In an effort to increase document security, the Odyssey courts have made changes that has resulted in more submission failures. If you find the court rejects your filing within a minute or two of submission with a message along the lines of: “Court response of Failure, please contact support for assistance.” you will want to re-create your PDF.

Common Reasons for the Submission Failures

  • PDF Producers other than Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word
  • Page size larger than 8.5″ x 11″
  • A resolution higher than 300dpi
  • Use of unintelligible images
  • URLs, shortcuts or hyperlinks included in the filing
  • Fill-able boxes
  • Unsupported fonts like ZapfDingbats, Wingdings, Symbols
  • Password protection or Security on PDF documents
  • PDFs saved in the PDF/A format

PDF Producers Other Than Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word

While many attorneys create their legal documents using software other than Adobe or Microsoft, some courts are unable to process the PDFs using that alternative software. PDFs created with Corel products such as WordPerfect or PDF Fusion are the most notable programs these courts have issues with. If you use one of these incompatible programs, you might consider switching software. If that is not an option, you may email your PDF to support@efilinghelp.com to see if we are able to assist with that document. However, it should be noted that our conversion does not always work.

Page Size Larger Than 8.5″ x 11″

Sometimes there is a submission error because the document is too large. It’s important to note that this error does not have anything to to with the document’s file size in terms of megabytes. This rejection has to do with the one page (or all pages) of a PDF being larger than the required 8.5″ x 11″ format. When any page of a PDF is larger than 8.5″ x 11″, the court’s file stamp appears microscopic and illegible. Therefore, the system auto-rejects the submission.

Learn how to properly size your PDFs…

A Resolution Higher Than 300dpi

It is a best practice to scan all documents in black and white or grayscale and at 300dpi. Many courts will auto-reject a PDF if the resolution exceeds 300dpi. Please refer to your scanner’s user manual to correctly set the dpi.

Use of Unintelligible Images

This goes hand in hand with the previous two reasons. It’s best to scan all photos at 300dpi and in black and white (if your particular court/judge allows for that). They need to be legible and in an 8.5″ x 11″ format. So if your photo is wider than it is tall, you should rotate the image 90 degrees so it’s orientation is a portrait layout as opposed to a landscape one.

URLs, Shortcuts or Hyperlinks Included in the Filing

Many documents we see with this submission failure have an email that is a clickable link. This link and most other hyperlinks are incompatible with many of the Odyssey court systems. Remove any blue links you find in your PDF.

Fill-Able Boxes

If you have a PDF that was a fill-able form and you did not “flatten” it, you will want to do so and re-upload it to the e-filing system. Flattening a PDFs ensures the document can be viewed on all devices, and prevents others from manipulating or editing the information. It can also remove invisible meta data which is incompatible with many of the court’s e-Filing manager’s software.

Learn how to flatten PDFs…

Unsupported Fonts Like Zapfdingbats, Wingdings, Symbols

Fonts like zapfdingbats, wingdings, and symbols can also be incompatible with the court’s software. It is a best practice to stick with court-approved and court-used fonts. Please refer to your local rules for those they accept.

Password Protection or Security on PDF Documents

All PDFs uploaded to the system can not have any sort of password or security protection on them. Additionally, you can not submit a PDF under the PDF/A standard. Please remove all security restrictions on your document before uploading it.

Further Help

Tyler Technologies, the Electronic Filing Manager (EFM) of the Odyssey e-Filing System, has released two additional help articles for filers who continue to have issues regarding these rejections. While they focus on Illinois, they pertain to all Odyssey courts.