To make referring to documents easier, it is common to assign a unique prefixed number to each document. For example the Applicant's Statement of Case might contain a list of key documents numbered from A1 to A24. The witness statement of John James Smith might exhibit documents marked JJS12 to JJS15.
You may come across a situation where a prefixed number is used to refer to a group of documents rather than to a single document - e.g. JJS12 - Green & Co Invoices - various dates. In general this is not good practice but if this has been done you need to decide the best way, going forward, of referring to the individual documents.
For example, a witness statement may be accompanied by a PDF with a reference of JJS12 and instead of containing a single document it might contain three separate invoices - one 2-page invoice dated 1 May 2015, followed by a single page invoice dated 15 Jun 2015, followed by a 3-page invoice dated 30 Sep 2015.
The witness may refer to each invoice in their witness statement quoting both the exhibit mark but not quoting any page number within the exhibit (so that the reader has to look through the exhibit to find each invoice referred to) - e.g.
The first invoice I received was dated 1 May 2015. The next month I received an invoice dated 15 June 2015. I refer to a collection of invoices marked JJS12...
You will need to extract the individual documents from the PDF so that a copy of each invoice is in its own PDF and you need to then use a new reference for each of those three PDFs which incorporates the information from the original reference with a suffix, so that you can match each PDF to the mention of it in the witness statement.
Document Reference
Green & Co Invoice 1 May 2015 JJS12a
Green & Co Invoice 15 Jun 2015 JJS12b
Green & Co Invoice 30 Sep 2015 JJS12c
For example, a witness statement may be accompanied by a PDF with a reference of JJS12 and instead of containing a single document it might contain three separate invoices - one 2-page invoice dated 1 May 2015, followed by a single page invoice dated 15 Jun 2015, followed by a 3-page invoice dated 30 Sep 2015 - but the witness may then refer to each invoice in their witness statement quoting both the exhibit mark and a page number - e.g.
The first invoice I received was dated 1 May 2015. I refer to a paginated collection of invoices marked JJS12 - this invoice is on page 1. The next month I received an invoice dated 15 June 2015. A copy if this invoice is on page 3 of exhibit JJS12...
In this case you will need to extract the individual documents from the PDF so that a copy of each invoice is in its own PDF and you need to then use a new reference for each of those three PDFs which incorporates the information from the original reference, including the original quoted page numbers, so that you can match each PDF to the mention of it in the witness statement.
Document Reference
Green & Co Invoice 1 May 2015 JJS12a1
Green & Co Invoice 15 Jun 2015 JJS12b3
Green & Co Invoice 30 Sep 2015 JJS12c4
You give each invoice a unique identifier by suffixing the original exhibit mark with a lower case letter (e.g. JJS12a, JJS12b, JJS12c, etc.) which can be used in future, but the unique identifier is further suffixed with the original page numbering and so allows each invoice to be matched to the page number reference used in the witness statement.
If the original multi-document PDF has a bookmark for each document within it then you can use PDF software to create individual PDFs for each document incorporating in the filenames of the new PDFs the bookmark name and the new reference. For example if you are using PDF X-Change Editor with the example above you can use the following procedure:
Choose Bookmarks - Add text and, in the panel, enter in the Add Prefix box JJS12%[SeqNum:c]%[Page] and tap OK.
Choose Organise - Split Document and, in the panel, select a Splitting Method of By using Bookmarks and tap OK.
If the original multi-document PDF does not have bookmarks for each document within it then you can use the following procedure to split into individual PDFs for each document incorporating in the filenames of the new PDFs the new reference.
Make a copy of, or print out, the original multi-document PDF.
Open the original multi-document PDF and choose Organise - Extract so that the panel opens.
Go through each page of the copy or printout noting the start and end pages of each document within it and type these into the Custom field of the panel.
In the Filename box type %[Page] then tap OK to create a new PDF for each document.
Choose Convert - from files - Combine files into a single PDF and, in the panel, Add the new PDFs and in Options tick add root bookmark with filename. Tap OK OK.
This will create a PDF containing all the documents with each one having a bookmark containing just the page number. Go through each bookmark and add a description of the bookmarked document immediately after the page number.
Choose Bookmarks - Add text and, in the panel, enter in the Add Prefix box JJS12%[SeqNum:c] and tap OK.
Choose Organise - Split Document and, in the panel, select a Splitting Method of By using Bookmarks and tap OK.
This information page is designed to be used only by clients of John Antell who have entered into an agreement for the provision of legal services. The information in it is necessarily of a general nature and will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used only in conjunction with more specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. This information page should not be used by, or relied on, by anyone else.
The information on this page about specific computer techniques is provided for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable.
This page was lasted updated in March 2025. Disclaimer