2026-04-05 21:00:40 -04:00

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SEC EDGAR Filing Generator Reference

Reference for identifying which software generated a given SEC 10-K HTML filing. Built from direct inspection of EDGAR filings and market research (March 2026).

1. Major Vendors and HTML Signatures

Workiva (Wdesk) -- Market Leader for 10-K/10-Q

Filing agent CIK: 0001628280

HTML comment signature (lines 1-3):

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ASCII'?>
<!--XBRL Document Created with the Workiva Platform-->
<!--Copyright 2025 Workiva-->
<!--r:{uuid},g:{uuid},d:{hex-id}-->

Detection heuristics:

HTML comment: XBRL Document Created with the Workiva Platform
HTML comment: Copyright \d{4} Workiva
Third comment line contains r:, g:, d: UUIDs (document/generation tracking)
xml:lang="en-US" attribute on <html> tag
Body uses inline styles exclusively (no CSS classes on content elements)
Heavy use of <span> with inline styles containing background-color, font-family, font-size, font-weight, line-height in every span
Div IDs follow pattern: i{hex32}_{number} (e.g., id="i56b78781f7c84a038f6ae0f6244f7dd8_1")
Tables use display:inline-table and vertical-align:text-bottom
iXBRL fact IDs follow pattern: F_{uuid} (e.g., id="F_d8dc1eb1-109d-445d-a55a-3dde1a81ca63")
No <meta name="generator"> tag
No CSS classes on body content (purely inline styles)

Structural patterns:

Span-heavy: nearly every text fragment wrapped in <span style="...">
Font specified as font-family:'Times New Roman',sans-serif (note: sans-serif fallback, unusual)
Line-height specified on every span (e.g., line-height:120%)
Background color explicitly set: background-color:#ffffff

Known quality issues:

Extremely verbose HTML; simple paragraphs become deeply nested span trees
Text extraction is clean because span boundaries align with word boundaries
Large file sizes due to inline style repetition

DFIN / Donnelley Financial Solutions (ActiveDisclosure)

DFIN operates under two distinct CIKs with two different HTML output formats.

DFIN "New" ActiveDisclosure (primary)

Filing agent CIK: 0000950170 (also 0000950130)

HTML comment signature:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ASCII'?>
<!-- DFIN New ActiveDisclosure (SM) Inline XBRL Document - http://www.dfinsolutions.com/ -->
<!-- Creation Date :2025-02-18T12:36:24.4008+00:00 -->
<!-- Copyright (c) 2025 Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. -->

Detection heuristics:

HTML comment: DFIN New ActiveDisclosure
HTML comment: http://www.dfinsolutions.com/
HTML comment: Copyright (c) \d{4} Donnelley Financial Solutions
HTML comment: Creation Date : with ISO timestamp
Body style: padding:8px;margin:auto!important;
Inline styles use font-kerning:none;min-width:fit-content; on most spans
Extensive use of white-space:pre-wrap on spans
CSS class item-list-element-wrapper and page-border-spacing present
iXBRL fact IDs follow pattern: F_{uuid}

Structural patterns:

Every text span carries min-width:fit-content (distinctive)
Uses   for spacing extensively
Uses <p> tags with inline margins for all paragraphs
Tables use explicit padding-top:0in;vertical-align:top;padding-bottom:0in cell styles

DFIN Legacy (RR Donnelley heritage)

Filing agent CIK: 0001193125

HTML signature:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ASCII'?>
<html xmlns:link="..." xmlns:xbrldi="..." ...>
<head>
<title>10-K</title>
<meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"/>
</head>
<body style="line-height:normal;background-color:white;">
<h5 style="font-size:10pt;font-weight:bold"><a href="#toc">Table of Contents</a></h5>

Detection heuristics:

No identifying HTML comments (no generator/copyright comment)
Accession number prefix 0001193125 is definitive
<body style="line-height:normal;background-color:white;">
Immediately starts with <h5> Table of Contents link
Uses deprecated namespace aliases: xmlns:xl, xmlns:xbrll, xmlns:deprecated
iXBRL fact IDs follow pattern: Fact_{large_number} (e.g., id="Fact_129727210")
Uses <FONT> tags (HTML 3.2 style) in some documents
Uppercase HTML tags in older filings (<P>, <B>, <DIV>)

Structural patterns:

