acrobat, the bookmark’s zoom level setting is fixed
at the zoom level used when the bookmark is created. This may be "FitPage", "FitWidth",
"Custom". This means that, when the Judge clicks on the bookmark, its zoom level setting will be
applied to the Judge’s view and remains at that setting until the Judge changes it or clicks another
bookmark that has a different zoom level setting. A filed document containing multiple scanned
images, like an Affidavit with many separately scanned exhibits, can therefore jump from a full
screen view for the main text to, say, 75% for the first exhibit, 12% for the second exhibit, 35%
for the third exhibit, 60% for the fourth exhibit, 45% for the fifth exhibit, and so on.
Solution:
After creating a bookmark, change its zoom level setting as follows:

Right-click with the mouse cursor over the bookmark

Click "Properties"

Click the "Actions" tab

Click the "Edit" button to edit the action

Select "Inherit Zoom" from the Zoom drop-down list

Click OK

Click OK once more
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The following graphic shows the two dialog boxes that appear during this exercise:

"Bookmark Properties" appears when you right-click a bookmark and choose Properties

"Go to a page …" appears when you click the Actions tab and the Edit button.
This solution involves numerous mouse actions to change the setting for each bookmark. Acrobat
has no built-in function to change the zoom property of all the bookmarks at once.
LDRC Easier Solution:
To minimize the "Inherit Zoom" workload in PDF document preparation, LDRC has developed a
script (JavaScript) that can be installed on your computer (in the JavaScripts folder for Adobe
Acrobat) that provides you with a customized tool (accessible by a bookmarks icon on your
toolbar) to change the zoom level setting for all the bookmarks at once. This tool will be made
available on the LDRC website along with a detailed description of what it does and instructions
for installing and using it.
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
E-FILING DOCUMENTS A JUDGE WILL SEE ......................................................................... 2
DOCUMENT CONVERSION TO PDF FROM AN ELECTRONIC SOURCE ........................... 3
Originating Documents ............................................................................................................... 3
CASE LAW .................................................................................................................................... 4
BOOKMARKING AND HYPERLINKING .................................................................................. 4
DOCUMENT CONVERSION FROM HARD COPY ................................................................... 4
STEPS TO E-FILING – E-Filing Form .......................................................................................... 5
DOCUMENT RETENTION .......................................................................................................... 6
LDRC’s E-FILING PORTAL......................................................................................................... 6
SUBMITTING DOCUMENTS ...................................................................................................... 8
1
Initiate a New Proceeding .................................................................................................... 8
2
Existing Proceeding: First Filing by Your Firm ................................................................ 11
3
Existing Proceeding: Additional Filing ............................................................................. 12
Confirmation of submitted documents...................................................................................... 12
Approval process ...................................................................................................................... 13
Rejection Notice........................................................................................................................ 13
CONFIDENTIAL MATERIAL.................................................................................................... 14
SCHEDULE "A" AUTOMATIC BOOKMARKING WHEN CONVERTING A WORD
DOCUMENT TO ADOBE PDF .................................................................................................. 17
SCHEDULE "B" PDF BOOKMARK ZOOM SETTING ............................................................ 19
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