How to Download All Your Documents from CE-File

The short answer

CE-File is the electronic filing system of HM Courts & Tribunals Service. It allows you to download the documents filed in your cases yourself, but only by hand and one document at a time. The portal has no button that downloads a whole case file.

LHT DMS is a desktop program for Windows and macOS that automates the download. It signs in with your own CE-File account, goes through your cases and saves every filed document into the folder you have chosen for each case. We are not aware of any other software that automates this download.

Downloading by hand

To download a case file by hand, you sign in to CE-File, open the case, open each filing in turn and download each document. You then rename it and save it in the right folder, and do the same for the next case. Three things make this slow:

CE-File holds every party's documents under whatever name that party gave them.
None of the documents is numbered, and they may not be dated.
A document may have been locked by the party who filed it, so that you cannot highlight or annotate it.

Downloading automatically with LHT DMS

Install LHT DMS and register for England & WalesRequest the free download and choose England & Wales as your jurisdiction. The app then shows the CE (GB) tab.
Create the Cases-Folders SpreadsheetCreate it from the tab. Enter your CE-File username and password at the top. For each case, enter the case number, the court details CE-File needs to find the case, the folder on your computer where its documents belong, and your own reference if you use one.
Hook the spreadsheet to the appThis is done once. A firm can keep one spreadsheet on a server, so that everyone works from the same list of cases and folders.
Choose the cases and the file optionsLeave the Limit to Cases box empty to check every case, or name particular cases by case number or by your own reference. Cases marked completed are skipped. Then choose whether each file is to be unlocked, made searchable by OCR, and compressed.
Press DownloadThe app signs in, finds each case and works in the background. There is no browser to watch. You can suspend a run and resume it in a later session.
Run it again whenever you wishA later run takes only what has been filed since. Everything already in the folder is left alone.

LHT DMS CE (GB) tab: the England & Wales CE-File downloader with a hooked claims spreadsheet, case limiter and processing options — The CE (GB) tab of LHT DMS.

▶ Watch the demonstration

What you get

Every document filed in each case, saved in the folder you chose for that case.
Each file numbered in the order of filing and dated with its filing date.
Where one filing carries several documents, each becomes its own numbered file.
Each file unlocked where the filing party had locked it, made searchable by OCR and compressed to 150 DPI, as you choose.
A folder ready for the Draft Index tab, which builds your index from the file names, and for the Compile tab, which builds the bundle.

Only what is new

You rename the files you have downloaded, and you highlight and annotate them. If a later download fetched the whole case file again, it would either replace those files, and lose your names and notes, or leave a second copy of everything for you to sort from the first.

LHT DMS therefore does both things. The first run downloads everything filed in each case. Every later run takes only what has been filed since, and leaves everything already in your folder untouched.

Where your password and documents go

Your CE-File username and password are kept in your own spreadsheet on your own computer and are sent only to CE-File. The documents come directly from the court's servers to your computer. Nothing is uploaded to Legal Hi Tech or to any third party, and the software uses no generative AI.

Questions

Can CE-File download a whole case file at once?

Not on the portal itself. CE-File allows you to download the documents in your cases by hand, one document at a time. LHT DMS automates that download for every case in your list.

Does it download the other side's documents as well?

Yes. It downloads every document filed in your cases, your own and the other side's.

Does LHT DMS file documents on CE-File for me?

No. It brings the court file down to you. Filing stays entirely in your hands, and nothing is submitted to a court in your name.

What does it cost?

The desktop app is free for all of 2026, with every feature and no limit on the number or size of files. Annual licensing begins in January 2027. Prices are on the pricing page.

Is LHT DMS connected with HMCTS?

No. LHT DMS is independent software from Legal Hi Tech Limited. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by HMCTS.

Free for all of 2026, for Windows and macOS.

Download LHT DMS →

Related guides

Peninsular Malaysia: how to download from EFS. Sabah & Sarawak: how to download from EKSS. Once the bundle is built: how to write bundle page references into your Word documents. The full list of what the desktop app does is on the features page, and more answers are in the FAQ.

CE-File is the HM Courts & Tribunals Service e-filing system. LHT DMS is independent software from Legal Hi Tech Limited and is not affiliated with or endorsed by HMCTS.

How to download all the documents in your cases from CE-File