Cleaner HTML than ActiveDisclosure New
Uses semantic <h5> for table of contents
Inline styles are simpler and more standard
File description filenames follow pattern: d{number}d10k.htm

Toppan Merrill (Bridge)

Filing agent CIKs: 0001104659 (primary), 0001558370 (secondary)

HTML comment signature:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ASCII'?>
<!-- iXBRL document created with: Toppan Merrill Bridge iXBRL 10.9.0.3 -->
<!-- Based on: iXBRL 1.1 -->
<!-- Created on: 2/21/2025 8:11:11 PM -->
<!-- iXBRL Library version: 1.0.9062.16423 -->
<!-- iXBRL Service Job ID: {uuid} -->

Detection heuristics:

HTML comment: iXBRL document created with: Toppan Merrill Bridge iXBRL
HTML comment: iXBRL Library version:
HTML comment: iXBRL Service Job ID:
Includes version number in comment (e.g., 10.9.0.3)
<title> tag contains company name + period end date (e.g., Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc._December 31, 2024)
Uses xmlns:xs alongside xmlns:xsi (both XML Schema namespaces)
Body starts with <div style="margin-top:30pt;"></div> (distinctive)
iXBRL hidden div uses display:none; (no additional styles on the div)

Structural patterns:

Context IDs use descriptive names with GUIDs: As_Of_12_31_2024_{base64-like}, From_01_01_2024_to_12_31_2024_{guid}
Hidden fact IDs follow pattern: Hidden_{base64-like}
Unit ref IDs follow pattern: Unit_Standard_USD_{base64-like}
No CSS classes used on content elements
Relatively clean HTML structure

RDG Filings (ThunderDome Portal)

Filing agent CIK: 0001437749

HTML signature:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ASCII'?>
<html xmlns:thunderdome="http://www.RDGFilings.com" ...>
 <head>
  <title>avpt20241231_10k.htm</title>
  <!-- Generated by ThunderDome Portal - 2/27/2025 6:06:48 PM -->
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"/>
 </head>
 <body style="cursor: auto; padding: 0in 0.1in; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;">

Detection heuristics:

XML namespace: xmlns:thunderdome="http://www.RDGFilings.com"
HTML comment: Generated by ThunderDome Portal
<title> contains the filing filename
Body style includes cursor: auto; padding: 0in 0.1in
iXBRL fact IDs prefixed with thunderdome- (e.g., id="thunderdome-EntityCentralIndexKey")
Context ref IDs use simple date ranges: d_2024-01-01_2024-12-31
Other fact IDs follow ixv-{number} or c{number} pattern

Market presence: ~14,000 filings/year, rank #9 among filing agents. About 5% of annual filings.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (PROfile)

Filing agent CIKs: 0001140361 (primary), 0001133228 (secondary)

HTML comment signature:

<!-- Licensed to: Broadridge
     Document created using Broadridge PROfile 25.1.1.5279
     Copyright 1995 - 2025 Broadridge -->

Detection heuristics:

HTML comment: Licensed to: Broadridge
HTML comment: Document created using Broadridge PROfile with version number
HTML comment: Copyright 1995 - \d{4} Broadridge
CSS classes with BRPF prefix: BRPFPageBreak, BRPFPageBreakArea, BRPFPageFooter, BRPFPageHeader, BRPFPageNumberArea
CSS class: DSPFListTable
CSS class: cfttable
CSS class: Apple-interchange-newline (suggests Mac/WebKit origin)
Context ref IDs use XBRL-standard descriptive format: c20240101to20241231_AxisName_MemberName

Note: Broadridge acquired CompSci Resources LLC in July 2024 and is integrating CompSci's Transform platform. Filings may transition to Broadridge branding over time.

CompSci / Novaworks (Transform and GoFiler)

CompSci Resources produces two tools that leave distinct signatures.

