Bates Numbering

Run a single counter through a whole set of PDFs, stamping a padded, prefixed identifier onto every page.

Runs on your devicePDFWorkingNo account needed

What this tool does

Bates Numbering writes a sequential identifier onto every page of every PDF you add, built as a prefix, then the counter padded with leading zeros, then an optional suffix — ABC000001, ABC000002, and onward. One counter runs through the whole queue by default, so a five-page exhibit followed by a twelve-page contract produces one unbroken run of seventeen identifiers rather than two sequences that both begin at the same place. Each document comes back as its own file with -bates added to the name, and nothing is merged.

Six fields shape the identifier and the count. Prefix and Suffix are fixed text wrapped around the number. Digits sets the padding anywhere from 1 to 12, and it is a minimum width rather than a ceiling: the padding routine only adds zeros and never truncates, so a six-digit run that passes 999999 carries straight on at 1000000 and every stamp after that is one character wider. Start at is where the counter begins, which is how a later tranche picks up from the number you last issued, and Increment is how far it advances per page — a value above 1 leaves deliberate gaps in the sequence rather than skipping any pages. Switching off Continue numbering across files makes each document restart at Start at instead.

The stamp is drawn text rather than an annotation or a hidden field, so it is selectable and searchable in a viewer and it prints with the page. You pick one of six placements — the four corners, top centre or bottom centre — the margin from the edge in millimetres, one of eight standard PDF faces between 4 and 48 point, and a colour; the default is a dark red, #c0392b, so the identifier reads as an added mark instead of part of the original document. A page carrying a rotation flag is measured in the orientation it displays at, so the number lands the right way up in the place you picked rather than sideways in the wrong margin.

The whole job runs in this browser tab through pdf-lib, and the documents are not uploaded. Five limits are worth knowing before you stamp a production. Every page of every queued file is numbered — there is no page selection, so slip sheets, blank versos and exhibit covers each consume a number. The queue order is the numbering order, files append in the order you add them, and there is no control for dragging them into a different sequence, so a document that arrived in the wrong place has to be removed and added again; a non-PDF in the selection is quietly skipped rather than refused. The identifier is painted over whatever already occupies that spot, with no panel drawn behind it, so a document that already prints something there needs a wider margin or another placement. The margin is measured from the page's media box and not its crop box, so a page trimmed by a crop box alone — which is what Crop PDF leaves unless you also shrink the media box — can take its identifier out into the trimmed-off strip, where a viewer will not show it. And the standard faces carry the WinAnsi character set only, so a prefix written in Greek, Cyrillic or CJK characters comes out as question marks, with no count of the substitutions in the summary.

How to use it

  1. Add the documents in the order they should run. Files append to the queue as you add them, and there is no drag to reorder, so add them in sequence — or remove one and add it again to move it.
  2. Build the shape of the identifier. A prefix, an optional suffix, and the number of digits to pad to. ABC with six digits gives ABC000001; leave the prefix empty for bare padded numbers.
  3. Decide where the count starts and how it moves. Start at is the first value and Increment is the step taken per page. Continue numbering across files keeps one counter for the whole queue; switch it off and every document restarts.
  4. Place it on the page. One of six placements — four corners, top centre or bottom centre — the margin in millimetres, one of eight standard faces from 4 to 48 point, and a colour. The default is bottom right in dark red at 9 point.
  5. Run the set and read the range. It reports how many pages were stamped and the first and last identifier produced. With one counter across the queue that is the range for the whole production; with the switch off it is only the first stamp printed and the last.

Processing & privacy

Runs on your device. Your file is processed directly in this browser.

Common use cases

Producing documents in discovery

The other side has to be able to cite one page without ambiguity. A continuous run across the set gives every page an identifier nobody else in the matter has issued.

Preparing a bundle of exhibits

Give each document its own prefix with the continuous switch off, so exhibit numbers restart per document and the bundle reads the way its index describes it.

A second tranche in the same matter

Set Start at to the value after the last one you issued, and the new disclosure continues the sequence instead of colliding with what you have already sent.

Numbering a folder of scanned records

One pass over the whole folder gives an unbroken range, so a sheet that has been pulled out of the pile can be put back exactly where it came from.

Questions

Is my PDF uploaded?
No. pdf-lib opens each document, draws the identifiers and writes the new file inside this browser tab, so the documents stay on your own machine. That library is served from this site and fetched the first time you run a stamp, so once it has arrived the numbering carries on with the connection gone.
What happens when the counter outgrows the digit setting?
It keeps counting. Digits only pads with leading zeros and never truncates, so a six-digit run passing 999999 continues at 1000000 and the stamps from there are a character wider. Choose a width the whole set fits inside if the column has to stay even.
Can I stamp only some of the pages?
No. Every page of every document in the queue is numbered, which is what keeps the sequence dense enough to cite. If a cover sheet must not carry an identifier, take it out with Delete Pages before the run and put it back afterwards.
Does it produce a load file or a list of ranges?
No. The summary names the first and last identifier across the whole queue, and each output keeps its source filename with -bates appended, but there is no exported table of begin and end numbers per document. That record has to be kept alongside, from the queue order and the page counts.
Can the identifiers be taken off again?
There is no unstamp button. Once the file is saved the text sits in the page's content stream like any other word; Redact PDF can match the prefix and destroy it, but it does that by rasterising every page, so the document loses its own text layer along with the stamp. Keep the unstamped originals if a clean copy may be needed later.
Is the stamp tamper-evident?
No. It is ordinary page text, not a signature and not an identifier held in the file's structure, so anyone with a PDF editor can restamp or alter it. It records what a page was called in a production; it does not prove the page has not changed since.
Does it merge the documents into one file?
No. One input gives one output, so nine PDFs come back as nine files that happen to share a continuous run of numbers. Run Merge PDF first if you want a single document, then stamp the result.
What if one of the documents is password-protected?
It cannot be opened, and the run stops there with a message naming the file, so nothing is returned for the documents ahead of it either. Remove the password with Unlock PDF using the one you already hold, then queue the result.
How is this different from Add Page Numbers?
That tool numbers one document at a time from a starting value you choose, with formats, tokens and a page range. This one exists for the legal numbering case: fixed-width padding, a prefix and suffix, and a single counter carried across a set of separate files.

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