HyperCite® User Guide: Everything you need to format, hyperlink, and fact-check your appellate filings.
New to HyperCite®?
HyperCite® automatically converts the textual citations in your filing into hyperlinks to documents in the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two docket — the Record on Appeal (ROA), transcripts, briefs, motions, orders, petitions, and more. Most users create a fully hyperlinked filing in three steps.
Upload your PDF
Drop in your brief, motion, or other parent document.
Enter your case number
For example, 2 CA-CV 2019-0109.
Process & download
Get your hyperlinked PDF back in seconds.
Two services, not an either/or
HyperCiting (hyperlinking) is free and the Court requires hyperlinks — our software turns every citation in your filing into a live link to the ROA and transcripts. AI Fact-Checkingis an optional, usage-based add-on ($1 = 1 credit) that checks each cited statement against the record. You don't have to pick one or the other — hyperlink your document, then fact-check whenever you're ready.
When you can fact-check
At upload — on Hyperlink & Fact Check, click Hyperlink Only to just create the links, or Hyperlink & Fact Check to hyperlink, review the cost and fact-check in one pass.
Right after hyperlinking — if you chose Hyperlink Only, the results screen lets you download the hyperlinked PDF or start over, and you can send that PDF to Fact-Check at any time (below). It's never a dead end.
Anytime later — already have a HyperCited file? OnHyperlink & Fact Check, choose Fact-check that PDF without hyperlinking again, upload it with its case number and fact-check it directly, with no need to re-hyperlink.
Where to next?
Start here: how to write your citations so HyperCite can link every one of them.
The fact-check path: run a check and read the accuracy-marked report against the record.
Hyper(Cite) is designed to recognize and hyperlink citation formats attorneys most commonly employ in Division 2. Although Hyper(Cite) supports citation variations that vary from those detailed in this guide, following the conventions in this guide will produce the most reliable and consistent results.
Most users only need these three rules
Cite ROA documents normally
Include dates for Court of Appeals documents
Separate sources with semicolons
If the examples above match how you already cite, you're ready to use HyperCite®. The rest of this guide covers additional formats and less common situations.
Note: Page references — ep means electronic page, the page within the docket PDF. You'll see it throughout the examples below, e.g. ROA 1 ep 1-2, 15.
Use COA-Id. for subsequent references to Court of Appeals documents.
RT 10/02/2018 ep 28-31.
Then the repeat reference becomes:
COA-Id. ep 32-33.
Continue to employ Id. for repeat citations to cases, statutes, rules, and other authorities outside the docket.
When COA-Id. follows a string, it links to the last Court of Appeals document in that string.
A following COA-Id. links to ROA 94 — the final docket source.
ROA (Record on Appeal)
String citations
When citing multiple sources in one citation, separate each with a semicolon.
Briefs
| Document | Acronyms | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Brief | OB · O.B. · Open. Br. | OB 03/10/2020 ep 10 |
| Answering Brief | AB · A.B. · Ans. Br. | AB 04/15/2020 ep 22 |
| Reply Brief | RB · R.B. · Rep. Br. | RB 05/30/2020 ep 15 |
| Opening Brief on Cross Appeal | XOB · X.O.B. | |
| Answering Brief on Cross Appeal | XAB · X.A.B. | |
| Reply Brief on Cross Appeal | XRB · X.R.B. | |
| Combined Answering / Cross Opening Brief | XAAB · AOBA | |
| Anders Brief | Anders Br. |
Supplemental briefs add the prefix Suppl. (e.g. Suppl. OB).
Amended briefs add the prefix Am. (e.g. Am. RB).
Transcripts
Use the hearing date — never the filing date.
Common motions & petitions
| Document | Acronym |
|---|---|
| Motion for Extension Request | Extn. Req. |
| Motion for Reconsideration | Mot. to Recons. |
| Response to Motion for Reconsideration | Resp. Mot. to Recons. |
| Motion to Expand Record | Mot. to Exp. Reco. |
| Petition for Review | Pet. for Review |
| Response to Petition for Review | Resp. to Pet. for Review |
All motion and petition citations should include the filing date, e.g. Extn. Req. 03/10/2020 ep 2.
