Table of Authorities Generator
Build a table from your PDF, review the authorities and printed page numbers, then download an editable Word file. Free, no account; your brief stays in your browser.
Already have a table? Check it
A free Table of Authorities generator, in your browser
Build the table from the final PDF (page numbers from the pages you file) or from your Word file. Check every entry and its pages, then download it. On Windows or a Mac, without uploading the brief.
Three steps
How to create a table of authorities in three steps
- 1
Drop the brief
The final PDF, a scanned PDF or the Word .docx. It is read in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
- 2
Review the authorities
Every case, law and rule with its pages, next to the page of the brief with the citation highlighted. Fix a name, move an entry to another group, leave one out, add one that was missed, undo.
- 3
Export
From a PDF: a finished .docx Table of Authorities, or copy it as text. From a .docx: with its final PDF, your file with the finished table written in; or with each citation tagged, so Word for Windows builds the table.
Watch the real PDF-to-Word workflow
Silent screen recording, October 15, 2026 · Chrome on macOS, with the app already loaded. Public Greer PDF → review screen → Word download. Advisory review items remain open.
Text walkthrough and source files
- Choose ‘Try it with a real Supreme Court brief’ to load the public Greer v. United States merits PDF.
- Inspect the generated table: this brief produces 97 entries, with Roman front matter i–x and body pages 1–44 mapped separately from PDF sheet numbers.
- Open ‘Possibly incomplete entries’ to see the advisory review notes. No entries are manually changed in this recording.
- Choose ‘Download the table (.docx)’. The app saves an editable, normal-text Word table and prompts you to verify the final filing PDF.
The recording covers the PDF-to-Word download; importing the table into an editor and reviewing the filing are the next steps. Review every authority and page, insert the table, then export and check a fresh PDF because insertion can move pages.
Source Greer brief (PDF)Generated table (Word .docx)Download video (MP4)
Need the detailed steps? Read the PDF workflow or the Mac guide. Looking for a reusable blank layout instead? Use the Word template; the examples guide explains the finished table.
PDF or Word
Your Word file is the draft. Your PDF is the filing.
Most Table of Authorities tools work inside Word. BriefAuthority does that too, and can also build the table from the PDF you are actually filing, so the page references match what the court receives.
| The final PDF you will file (scans too) | Your Word .docx | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get back | A finished .docx Table of Authorities | Your own .docx with the finished table written in under the Table of Authorities heading (with the final PDF), or with each citation tagged for Word for Windows |
| Where page numbers come from | The printed pages of the filed PDF | The final PDF you add, matched to the Word file; or Word's own pagination when it builds the table |
| Needs Word? | No. Works for Pages, Google Docs, exported or co-counsel PDFs | No, with the final PDF: opens in Word for Mac, Pages or Google Docs. With TA fields only: Word for Windows builds the table |
| Best for | Mac users, final filings, PDFs someone else produced | Keeping the table inside your own Word file; drafts still changing in Word |
Generator or Word
Table of authorities software vs. Word's Mark Citation
Word for Windows can build a table of authorities, but only after you mark every citation yourself. A table of authorities generator does the marking for you, then leaves the review to you.
| Word (Mark Citation) | BriefAuthority generator | |
|---|---|---|
| Finding citations | Select each citation and mark it (Alt+Shift+I), one by one | Cases, statutes, rules and constitutional provisions are detected for you |
| Short forms, Id. and supra | Mark each short form too, or its page is missing from the table | Linked to the full citation; the page is added to that entry |
| Page numbers | Word's pagination of the .docx | The printed pages of the final PDF you file |
| After edits | Update the field (F9) and check the pages again | Recheck carries your fixes over and lists what moved |
| Mac, Pages, Google Docs | Not supported in Word for Mac or Word for the web | Works in the browser; the PDF path needs no Word |
Staying in Word? How to create a table of authorities in Word, and what to do on a Mac, where Word has no TOA feature.
36 court presets
The right heading and passim rule for your court
A preset sets the table's heading (Table of Authorities, Table of Citations, Index of Authorities) and how passim is handled. The generator suggests one from the brief; confirm it after loading. Each guide below covers that court's own rule.
- U.S. Supreme Court table of authoritiesTable of Cited Authorities · no passim
- Federal courts of appeals table of authoritiesAll 13 circuits
- Eleventh Circuit table of authoritiesTable of Citations · no passim
- Ninth Circuit table of authoritiesPassim discouraged
- California table of authoritiesRule 8.204(a)(1)(A)
- New York table of authorities22 NYCRR 1250.8(b)(2)
- Texas table of authoritiesIndex of Authorities
- Florida table of authoritiesTable of Citations
- Michigan table of authoritiesIndex of Authorities
Other state? Table of authorities rules for all 50 states · every preset
The Mac problem
Microsoft says Tables of Authorities aren't supported in Word for Mac or Word for the web.
Pages and Google Docs have no Table of Authorities feature at all. The PDF path doesn't need Word, and with the Word file plus its final PDF the finished table is written into your .docx.
Table of authorities on a MacThe hard part
Short forms, Id. and supra are where tables go wrong.
Id. is never its own entry: its page belongs to the authority it points to. The review screen shows every such link so you confirm it instead of hunting for it.
Id. and supra, explainedArchived v2.1 · 2026-09-28
98.8%
of cases found in 370 public briefs from 118 federal and state courts
That release found 99 of every 100 cases in counsel's tables. For about 6 of every 7 entries, the page lists matched counsel's table exactly before review. These are our measurements of that release.