CompSci Transform (now Broadridge)

Filed via: EdgarAgents LLC (0001213900) or other agents

HTML comment signature:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ASCII'?>
<!-- Generated by CompSci Transform (tm) - http://www.compsciresources.com -->
<!-- Created: Mon Mar 17 19:46:10 UTC 2025 -->

Detection heuristics:

HTML comment: Generated by CompSci Transform
HTML comment: http://www.compsciresources.com
XML namespace: xmlns:compsci="http://compsciresources.com"
Body wrapped in: <div style="font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif">
Uses  and  HTML comments as structural markers
Empty <div> tags used as spacers between paragraphs
iXBRL context refs use simple sequential IDs: c0, c1, c2, ...
iXBRL fact IDs follow ixv-{number} pattern
Uses shorthand CSS: font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif (combined property)
Margin shorthand: margin: 0pt 0

Known quality issues:

Words can be broken across <span> tags mid-word
Heavy use of   for spacing
Empty divs between every paragraph create parsing noise
 comments interspersed throughout document body

Novaworks GoFiler (XDX format)

Filed via: SECUREX Filings (0001214659) or self-filed

HTML signature:

<head>
     <title></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"/>
</head>
<!-- Field: Set; Name: xdx; ID: xdx_021_US%2DGAAP%2D2024%2D... -->
<!-- Field: Set; Name: xdx; ID: xdx_03B_... -->

Detection heuristics:

HTML comments with pattern: 
XDX comments appear between </head> and <body> (unusual placement)
Body style: font: 10pt Times New Roman, Times, Serif (same shorthand as CompSci)
Empty <title></title> tag
iXBRL fact IDs use xdx2ixbrl{number} pattern (e.g., id="xdx2ixbrl0102")
Standard fact IDs use Fact{number:06d} pattern (e.g., id="Fact000003")
Context refs use From{date}to{date} or AsOf{date} format (no separators within date)

XDX explained: XDX (XBRL Data Exchange) is GoFiler's proprietary format that uses HTML tag ID attributes ("engrams") to embed XBRL metadata. The xdx_ comments carry taxonomy, entity, period, and unit definitions that GoFiler uses to generate the final iXBRL.

Discount EDGAR / NTDAS (XBRLMaster / EDGARMaster)

Filing agent CIK: 0001477932

HTML signature:

<head>
  <title>crona_10k.htm</title>
  <!--Document Created by XBRLMaster-->
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"/>
</head>
<body style="text-align:justify;font:10pt times new roman">

Detection heuristics:

HTML comment: Document Created by XBRLMaster
Body style: text-align:justify;font:10pt times new roman
Hidden iXBRL div has id="XBRLDIV"
Additional body styles include margin-left:7%;margin-right:7%
Uses lowercase times new roman (no capitalization)
iXBRL fact IDs use ixv-{number} pattern

EdgarAgents LLC

Filing agent CIK: 0001213900

EdgarAgents is a filing agent service, not a document creation tool. The HTML they submit is typically generated by CompSci Transform, GoFiler, or other tools. Check the HTML comments to identify the actual generator.

DFIN Legacy (pre-iXBRL / SGML-era)

Filing agent CIK: 0001193125

Older filings (pre-2019) from this CIK may appear in <DOCUMENT> SGML wrapper format:

<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>10-K
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>d913213d10k.htm
<DESCRIPTION>10-K
<TEXT>
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>10-K</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="WHITE" STYLE="line-height:Normal">
<Center><DIV STYLE="width:8.5in" align="left">

Detection heuristics:

Uppercase HTML tags: <HTML>, <HEAD>, <BODY>, <P>, <B>
BGCOLOR="WHITE" attribute (deprecated HTML)
<Center> tag with capital C
<DIV STYLE="width:8.5in" (page-width container)
<FONT> tags for styling
Filename pattern: d{number}d10k.htm

Based on secfilingdata.com total filings across all form types:

Rank	Filing Agent	CIK	2025 Filings	Total (All Time)
1	Donnelley Financial (DFIN)	0001193125	65,180	1,872,890
2	EdgarAgents LLC	0001213900	48,021	367,211
3	Quality Edgar (QES)	0001839882	38,017	151,031
4	Toppan Merrill	0001104659	48,260	988,715
5	WallStreetDocs Ltd	0001918704	22,387	56,431
6	Workiva (Wdesk)	0001628280	21,606	141,795
7	M2 Compliance LLC	0001493152	13,810	164,603
8	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	0000950103	16,231	326,359
9	RDG Filings (ThunderDome)	0001437749	14,209	187,270
10	Morgan Stanley	0001950047	12,822	56,468
11	Broadridge	0001140361	--	597,664
14	SECUREX Filings	0001214659	--	115,218
19	Blueprint	0001654954	--	62,250
20	FilePoint	0001398344	--	76,218
38	Discount EDGAR	0001477932	--	37,422

