When uploading to Case Center, your documents should be ordered in a way that is consistent with the sequence of documents outlined in any practice directions of the Court. The Superior Court of Justice’s practice directions can be found here: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/filing-procedures/provincial/

When uploading more than one document at the same time, you can control the order in which those documents appear in Case Center by using your cursor to drag the documents into the appropriate order in the “Select Files” box. This will allow Case Center to upload the documents in that order. It is recommended to number your documents so that they are better organized for review. If you upload a new document later (e.g., during the hearing), you will want to add it at the end of your list so that it does not change the order and page numbers that have been assigned to documents that were previously uploaded.

Below is an example of how a respondent in an appeal may name their documents in Case Center:

1. Factum – Respondent Smith – 01-JAN-2021
2. Responding Record — Respondent Smith – 01-JAN-2021
3. Oral Argument Compendium – Respondent Smith – 01-JAN-2021
4. Transcript Brief – Respondent Smith – 01-JAN-2021
5. Exhibit Book – Respondent Smith – 01-JAN-2021
6. Financial Statement 13.1 – Applicant Smith – 01-JAN-2021

For uploading subsequent documents: you can control the order in which your documents appear in Case Center by using the insert feature. This feature will allow you to upload documents that need to be re-ordered within a section where there are prior documents, without affecting the original Case Center page number applied to the previously uploaded documents. The insert feature should be used any time you are uploading a document that should appear between other documents within your section. (For example, to get your Factum to appear as the first document if it has been uploaded after your motion record). Any pre-existing hyperlinks in your Case Center documents will not be affected.

To use the “insert” function:

• Upload the document you wish to appear between previously uploaded documents.
• Select “Sections” in your case.
• Ensure you have selected the correct bundle.
• After you have uploaded the document(s), select the “Update all Documents” button next to the section in which you’ve uploaded your documents.
• The numbers in the “Document Number” column should reflect the order you want your documents to appear. Change the number of your last uploaded document so that it will appear where you want in the list. (i.e., if the document uploaded is listed as 0014 and it should be placed with document number 0005 (or after 0004), then change 0014 to 0005).
• Select the “Inserted” checkbox.
• Case Center will insert the document between the documents indicated in the order, without impacting the page numbers of the previously uploaded documents.

NOTE:  Case Center will insert the document either before or after the existing document.  The placement of the document will depend on the name of the document you are inserting. If the document you have inserted has been given the same document number as a previous document (for example, two documents have document number 0005), the order of these two documents will be sorted in alphabetical order.

Using the example above, if the name of Document Number 0005 is Case Conference Brief 17A – Applicant – Smith – 01-JAN-2-21 and you want to insert a document named Affidavit of Service 6B – Applicant – Smith – 06-JAN-2021, the inserted document will appear above the existing document (because the name of the document starts with “A”).

Similarly, if you were to insert a document named Financial Statement 13 – Applicant – Smith – 01-JAN-2021, the inserted document will appear below the existing document (because the name of the document starts with the letter “F” while the existing document start with the letter “C”).

EXCEPTION:  Inserted documents that start with a number rather than a letter will be placed in numerical sequence above any document that starts with a letter.

For example, if you intend on inserting a document that will appear before an existing document, you may choose to add “1” or “01”, as the case may be, so that the inserted document is prioritized above others.

Select the Review button to view the index and location of your document.  Case Center will automatically paginate the new upload and add an “a” (or b, c, d, etc.)  to indicate it was inserted (e.g., A7a, or, B17a).

For more information on the “insert” function and updating documents, you can access the following resource here: https://answers.legalprof.thomsonreuters.com/casecenter_canada/cc_howtoupdatedocume?x=rkCxT9&pflpid=6288&pflpid=6289

If you are applying your own page numbers in your document creating software, do not use the top or bottom right corner for your pagination. Case Center will use the top and bottom right of the page to apply its autogenerated page number. The presiding judicial official will rely on the Case Center -generated page numbers when reviewing and referring to your document, so it is important that these page numbers are easily visible. If you wish to add your own page numbers to your documents, ensure you place them at the top left or centre of your page.

Case Center will always retain hyperlinks after upload and will retain bookmarks after upload as well, providing that you have formatted your documents appropriately. There are a number of ways to apply bookmarks and hyperlinks to documents uploaded into Case Center, depending on if you prefer to format your documents outside of Case Center, or using the Case Center platform.