The comparison used real public briefs and counsel's printed tables, which can themselves be stale or wrong. Review every entry and page before filing. The October 7 model-assistance experiment is linked separately below.
The exact numbers
13,133 of 13,289 cases found (98.8%) in the 350 briefs we could score. Entries whose page list matched the lawyers' table exactly: 85.0% overall, 83.7% in federal courts, 82.7% in state courts, 83.6% on scanned briefs (read by text recognition on the computer).
Compared
How it stacks up
| By hand in Word | BriefMark | Best Authority | BriefAuthority | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input | Word file | Word .docx only | Word file (add-in) | PDF, scanned PDF or .docx |
| Word TA fields from a .docx | Manual marking | Yes | Yes | Yes, plus a TOA field |
| Finished table without Word | No | No | No | Yes (PDF path) |
| Finished table inside your Word file, without Word for Windows | Only by typing it | No | Not advertised | Yes, with the final PDF |
| Scanned PDFs | No | No | No | Yes (on-device OCR) |
| Court presets and passim rules | No | No | Not advertised | 36 presets, court detected |
| Published accuracy benchmark | n/a | No | No | Published methods and dated results |
| Uploads the brief | No | No | No | No |
| Works on Mac | Officially unsupported | Limited (Word builds the table) | Not advertised | Yes |
| Checks an existing printed table | No | No | Not advertised | Yes: wrong and missing pages, typos |
| What changed between versions | No | No | Not advertised | Yes, edits carried over |
| Price | Included | Free up to 8 authorities, $99 once | Not published (~$65/doc reported) | Free, no authority limit |
Competitors by public positioning, checked 2026-09-24. BriefAuthority is not Best Authority and is not affiliated with Litera. Full comparison · vs BriefMark
What is a table of authorities generator?+
Software that detects authorities cited in a brief (cases, constitutional provisions, statutes, rules and other sources), groups them by category, alphabetizes them and lists their pages, so you don't have to mark citations by hand. Detection can miss or misclassify citations; review before filing.
Can BriefAuthority generate a table of authorities from a PDF?+
Yes. From the final PDF it takes page numbers from the pages you will actually file, including roman-numeral front matter, and exports a formatted .docx table. No Word is needed, so it also works for briefs drafted in Pages or Google Docs (export to PDF first). Scanned, image-only PDFs are read with on-device OCR, about 1–1.5 seconds per page.
Does it work with Word?+
Yes. It exports a formatted .docx table, writes the finished table into your own .docx with the page numbers from its final PDF (so it works in Word for Mac, Pages and Google Docs), writes TA and TOA fields for Word for Windows, or copies the table as text. All the Word options.
Does BriefAuthority handle Id. and short forms?+
Yes. Every short form, Id., supra and later mention of a case by name is linked to its full citation and its page is added to that entry, and Id. chains stop at record cites and statutes. How it handles them.
Can it update the table after I edit the brief?+
Yes. Recheck reads the new version, carries your fixes over and lists what moved, and Verify the final PDF checks every page number in the table against the PDF you file. Page numbers after edits.
How are authorities found and reviewed?+
Rules and a citation parser extract authorities from your brief. A non-generative on-device classifier offers source-backed 'Also cited?' suggestions on supported PDF analyses; you choose Add or Not an authority, and suggestions are not auto-added. Review entries and pages beside the source citations, correct any extraction errors, then export. How it differs from a chatbot.
Is my brief uploaded anywhere?+
No. The file is read and indexed in your browser tab, OCR included, and there is no upload endpoint for the brief. The app's Content-Security-Policy restricts connections; allowlisted analytics can receive usage events, not the brief. You can inspect requests in your browser's Network panel or use the loaded app offline. Security & privacy.
Which files, citation styles and courts does it support?+
PDFs with a text layer, scanned PDFs and Word .docx files; Bluebook plus California, New York and Michigan official styles, U.S.C., C.F.R., state codes, court rules and constitutional provisions; and 36 court presets from the Supreme Court and every federal circuit to 20 states. The full list is on the Supported files & courts page.
How accurate is it?+
Our archived v2.1 benchmark, dated 2026-09-28, found 98.8% of cases, with 85.0% exact page lists against counsel's tables before review. It covered 370 briefs from 118 courts, with 350 scored. These are our measurements of that release. Dated results and methods include the separate 35-brief page-by-page comparison. Review every entry before filing.
Can it check a table of authorities I already have?+
Yes. Drop the final PDF with its table in it and the review screen checks every entry against the brief: pages listed that don't cite the authority, pages left out, authorities cited in full but missing from the table, citations that differ from the brief, and passim where the court bans it. It also shows what changed since the last version of the same brief and carries your edits over. The Table of Authorities checker page does the same.
Does it check whether my citations are good law?+
Use a separate citator or research service for good-law status and reporter pinpoints — the specific pages within a reported decision. BriefAuthority builds or checks the table against your brief: entries, brief pages and citation differences. Review every entry before filing.
How do I review suggested authorities?+
Open an 'Also cited?' suggestion to inspect its source passage. Choose Add to include the authority or Not an authority to dismiss it. You control the decision, can undo it, and should check every entry and page before filing.
Is it available now, and what does it cost?+
Yes, it is live, and it is free. No account, no Word add-in, no install.