For 10-K/10-Q specifically (estimated from biotech IPO data and market research):

DFIN: ~40-50% of annual/quarterly filings
Workiva: ~25-35% (has been gaining share from DFIN since ~2010)
Toppan Merrill: ~10-15%
RDG Filings: ~5%
Broadridge/CompSci: ~5%
Others (law firms, self-filed, smaller agents): ~5-10%

3. XBRL/iXBRL Tool Signatures

The iXBRL tagging tool is often the same as the filing generator, but not always. Key distinguishing patterns in the iXBRL layer:

Tool	Context Ref Pattern	Fact ID Pattern	Unit Ref Pattern
Workiva	`C_{uuid}`	`F_{uuid}`	`U_{uuid}`
DFIN New	`C_{uuid}`	`F_{uuid}`	Standard names
DFIN Legacy	`Fact_{large_int}`	`Fact_{large_int}`	Standard names
Toppan Merrill	`As_Of_{date}_{guid}` / `From_{date}_to_{date}_{guid}`	`Hidden_{guid}`	`Unit_Standard_USD_{guid}`
ThunderDome	`d_{date_range}` / `i_{date}`	`thunderdome-{name}` or `ixv-{n}` or `c{n}`	Standard names
CompSci Transform	`c0`, `c1`, `c2` ...	`ixv-{number}`	Standard names
GoFiler (XDX)	`From{date}to{date}` / `AsOf{date}`	`xdx2ixbrl{number}`	Standard names
XBRLMaster	`From{date}to{date}`	`ixv-{number}`	Standard names
Broadridge PROfile	`c{date}to{date}_{axis}_{member}`	Descriptive	Standard names

4. Detection Priority (Recommended Heuristic Order)

For maximum reliability, check signatures in this order:

HTML comments (first 10 lines) -- most generators embed identifying comments
- Workiva Platform --> Workiva
- DFIN New ActiveDisclosure --> DFIN New
- Toppan Merrill Bridge --> Toppan Merrill
- ThunderDome Portal --> RDG Filings
- CompSci Transform --> CompSci/Broadridge
- Broadridge PROfile --> Broadridge
- XBRLMaster --> Discount EDGAR / NTDAS
XML namespaces on <html> tag
- xmlns:thunderdome="http://www.RDGFilings.com" --> RDG
- xmlns:compsci="http://compsciresources.com" --> CompSci
XDX comments between head and body --> GoFiler/Novaworks
Accession number prefix (first 10 digits) --> identifies filing agent CIK
Body style patterns as fallback
iXBRL fact ID patterns as secondary confirmation

5. Known Quality Issues by Generator

CompSci Transform

Words broken across spans: Text is split at arbitrary character boundaries, not word boundaries. A single word like "cybersecurity" may be split across 2-3 <span> tags. This breaks naive text extraction that operates per-element.
Empty div spacers: <div>\n\n</div> between every paragraph adds noise.
Field comments in body:  markers interspersed with content.

Workiva

Extreme span nesting: Every text run gets its own <span> with full inline style. A simple bold sentence may have 5+ spans.
Large file sizes: Inline style repetition causes 10-K files to be 2-5x larger than equivalent DFIN filings.
Clean word boundaries: Despite heavy span usage, spans align with word/phrase boundaries, making text extraction reliable.

DFIN New ActiveDisclosure

min-width:fit-content everywhere: Unusual CSS property on every span; may cause rendering inconsistencies in older browsers.
font-kerning:none: Explicit kerning disable on all text spans.
Generally clean: Text extraction works well; word boundaries respected.

DFIN Legacy

Uppercase HTML tags: Older filings use <P>, <B>, <FONT> -- need case-insensitive parsing.
Mixed HTML versions: Some documents mix HTML 3.2 and 4.0 constructs.
SGML wrappers: Some filings wrapped in <DOCUMENT> SGML envelope.

GoFiler / Novaworks

XDX comment noise: Multiple  comments that must be stripped.
Generally clean HTML: Body content is straightforward.

Toppan Merrill Bridge

Clean output: Among the cleanest generators. Minimal inline style bloat.
GUID-heavy IDs: Context and unit refs use base64-like GUIDs that are less human-readable.