Internal hyperlinks (bookmarks) pointing to a place within the same document will remain active after the document is uploaded to Case Center. For example, a table of contents in an abbreviated book of authorities can be linked to each of the authorities within. Use the bookmarking function in your word processing software.

Hyperlinks in documents that point to external websites will remain active after the document is uploaded to Case Center (e.g., linking a factum to caselaw on www.canlii.org). Use the hyperlinking function in your word processing software

When you have multiple documents that you’d like to provide links between, there are three processes you can choose to ensure the links between these documents are available in Case Center, depending on how you’d like to prepare your documents.  

There are three methods to link documents to one another: 

1. Preparing documents outside of Case Center and uploading as a “bulk upload; 
2. Linking individual documents together through Case Center; 
3. Linking a document to a document in a different bundle.  

This is particularly important for linking affidavits to multiple exhibits. Exhibits must be displayed as separate documents in Case Center so that court staff can apply a unique electronic exhibit stamp to each one. 

(1) Preparing documents outside of Case Center and uploading them as a “bulk upload”

Following the procedure below, you can prepare your documents using your word processing software outside of Case Center so that links between them will remain active after uploading to Case Center. This procedure requires less time working in the Case Center platform, as all the formatting is done using your word processing software.

We will use the example of linking a factum to a trial record. Follow these steps:

1. Save your factum and trial record as one document in your word processing software.
2. Create a bookmark or heading for each document in the trial record that will be linked from the factum. Name the bookmark by using the Standard Document Naming Protocol as referenced in the applicable Provincial Practice Directions. (e.g., Statement of Defence – Defendant — Loblaws Inc. — 13-MAR-2023).

To apply first level bookmarks in Adobe:

1. Select the area in the PDF file that will serve as the destination for the new bookmark.
2. Click on the “Add Bookmark” button.
3. The new bookmark will either be named “Untitled” or will contain the text that you selected.
4. Ensure this bookmark is a top-level bookmark.
5. Use “Rename Bookmark” so the title of the bookmark is consistent with the Court’s naming protocol referenced above. Case Center will use the title of the bookmark as the document title after upload.

See the following video for a demonstration of this process:

To apply Heading 1 bookmarks in MS Word:

1. Type the name of the document using the Court’s naming and numbering protocol referenced above. Case Center will use the title of the bookmark as the document title after upload.
2. In the “Home” tab, find the “Styles” feature.
3. Select “Heading 1“.
4. The name of your document will be formatted as a heading. This will enable Case Center to recognize what is under the heading as a distinct document and separate it after upload. You can make the heading invisible by changing the font colour to white.
5. You can use the “Acrobat” tab to convert your Word document into a PDF. Converting your document from Word format to a PDF will retain the first level bookmarks you applied and the links you created between documents.

See the following video for a demonstration of this process:

3. Add links from the factum to each place in the trial record you wish to link.
4. Find your case in Case Center and select Update Case.
5. Select Upload to upload your documents. For this process, use the “Upload bookmarked PDF into a single section” option. (This process can sometimes take several hours for the documents to appear in Case Center.)
6. View the list of documents in Case Center and see that the bookmarks/headings that you applied in the trial record have been created as separate documents. All the links you applied from the factum to the trial record will be retained, even though the documents have been separated by Case Center.

(2) Uploading documents individually and linking them through Case Center

If you prefer to upload your documents to Case Center individually, you can follow the procedure below to create hyperlinks between your documents within Case Center. This process requires working in the Case Center platform after uploading your documents.

We will use the example of linking exhibits to an affidavit. Follow these steps:

1. Save your exhibits and affidavit using the Standard Document Naming Protocol as referenced in the applicable Provincial Practice Directions as the title of your documents (e.g., Statement of Defence – Defendant — Loblaws Inc. — 13-MAR-2023).
2. Find your case in Case Center and select Update Case.
3. Select Upload to upload your documents. For this process, use the “Upload File(s)” option.
4. Once your documents have been uploaded, select Index.
5. Find the document you wish to add the hyperlink to and select View. For example, if I would like to link my exhibits to my affidavit, I would select my affidavit from the list.
6. Select the page of your document that you wish to add the hyperlink to using the dropdown menu.
7. Select Hyperlink button at the top of the screen.
8. Use your mouse to select where on the page you would like to apply a link. A pop-up window should appear asking you to confirm you want to add a hyperlink.
9. A new “Edit Hyperlink” pop-up will appear. Ensure the “Hyperlink Type” is set to “Document Page” (this will be selected by default).
10. Enter something in the “Description” field. For example, if you’re linking an exhibit, type “Exhibit A”.
11. In the “Section” dropdown menu, select which section the document you want to hyperlink to has been uploaded into. For example, if I am the applicant and have uploaded all of my documents into this section, I would select “Applicant Documents.”
12. Use the “Document” dropdown menu to select the document you would like to link to. For this example of linking an exhibit to an affidavit, that would be “Exhibit A” document.
13. Select Save. You will now see a purple “H” on the screen. You can move this using your cursor to ensure the link is not covering any words in your document.
14. When you access this page of your document through the Review screen, the hyperlink will now appear.