Documents without a standard acronym
Cite by Type + Date or Subtype + Date. The text must match the docket exactly.
Reading the docket
If you're new to the Arizona Court of Appeals docket, these examples show where each piece of a citation comes from.
- ROA citations use ROA numbers
- Court of Appeals documents include dates
- Different sources separated with semicolons
- COA-Id. used for repeat docket references
- Transcript citations use hearing dates
- Type/Subtype matches the docket text exactly
Then: upload your PDF, enter your case number, download, review the hyperlinks, and file with confidence.
No links were created at all
If HyperCite returns your document with no hyperlinks, one of four things is usually the cause.
Your PDF wasn't OCR'd
Most common when a document is scanned by hand rather than saved or exported from a word processor. Quick test: press Ctrl-F and search for a word you know is in the document — if it isn't found, the file hasn't been OCR'd.
Remedy: OCR your parent document in a PDF program, then run HyperCite again.
The case number is wrong or misformatted
Remedy: Re-enter the case number and run HyperCite again.
The Court's system is down
Remedy: HyperCite can't operate while the Court's system is in maintenance or outage. Wait for it to come back; check our homepage for notices.
HyperCite is down for maintenance
Remedy: Check our homepage for a notice. If none is posted and you believe the system is down, let us know via Contact Us and wait for restore.
Some citations linked, but a few were missed
Most often, a missed citation simply wasn't written the way the Court requires and HyperCite recognizes (see the three rules at the top of this guide). You have a few options:
- Fix the citation in your word processor, re-save or re-export to PDF, and run HyperCite again — and note what was off so you write it right next time.
- Manually link just the missed citation in your word processor (see the Court's hyperlinking guide), re-export, and run again.
- Manually link just the missed citation in the final PDF with PDF-XChange (free) or Adobe Pro (paid).
A link points to the wrong document
Check the citation's acronym, date, and electronic page number. For transcripts, confirm you used the hearing date, not the filing date. For documents without a standard acronym, make sure the Type/Subtype matches the docket text exactly.
Checking your brief against the record
You can start an AI Fact-Check three ways — each shown step by step in Getting Started:
- Choose Hyperlink & Fact Check when you upload your brief.
- Run Hyperlink Only first, then fact-check the hyperlinked PDF later.
- Already have a HyperCited file? On Hyperlink & Fact Check, choose Fact-check that PDF without hyperlinking again and upload it — no need to re-hyperlink.
Fact-checking reviews each citation and gives it a color-coded grade plus a detailed citation error explanation.
When you choose Fact-Check, HyperCite first analyzes your document and tells you how many citations it found and how many credits the check will cost — so you approve the cost before anything runs.
If you need more credits, simply go to the Pricing page and purchase enough credits to analyze your brief, or subscribe to one of our bulk plans.
How results are marked
Every checked citation is graded with a simple, intuitive color.
Good to go —
supported by the record
Problematic —
needs further investigation
Not supported —
in the cited document
Online, side-by-side
Once analyzed, we return an on-line tool: your brief sits beside the cited record. Click any citation to jump to the exact page and highlighted text in the source, and hover over a citation to see our reasoning. Any citation to an external case that can't be found — including hallucinated cites — is called out at the top.
Marked-up hyperlinked PDF
Prefer a file? Download a marked-up PDF. Clicking a link fetches the relevant file from the ROA; clicking the text brings up the relevant page from the attached error report.
Downloadable error report
The error report opens with a detailed summary — total analyzed citations and a breakdown of findings by color — then details every finding: the claim in the parent text, the references in the cited documents, and the reasoning behind the analysis.
If you disagree with a finding
HyperCite flags citations for your review — it never changes your brief. Every finding includes our reasoning and links to the exact portion of the record we relied on. Open it, compare, and apply your own judgment; the final call is always yours. A flag isn't the final word — it's simply a second set of eyes on every cite, so the brief you file is as strong and accurate as possible.
If the check didn't run
- No findings came back — fact-checking runs on linked citations, so confirm hyperlinking succeeded first (see the troubleshooting in Citation & Hyperlinking).
- Out of credits, or payment didn't go through — top up on the Pricing page; $1 = 1 credit.