Step-by-step guide

The FRE 902 declaration, filled in and signed

ProofSnap can add a self-authentication declaration under Federal Rule of Evidence 902(13) (and, for certified files, 902(14)) to an evidence package for a US federal court. ProofSnap pre-fills every fact about the capture; you check the form, add your own details and sign a copy without breaking the package. This 2026 guide shows each step.

By Radim Motycka, Founder and Lead Engineer, ProofSnap Checked against the extension source and the official rule text

Plans

Every plan, no credit used

File in the package

rule_902_certification.pdf

You add

Your details and signature

Before you start

  • ProofSnap is installed and you are signed in. Install it here.
  • The evidence is meant for a US federal court. For any other court, leave the form off.
  • You know who will sign: a person who could testify to the facts in the form, including how the capture works.

Step 1

Switch on the FRE 902 form in the capture flow

Open the ProofSnap side panel. Under the blue Capture page snapshot button, click Court filing forms (optional) to open the group, then turn on US self-authentication certification (FRE 902). It is available on every plan and does not use a capture or a credit. It is off by default, and ProofSnap remembers your choice for future captures until you turn it off.

  1. 1ProofSnap icon. Opens the side panel next to the page.
  2. 2Court filing forms (optional). Opens collapsed every time. Click it to open the group.
  3. 3US self-authentication certification (FRE 902). The switch itself. The gray text under the switch sums up what it adds.
The capture options sit under the blue Capture page snapshot button. Side panel built from the extension's own interface; plan and numbers are examples.

Step 2 (files)

Or switch it on in the File Certifier

Certifying files rather than a web page? The same group sits in the File Certifier card, under the Certify File button. It works the same way: off by default, and your choice is remembered.

  1. 1Court filing forms (optional). Click to open the group.
  2. 2The switch. Same switch, same file. For files, the form identifies the certified files by their hash values.
  3. 3FRE 902 form on. When the group is closed, this note next to the title shows that the form will be added.

Group closed

File Certifier in the side panel. File name is an example.

Step 3

Capture or certify as usual

Nothing else changes. Capture the page or certify the files exactly as you always do. ProofSnap writes the form at the end, from the facts of this package, before it signs the manifest. That way the form is part of the package and is covered by the same hash values, signature and timestamps as every other file.

  1. 1Examiner name (optional). Whatever you type here is pre-filled as the declarant's name in the form. If you are the person who will sign, type your name exactly as you sign it, and leave your title out: the form has its own field for that.
  2. 2FRE 902 form on. Confirms the form will be added to this package.
  3. 3Capture page snapshot. Starts the capture as usual. In the File Certifier the button is Certify File.
Example values. The same rows sit under Certify File in the File Certifier.

Step 4

Find the PDF in the package

When the capture is done, the form appears in the file table as Court certification (FRE 902). In the ZIP it sits at the top level, next to evidence.pdf, under the name rule_902_certification.pdf. The form's own title is Certification of Authenticity of Electronic Evidence.

  1. 1Court certification (FRE 902). The row for rule_902_certification.pdf. It is listed only when the form is in the package.
  2. 2Download this file. Saves the form on its own, so you can open it before you download the whole package.
  3. 3Download zip file. Saves the complete package. Keep this ZIP exactly as it is; you will work on a copy of the form in the next steps.
Top of the download table after a web capture, and the same package in the file manager. Shortened.

Step 5

Check what ProofSnap filled in

Open the form and read all of it before you sign. ProofSnap fills in every fact that comes from the package, so you do not have to copy anything from manifest.json by hand. The form is always in English and has up to seven sections. ProofSnap fills them all from the package, except your details in Section I and the signature block.

Section I: pre-filled for you

  1. 1Name and organization. Your name comes from Examiner name in step 3. Your organization comes from the firm name in your whitelabel branding, if your account has one. Both stay editable. Everything else in Section I is left for you to complete.

Sections II through V: filled from the package

  1. 2II. The records this certification covers. Evidence ID, source URL, capture time in UTC, the ProofSnap version, your ProofSnap account ID and the number of files hashed. A multi-tab session capture lists every page with its own capture time. For files, it lists each certified file and the time of certification.
  2. 3III. The process. A plain description of what the system did:a time check against network time sourcesrecording the page address and the DNS lookupsthe screenshot, HTML and textthe SHA-256 and SHA-512 hash valuesthe RSA-4096 signature and the hash-chained logWhen the capture has a recorded limitation, such as a screenshot that stops short of the end of the page, or when it includes a video recording, the form says so here.
  3. 4IV. Digital identification of the records. The SHA-256 hash value of each file, taken from manifest.json, and how the signature can be checked with the scripts in the verification/ folder.
  4. 5V. Time. Only when a timestamp was requested for the package: the Bitcoin timestamp (OpenTimestamps) and, if you added one, the EU qualified timestamp. Without one, the form has six sections.
Simplified pages of rule_902_certification.pdf for a web capture, with the headings and labels of the real form. Body text is shown as gray bars. Values are examples; the number of pages depends on the capture.