Tip — You may want to add a new hyperlink to the document that you just linked so that the judge can easily navigate back to the originating document. For example, if I have linked “Exhibit A” to my affidavit, I may want to add a hyperlink to the affidavit in my Exhibit A document so that the judge can easily navigate between both pages.

(3) Linking a document to a document in a different bundle

Each time an appearance is scheduled with the Court, a new bundle is setup in Case Center for documents pertaining to that appearance. You may have a document you wish to upload to the event bundle that contains a link to another document that was previously uploaded into a different bundle (such as the Pleadings or Orders and Endorsements bundle).

To hyperlink a document to a document that has been previously uploaded into a different bundle:

1. Find your case in Case Center and select Review.
2. Find the document you wish to hyperlink.
3. Select View.
4. Select Copy Link.
5. A green box will appear alerting you that a link has been copied to your computer’s “clipboard”.
6. Using your word processing software, find the option to add a link.
   1. In Microsoft Word, this can be accomplished by highlighting the text you want to link with your mouse, right clicking, and selecting Link from the menu. This will open a pop-up that will allow you to paste the link you copied from Case Center.
   2. In Adobe, this can be accomplished by highlighting the text you want to link with your mouse, right clicking, and selecting Create Link from the menu. This will open a pop-up with options. Ensure the “Open a new webpage” option is selected, then press Next. A new pop-up will appear allowing you to paste the link you copied from Case Center.
7. The link will be applied to the document and Case Center will retain this link after the document has been uploaded.

Once you have prepared and formatted your documents appropriately, they will be ready to be uploaded to Case Center and receive their Case Center-generated page numbers. Case Center organizes uploaded documents by bundle (the court event) and by section (the party who is uploading the document). You must abide by page limits set out in the rules of court, practice directions and Notices to the Profession.

It is important to ensure your documents are titled consistent with the Court’s Standard Document Naming Protocol as referenced in the applicable Provincial Practice Directions. This will make sure that the documents are clearly labelled in the system. Prior to upload, you should ensure that your materials are not password protected and that the material you are uploading is not subject to a sealing order.

To upload your documents to Case Center:

1. Locate the case (found on your “View Case List” screen).
2. Select the Update Case button.
3. Select the “Upload” tab found in the case file.
4. Ensure the bundle selected is the correct bundle you want to upload your specific document into (either the event bundle, the Pleadings bundle, or the Orders and Endorsements bundle). If the incorrect bundle is selected, select “Select Bundle” and choose the appropriate one from the dropdown list.
5. In the “Select Section” field, ensure you select the appropriate section to upload your documents.
   1. Select “Upload File(s)” if you are uploading your documents individually.

   Tip — When uploading a document to Case Center using the “Upload File(s)” function, you must ensure the document is under 500 pages in length. Individual documents that are longer than 500 pages may freeze while scrolling during your hearing. As such, if a document such as a book of authorities is longer than 500 pages, it should be broken down into Book of Authorities Vol. 1 — Respondent Smith — 01-JAN-2021, Book of Authorities Vol. 2 — Respondent Smith — 01-JAN-2021, etc. to remain under the maximum number of pages.

   2. Select “Upload bookmarked PDF into a single section” if you are uploading documents that are linked to other documents also being uploaded if you have formatted them as a bulk upload.
6. Once you select the appropriate upload option, you can either:
   1. Select your documents from your computer and drag them into the box. Or,
   2. Select “Add Files” and select the files you want to add.
   3. You can add multiple documents by selecting or dragging all the documents you wish to upload into the box. Tip — Ifyou are using the “Upload File(s)” option, you will see each of your documents listed individually. You must ensure these documents are in the appropriate order in the “Select Files” box before you upload them. Case Center will upload the documents in the order that they appear in the list. You can change the order of the documents by using your cursor and dragging them into the correct order.
7. Select “Start Upload“. Case Center will perform a virus scan on the document prior to accepting it for upload in the system. Depending on the size of your file, it may take a moment for your documents to appear in the case in Case Center.

