How to cite an ECF docket entry (ECF No., PageID)
You're citing something filed on the court's electronic docket: a complaint, a motion, an exhibit, a hearing transcript. Where does "ECF No." go? Which page do you pinpoint when the filing system stamps its own page number across the top? And why do some courts want "PageID" instead?
If your district or circuit prescribes its own form, reply below with the rule.
The team’s answer
Short answer. Give a short title for the document, the pinpoint, then "ECF No." and the entry number: Am. Compl. ¶¶ 88–107, ECF No. 94. For the pinpoint, use the author's own page number; the stamped header page is for courts whose rules ask for it. Some courts set their own form (PageID, R. Doc., document number), and in those courts the rule controls.
The usual form [Convention]
Title, pinpoint, entry number.
Two or more entries take "ECF Nos.": See ECF Nos. 451, 452.
For an attachment, add its own number after a hyphen: ECF No. [entry]-[attachment].
A filing from a different case also takes that case's name, docket number, court and filing date:
Compl. ¶ [paragraph], [Case name], No. [docket number] ([court] [month day, year]), ECF No. [entry].
The court-documents examples page linked below fills it in with the complaint in the Google search case, checked against the filed document.
[House style] Our form puts the pinpoint before the ECF number.
Reading the header [Convention]
A federal court's electronic filing system adds a header to the pages of a filed document. This one is from the first page of the liability opinion in the Google search case:
Case 1:20-cv-03010-APM Document 1033 Filed 08/05/24 Page 1 of 286
"Document 1033" is the entry you cite as ECF No. 1033. "Filed 08/05/24" is the date to use when you cite the opinion from another case. "Page 1 of 286" counts every page of the filed PDF from the first, so it need not match the author's numbering. Pinpoint the author's page; switch to the stamp only where a rule calls for it.
Courts with their own form [Jurisdiction-specific]
Sixth Circuit, appeals from district courts: the brief gives the "Page ID #" printed in the header or footer of the original record pages, along with a brief title and the record entry number. The addendum describes each relevant district court document, with its docket entry number and the Page ID # range of the relevant pages. 6 Cir. R. 28(a)(1), 30(g).
E.D. Mich.: a filing user referring to part of the record already filed uses its PageID. One page: PageID.234. A run of pages: PageID.234-235. Scattered pages: PageID.234, 238, 245. For the record of a different case in the district, the 13-character case number goes first: 1:19-cv-59999 PageID.234. Pro se litigants are exempt. R6, E.D. Mich. Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures.
Eighth Circuit: R. Doc. 12, at 3 (record, document number, page), and both sources when the document is also in the appendix: App. 25; R. Doc. 20, at 3. 8th Cir. R. 28A(j).
Eleventh Circuit: document number and page. Naming the document is optional, and the brief must say which format it uses. 11th Cir. R. 28-5.
Common mistakes
Writing "ECF No." in a court whose rule sets another form.
Mixing header pages and printed pages in one brief, so the reader can't tell which system a number belongs to.
Citing the main entry when the page you mean is in one of its attachments.
Read more
The Court Documents chapter (its opening is free to read): https://citationcode.com/book/court-documents (opens in a new tab)
Real court-document citations, each checked against its source: https://citationcode.com/examples/how-to-cite-court-documents (opens in a new tab)
Each federal rule we track, with a link to its official text and the date we last checked it: https://citationcode.com/court-rules/federal (opens in a new tab)