Checking a Prepared File Against Its Record

Every file ExhibitPrep delivers can be re-checked later: by you before filing, by a colleague a year on, or by the other side. Two things make that possible, and both are made on your device.

The verification record

From the Download Center, File verification details → Download verification record (.json) saves a small file beside your download. It lists each delivered file, its page count and its SHA-256 (a fingerprint of the exact bytes), and, for a bundle, the fingerprint of the whole artifact. Keep it with the matter file. A record kept with the download is what makes a later check meaningful.

The keys inside each stamped PDF

Each stamped PDF carries seven entries in its document properties, written after ExhibitPrep removes the source file's own author, company and editing metadata:

• EPGenerator — ExhibitPrep.
• EPRecordVersion — the format of these keys.
• EPBuild — the ExhibitPrep build that prepared the file.
• EPPreparedAt — when it was prepared, from your device's clock.
• EPLabel — the exhibit label it carries.
• EPSourceSha256 — the fingerprint of the original file you added.
• EPSettingsFingerprint — a digest of the stamp settings used.

To read them: in Adobe Acrobat, open File → Properties → Custom; on the command line, exiftool file.pdf or pdfinfo -custom file.pdf. macOS Preview does not show custom properties. The output's own fingerprint is not among the keys: a file cannot contain its own hash, which is why the record exists.

Re-checking a file

Open Check a prepared file, drop the PDF (or the ZIP), and paste or drop the record. The page computes the fingerprint in your browser — the file is not uploaded — compares it with the record, and reads the keys. Matches means the file is byte-for-byte the one the record describes. Does not match means something changed after preparation: a re-save by another program (Acrobat's "Save" rewrites the file; flattening, redaction or e-filing systems often do too), a different version of the bundle, or the wrong record. "No preparation keys found" means the file may predate this feature or another tool rewrote its metadata; compare the fingerprint to the record instead.

Without the page: shasum -a 256 file.pdf on macOS or Linux, certutil -hashfile file.pdf SHA256 on Windows, then compare with the record.

What this is not

ExhibitPrep records how a file was prepared and lets you confirm later that a file is byte-for-byte the one it produced. It does not authenticate the underlying document, prove who created it, or establish that it is what it purports to be — that remains the proponent’s burden under the applicable evidence rules. It is not an electronic signature, not a timestamp from any authority (times come from the preparing device’s own clock), and not a certification by ExhibitPrep. A matching hash shows the file has not changed since the record was made; it cannot show that the record itself was kept safely, so keep the record with the matter file.

See Trust & security for how files are handled, and Export formats for what each download contains.