For hearings or conferences in civil and Divisional Court matters, in accordance with rule 4.05.3(3) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, each party must upload to Case Center a compendium containing key materials that will be referred to in oral argument (e.g., fair extracts of documents, transcripts, previous orders, caselaw, etc.). The compendium must include only those materials that will be referred to in argument, giving careful consideration to what can be covered during the allotted hearing time and the pace at which documents and caselaw can reasonably be reviewed. The compendium must have a table of contents hyperlinked to the sections within it and hyperlinks to the specific paragraphs in of caselaw.

For other matters, after uploading your documents into Case Center, you may assist the court by creating a document containing an index of the documents that you will be relying on at the hearing with the Case Center-generated document and page numbers clearly indicated (e.g., A13). If you upload this document onto Case Center in advance of the hearing, the judicial official can refer to it when preparing for the event. Other features in Case Center, such as searching, notetaking, and document sharing, all use the Case Center-generated page numbering, so it is useful to get comfortable with these Case Center-generated page numbers. You will be required to refer to the Case Center-generated page number during your hearing.

When creating your index, it is important to ensure that your document does not include links that lead to an external website or document hosting platform that the presiding judge will not have access to.

Case Center will support the upload of videos directly into the platform MPG and MP4 are the best video file formats but other common formats will also upload and play. Case Center has its own video player so the file can be played directly through Case Center without downloading. The maximum size of a video file that Case Center will accept is 2 gigabytes.

To upload a video to Case Center:

1. Locate the case (found on your “View Case List” screen).
2. Select the Update Case
3. Select the “Upload” tab found in the case file.
4. Ensure the bundle selected is the correct bundle you want to upload your specific document into. If the incorrect bundle is selected, select “Select Bundle” and choose the appropriate one from the dropdown list.
5. In the “Select Section” field, ensure you select the appropriate section to upload your video.
6. Select “Upload File(s)”.
7. You can either:
   1. Drag the video from your computer into the box. Or,
   2. Select “Add Files” and select the video you wish to upload.
   3. You can add multiple videos by selecting or dragging all the documents you wish to upload into the box.
8. Select “Start Upload”. Case Center will perform a virus scan on the video prior to accepting it for upload in the system. Depending on the size of your file, it may take a moment for your video to appear in the case in Case Center.

Your case will have a separate Orders and Endorsements bundle that you are provided access to. This allows the judicial official to see the order history rather than having to search through each event bundle (folder). Parties are asked to upload copies of orders and endorsements into this bundle if they have not already been uploaded so that they can be accessed for upcoming events. This should include any order that remains in effect as well as any relevant endorsements, including endorsements that were made before electronic files were available to the Court.

Orders and endorsements must be uploaded following a different naming protocol. The order or endorsement must be clearly identified, such as:

1. Order – Motion for Leave to Appeal – Justice XYZ – 10-DEC-2021
2. Endorsement – Pre-trial – Justice ABC – 04-MAR-2022

It is important that the date field follows the above format, or the document will display the date of the upload rather than the date it was signed. Please ensure you add a number to the order or endorsement so that they will be organized in chronological order.

Prior to each hearing, parties are to upload into the hearing sub-bundle a completed Participant Information form. Where possible, the moving party for the event is asked to coordinate with other parties to complete one form for the hearing.

In criminal matters, each party may upload their own form. The participant information form must also be saved using the court’s document naming convention (e.g., Participant Information – All Parties – 01-JUN-2021 or Participant Information – Applicant Smith – 01-JUN-2021).

Judicial officials can download and amend draft orders or other documents to help prepare their orders. You should therefore include draft orders with your materials so the judicial official can access it directly through Case Center. You can also upload documents with fillable fields, such as the Trial Management Plan under Rule 76. Draft orders and forms with fillable fields should be uploaded in Word format so that the judicial official can easily access and provide the appropriate authorization on it.

Important: Make sure you remove any “Protect Document” permissions from your Word document before you upload it to Case Center! Documents that uploaded with protection enabled can not be accessed properly by the judicial official.

To make edits to a document containing fillable fields, download the document from Case Center, edit it, and then upload it in place of the old document.

IMPORTANT – this does not apply to the Superior Court of Justice’s Pre-Trial Conference form for Criminal matters. For information pertaining to that specific fillable form, see Criminal Judicial Pre-Trials.