6. Self-Filed / In-House Filings

Some large filers submit directly using their own CIK as the accession number prefix. These filings have no generator comment and variable HTML quality.

Detection: Accession number prefix matches the filer's own CIK (e.g., Halliburton CIK 0000045012 files with accession 0000045012-25-000010).

However: Even self-filed companies typically use a commercial tool. Halliburton's self-filed 10-K contains the Workiva comment signature, indicating they use Workiva but submit directly rather than through a filing agent.

Truly in-house HTML (no commercial tool) is rare among 10-K filers. When it occurs:

No identifying comments
No consistent structural patterns
May use Word-to-HTML conversion (look for mso- CSS prefixes from Microsoft Office)
May have minimal or no iXBRL tagging

7. Law Firm Filings

Several large law firms act as filing agents:

Davis Polk & Wardwell (0000950103) -- 326K total filings
Paul Weiss (0000950142) -- 56K total filings
Foley & Lardner (0000897069) -- 30K total filings
Sidley Austin (0000905148) -- 39K total filings
Seward & Kissel (0000919574) -- 107K total filings

Law firms typically file transactional documents (S-1, proxy, 8-K) rather than periodic 10-K filings. The HTML in law-firm-filed documents often comes from Word conversion and lacks commercial generator signatures.

8. Summary: Quick Detection Regex Table

Pattern                                              | Generator
-----------------------------------------------------|------------------
/Workiva Platform/                                   | Workiva
/DFIN New ActiveDisclosure/                          | DFIN (New)
/Donnelley Financial Solutions/                      | DFIN (New)
/Toppan Merrill Bridge/                              | Toppan Merrill
/ThunderDome Portal/                                 | RDG Filings
/CompSci Transform/                                  | CompSci/Broadridge
/Broadridge PROfile/                                 | Broadridge
/XBRLMaster/                                         | Discount EDGAR
/xmlns:thunderdome="http:\/\/www\.RDGFilings\.com"/  | RDG Filings
/xmlns:compsci="http:\/\/compsciresources\.com"/     | CompSci
/Field: Set; Name: xdx/                             | GoFiler/Novaworks
/dfinsolutions\.com/                                 | DFIN
/min-width:fit-content/                              | DFIN (New)
/BRPFPage/                                           | Broadridge PROfile
/id="XBRLDIV"/                                       | XBRLMaster

Sources

Direct inspection of SEC EDGAR filings (March 2026)
secfilingdata.com/top-filing-agents -- filing agent rankings
newstreetir.com -- Top SEC Filing Agents for Biotech IPOs -- biotech IPO market share
houseblend.io -- SEC Filing Software Platforms -- vendor comparison
novaworkssoftware.com/inlinexbrl -- XDX format documentation
rdgfilings.com/thunderdome -- ThunderDome Portal
toppanmerrill.com/bridge -- Toppan Merrill Bridge
edgarmaster.com -- EDGARMaster / XBRLMaster by NTDAS
pernasresearch.com -- DFIN analysis -- market share dynamics

20 KiB Raw Permalink Blame History

SEC EDGAR Filing Generator Reference

1. Major Vendors and HTML Signatures

Workiva (Wdesk) -- Market Leader for 10-K/10-Q

DFIN / Donnelley Financial Solutions (ActiveDisclosure)

DFIN "New" ActiveDisclosure (primary)

DFIN Legacy (RR Donnelley heritage)

Toppan Merrill (Bridge)

RDG Filings (ThunderDome Portal)

Broadridge Financial Solutions (PROfile)

CompSci / Novaworks (Transform and GoFiler)

CompSci Transform (now Broadridge)

Novaworks GoFiler (XDX format)

Discount EDGAR / NTDAS (XBRLMaster / EDGARMaster)

EdgarAgents LLC

DFIN Legacy (pre-iXBRL / SGML-era)

2. Filing Agent Market Share

3. XBRL/iXBRL Tool Signatures

4. Detection Priority (Recommended Heuristic Order)

5. Known Quality Issues by Generator

CompSci Transform

Workiva

DFIN New ActiveDisclosure

DFIN Legacy

GoFiler / Novaworks

Toppan Merrill Bridge

6. Self-Filed / In-House Filings

7. Law Firm Filings

8. Summary: Quick Detection Regex Table

Sources

20 KiB

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