Bates numbering for a PDF: stamp every page in sequence

How it works

1. Agree the prefix and the width first. The prefix identifies the producing party or the matter, and the width has to cover the whole production rather than this batch. Both are painful to change once documents are out, because changing either means restamping and reissuing.
2. Carry the start number forward. The first batch starts at 1. Every batch after that starts one above the last number of the batch before, which the previous run reported to you. Two pages with the same reference is the failure the whole scheme exists to prevent.
3. Record the range that comes back. The result reads “Stamped 214 pages: ABC000001 to ABC000214”. That range goes on the disclosure list, in the covering letter, and into whatever you use to remember where the next batch begins.

What the options do

The form above lists the options this tool is running today, straight from the server. This is what they are for.

Prefix

The letters in front of the number, and the part that says whose production this is: a party’s initials, a firm’s code, a matter reference. Nothing is inserted for you, so type any separator yourself — SMITH gives SMITH000123 and SMITH- gives SMITH-000123. Keep it short, keep it in capitals, and keep it the same for every batch in the same production, because half the value of a Bates number is that a reader can tell at a glance which side produced the page. Accented characters are accepted; the tool falls back to a second font if Helvetica cannot draw them, and refuses outright rather than stamping a wrong character.

Suffix

Anything after the number, almost always a confidentiality designation: -CONF, -AEO, -PRIV. It is a label printed on the page, and nothing more — it does not restrict the file, and it does not remove anything from it. Because it applies to every page in the run, a document set where only some pages carry a designation has to be split and stamped in parts. Leave it empty for an ordinary production.

Start at

The number given to the first page. For the first batch of a production that is 1; for every batch after it, one more than the last number the previous run reported. Nothing here remembers what you stamped last time, so this figure is yours to track — a spreadsheet with one row per batch, holding the file, the first number and the last, is what most people end up keeping. Zero is accepted and 100000000 is the ceiling.

Digits in the number

The width the number is padded to with leading zeros, and the reason a Bates number looks the way it does. Without padding, ABC10 sorts before ABC9 in every file manager, index, spreadsheet and database in existence, and a column of references neither aligns nor reads. Six digits is the usual choice and covers a million pages; four is enough for a small bundle but leaves you stuck the moment it grows, since widening the padding halfway through a production means the early pages no longer match the later ones. Pick a width for the whole production, not for this file. If a number does outgrow its width, it gets longer rather than being cut short — a truncated number would be a different document’s reference.

Where to stamp

Bottom right is the convention almost everywhere, because it is the corner a thumb uncovers and the corner a witness is asked to read from. Keep it unless the source documents already print something there — an old page number, a fax banner, a signature block — in which case bottom left is the usual second choice. The position is worked out in what the reader sees and mapped back through the page’s rotation, so a sideways scan is stamped in the corner you meant rather than up the spine. Whether a particular court expects a particular corner is a question for the directions in your matter, not for this tool.

Text size (pt)

Four to 36 points, 10 by default, in Helvetica, black. Ten points is legible after a document has been printed, photocopied and scanned again, which is the life a produced page actually leads. Eight is the smallest worth using on a page with a tight foot. Going larger makes the stamp intrude on the document; going smaller than eight risks a number that cannot be read from a poor copy, which defeats the purpose. The inset from the corner is fixed at 12 mm and is not adjustable.

What this tool does not do

• Every page is stamped, and there is no page range. A production with a gap in its numbering is precisely what this exists to prevent. To number part of a document, extract those pages first and stamp the extract.
• One file per run. A production made of many files has to be stamped file by file with the start number carried forward each time, or merged first, stamped once and split again by the ranges you noted.
• Nothing is remembered between runs. There is no register of what you have stamped, no reservation of a range, and no warning if you start a batch at a number you have already used — that record is yours to keep.
• It does not produce a load file, an index or a CSV of the ranges. The result reports the first and last reference stamped; the disclosure list and the covering letter are yours to write.
• It does not notice that a document has already been stamped, so restamping a produced file leaves it carrying two references.
• A confidentiality suffix is a label, not protection, and Bates numbering is not redaction. Material that has to be withheld must be removed before the pages are produced — stamping does nothing to it.
• The inset is fixed at 12 mm from the corner. If the stamp lands on content, crop the page first or move it to a different corner.

What happens to your file

The file is uploaded because Bates numbering runs on our server rather than in the browser tab. It is kept for at most 2 hours and the result you download for 24 hours, then a scheduled job deletes both — a job has to be able to read the file while it runs, and you have to be able to retry a failed conversion without re-uploading. Neither needs longer.

Nothing about the contents is logged, and no one reads your documents. The retention page lists the same numbers the code enforces, and the privacy policy says who can reach the storage they sit in.

Questions

What is Bates numbering?

A unique, sequential reference stamped on every page of a document production, so that any page can be identified by number alone in correspondence, in a pleading, in a deposition or at trial. It is named after the Bates Automatic Numbering Machine, a hand stamp whose wheels advanced by one at each press. The two properties that matter are that it never repeats and never skips.

How many digits should I use?

Six unless you have a reason, which covers a million pages and is what most people expect to see. Choose for the whole production rather than for the file in front of you: widening the padding partway through means the earlier pages no longer match the later ones, and the only clean fix is restamping everything.

Why does the number need leading zeros at all?

Because computers sort text, not numbers. Without padding, ABC10 sorts between ABC1 and ABC2, so an index, a folder listing or a spreadsheet column comes out in an order nobody can use. Padding to a fixed width makes the alphabetical order and the numerical order the same order.

How do I continue from my previous batch?

Read the last number off the previous run’s result — it reports the first and last references it stamped — and set ‘start at’ to one more than that. Nothing here remembers it for you, so keep a note per batch of the file, the first number and the last.

Can I stamp CONFIDENTIAL as well as the number?

Put it in the suffix if it belongs on the same line as the reference, which is the usual practice for a designation that applies to the whole run. If you want the word across the face of the page, use the watermark tool afterwards — and remember that neither is a restriction on what anyone can do with the file.

Can I stamp a folder of files in one go?

Not in one run — it takes one file at a time. Either stamp them one after another, carrying the start number forward each time, or merge them into a single document first, stamp it once, and split it back out by the page ranges you have recorded.