Step 6

Fill in your part

The blanks are fillable form fields: click into them and type in Preview, Adobe Acrobat or any other PDF reader, then save. You can also print the form and fill it in by hand. Work on a copy outside the ZIP: unzip the package, or use the single file from step 4. A web capture's form has seven fields for you (name, title, organization, qualifications, date, place and printed name) and one signature line; a File Certifier form adds an eighth field, for the origin of the files.

  1. 1Name, position or title, employer or organization. Items 1 to 3 of the form. Check the pre-filled values and complete the rest.
  2. 2Qualifications. Item 4. In your own words, why you can speak to this capture. The gray hint under the box says so: state facts rather than conclusions, for example that you performed the capture yourself. The box holds about two lines.
  3. 3Executed on (date) and Executed at. The day you sign, not the day of the capture, and the city and state, or the country, where you sign. Spell out the month, for example, October 15, 2026, so nobody can mix up the day and the month.
  4. 4Signature. A line only, not a typed field. You sign it in step 7.
  5. 5Printed name. Your name again, typed or in block letters.
  6. 6Origin of the files. File Certifier only. ProofSnap hashed your files but did not see where they came from. The form therefore asks where each file came from, who obtained it, from which device or account, on what date, and whether it is the original or a copy.

First page, Section I

I. Declarant

1. My name isJane Doe
12. My position or title is 
3. My employer or organization isHartwell & Partners LLP

4. My qualifications to make this certification, and the basis of my familiarity with the process described in Section III, are as follows:

2

(State facts rather than conclusions. For example: I performed the capture described in Section III, and I am familiar with how the capture system works.)

Last page, Declaration

VI. Declaration

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.

3Executed on (date): 
3Executed at (city and state, or country): 
4Signature:
5Printed name: 

File Certifier only

II. The records this certification covers

File 1:signed-contract-scan.pdf

7. ProofSnap computed the hash value of the file listed above from the file as I submitted it. It did not observe where the file came from. Of my own knowledge, the origin of the file is as follows:

6

(State where each file came from, who obtained it, from which device, storage medium, account or service, and on what date. State whether you are submitting the original file or a copy, and if a copy, how the copy was made. Write nothing here that you could not testify to.)

Blue: the fields you fill in. Name and organization are shown pre-filled from the example in step 3.

Step 7

Sign the copy and flatten it

Sign the copy you filled in: print it, sign it by hand and scan it, or sign it in your PDF reader (in Preview: Tools, Annotate, Signature). If you signed in the reader, flatten the copy: choose Print and save the result as a new PDF. After that, the signature and the typed text are part of the page and cannot be lifted off as a separate layer.

  1. 1Date and place. Filled in on the day you sign.
  2. 2Signature. Your own signature on the line, before you flatten the copy.

I. Declarant

1. My name isJane Doe
2. My position or title isLitigation Support Specialist
3. My employer or organization isHartwell & Partners LLP

4. My qualifications to make this certification, and the basis of my familiarity with the process described in Section III, are as follows:

I performed the capture described in Section III, and I am familiar with how the capture system works.

(State facts rather than conclusions. For example: I performed the capture described in Section III, and I am familiar with how the capture system works.)

VI. Declaration

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.

1Executed on (date):October 15, 2026
Executed at (city and state, or country):Chicago, Illinois
2Signature:
Printed name:Jane Doe
The signed copy, simplified. Names, title, date and place are examples.

Step 8

Keep the signed copy out of the ZIP

The signed copy is the document your lawyer uses. Never put it back into the ZIP. The package lists the hash value of the unsigned form in manifest.json, and any change to the file changes its hash value.

  1. 1Package as downloaded. Integrity: match. Every file matches the manifest, the unsigned form included.
  2. 2Signed copy put back. Integrity: modified. The form no longer matches its recorded hash value, and the whole package reads as altered. Keep the ZIP as downloaded and the signed form next to it.

Package as downloaded

Signed copy put back into the ZIP

Trust Verifier in the side panel. The Trust Verifier on the website runs the same checks.

What Rule 902(13) requires of the signed declaration

An FRE 902(13) certification is a written declaration by a qualified person. It states that a record was generated by an electronic process or system that produces an accurate result, so the record can be authenticated without a live witness. The rule's text, as published by the US Government Publishing Office:

"A record generated by an electronic process or system that produces an accurate result, as shown by a certification of a qualified person that complies with the certification requirements of Rule 902(11) or (12). The proponent must also meet the notice requirements of Rule 902(11)."

Fed. R. Evid. 902(13), effective December 1, 2017. Paragraph (14), for copied files, carries the same notice requirement.

Three things follow from that text:

  1. 1A certification by a qualified person. ProofSnap supplies the facts of the package; a person who knows them signs. Software cannot be that person.
  2. 2Written notice to the adverse party. Before the trial or hearing, the party offering the evidence gives the adverse party reasonable written notice and makes the record and the certification available for inspection. Section VII of the form repeats this.
  3. 3Authenticity. Self-authentication means no extrinsic evidence, such as a live witness, is needed to authenticate the record.

The background to both paragraphs is in our explainer on self-authenticating web evidence. To check a package before it goes out, see how to verify an evidence package.

Common questions

Evidence ready for a US court

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More guides: How to capture a web page · How to certify a file · Whitelabel branding

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