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How to Add Bates Numbering to a PDF
What a Bates number is, why legal teams need one, and how to stamp a whole production set in your browser.
Bates numbering is the practice of stamping a unique, sequential identifier on every page of a set of documents. A label such as ABC-000123 appears in the same corner of every page, and it never repeats anywhere in the set.
The name comes from the Bates Manufacturing Company, which sold a self-advancing hand stamp in the late nineteenth century. The stamp is long gone, but the idea outlived it because it solves a problem that has not changed: once a page has a stable identifier, anyone can cite it and everyone lands on the same sheet.
If you have arrived here because a lawyer asked you for a Bates numbered production and you have never heard the term, you are in the right place. This guide explains what the number is, what the conventions are, and how to produce a set without sending confidential material to anybody else's server.
The mechanics are simple. The complications are all in the details: where the count starts, how wide the numbers are, whether it runs continuously across several files, and which pages are skipped. Each of those is a decision to make once, before the set is produced, because renumbering a delivered production is painful and looks careless.
Why would you want to do this?
Files often need to move between formats, people, and systems. This task helps you create a result that is easier to edit, share, submit, or archive. Common reasons include:
- Understand what a Bates number is before you are asked to produce one.
- Give every page of a discovery production a citable, unique identifier.
- Refer to an exact page in a deposition, a brief, or a hearing without ambiguity.
- Track which pages were produced, when, and in which batch.
- Satisfy a court or opposing counsel who expect one continuous run across the whole set.
- Keep confidential material on your own machine while you do it.
How to do it step by step
- 1
Open the Bates Numbering tool and add every PDF that belongs in the production.
- 2
Drag the files into the exact order they will be produced. The order on screen is the order the numbers follow.
- 3
Set the prefix, the start number, the increment step, and the digit width, then read the example label to confirm the citation format.
- 4
Set a page range if cover sheets or privilege logs should not carry a number.
- 5
Choose whether the count runs continuously across the whole set or restarts inside each file. Continuous is the usual expectation.
- 6
Place the stamp: pick one of the nine positions, set the margin, and turn on the background box if the pages are dark scans.
- 7
Check the page preview and the predicted first and last number of every file.
- 8
Export, then keep the CSV numbering report. It is the index of what you produced.
Which tools can you use?
Desktop software can work, but it may require an installation, paid plan, or account. A browser tool is more convenient for a quick task. Easy File Tools keeps the workflow direct: open the tool, choose your file, make the change, and download the result. Everything happens locally in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
The easy option: Easy File Tools
No account, no complicated setup, and a consistent interface across useful file tools.
Use Bates Numbering freeTips for a better result
- Put the stamp in the bottom right corner unless you have a reason not to. It is the convention, and it is the first place a reader looks.
- Choose a digit width with room to spare. Six digits carries a million pages and costs nothing; three digits runs out at page 999 and forces a reproduction.
- Use a prefix that identifies the producing party, such as an abbreviation of the client name. It makes a mixed pile of pages sortable by eye.
- Number after merging, splitting, and reordering are all finished. Any structural change afterwards makes the sequence disagree with the document.
- Turn on the background box for dark or heavily marked scans. A number that lands on a black area of a photocopy is not a number anybody can read.
- Keep the unstamped originals. If a page has to be added later, restamping a clean set is easier than working around an existing run.
- Check the last page as well as the first. That is where an off-by-one start or an exhausted digit width shows up.
- Store the CSV report with the production. Months later it is the fastest way to answer which file held a given number.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Starting the count on the cover sheet. Cover sheets, transmittal letters, and privilege logs are usually not part of the numbered set, so exclude them with a page range before you export.
- Choosing a digit width too small for the set. If the run passes the width, the labels stop lining up and a citation can be misread.
- Restarting the count in every file when the court expects one continuous run. Duplicate numbers across a production defeat the whole point of numbering it.
- Numbering before the document set is final, then merging or reordering afterwards.
- Placing the stamp on top of existing footers, exhibit stickers, or page borders.
- Uploading the set to a free web service. Discovery material is confidential, and an upload is a copy you no longer control.
How this compares to Smallpdf, iLovePDF and Adobe
Bates numbering is a specialist feature, and the mainstream consumer tools mostly leave it out. Smallpdf and iLovePDF both offer ordinary page numbers, which cover a report but not a production: no prefix, no fixed digit width, and no single count carried across several files.
Sejda does ship a proper Bates tool, and Adobe supports it in desktop Acrobat, which is where most law firms meet it. Both are capable. Both also mean either a subscription or an upload of the documents you are least willing to hand over.
The tool here runs entirely in your browser. The pages are read, stamped, and written on your own machine, and nothing is sent anywhere. For discovery material that is not a nice extra, it is the point: an upload creates a copy of privileged documents on infrastructure you do not control and cannot audit.
It also shows the predicted first and last number of every file before anything is written, and it writes a CSV report of what it produced. Those two things are what a paralegal actually checks, and most tools make you export first and find out afterwards.
| Criterion | Smallpdf | iLovePDF | Adobe Acrobat online | Easy File Tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where your file is processed | Uploaded to their servers | Uploaded to their servers | Uploaded to Adobe's cloud | In your browser, so the file never leaves your device |
| Account or sign-in | Prompted quickly, and required to continue past the free allowance | Optional for small jobs, required for larger ones | An Adobe ID is needed for most online tools | Never required |
| Usage limits | A small number of free tasks before an upgrade prompt | Daily task and file-count limits on the free tier | Free web tools act as a preview of a paid plan | No task counters and no daily caps |
| File size ceiling | Free tier caps the upload size | Free tier caps the upload size | Cloud upload limits apply | Up to 100 MB on the tools that set a limit, with no paid tier needed to reach it |
| Works without a connection | No, the server does the work | No, the server does the work | No, the cloud does the work | Yes for browser-based tools, once the page has loaded |
| Cost | Paid subscription for full access | Paid subscription for full access | Paid Acrobat subscription for full access | Free, with every tool available to everyone |
Third-party plans and limits change often, so this table describes the general shape of each offer rather than exact prices. Check each provider for current terms.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bates numbering a legal requirement?
It is not usually written into law. It is a strong professional convention, and courts, discovery orders, and opposing counsel routinely require it in practice. Check the specific order or local rules that apply to your matter, because some do specify a format.
Can I add Bates numbers to a scanned PDF?
Yes. The number is drawn on top of the page, so it does not matter whether the page holds real text or a photograph of text. If the scan is dark or busy, turn on the background box so the label stays readable. The scan does not become searchable, and that needs a separate OCR step.
What digit width should I use?
Six is the common choice and it carries up to 999,999 pages. Pick a width comfortably larger than the set you expect, because a width that runs out mid-production is far more trouble than a few extra zeros.
Should the numbers run across all my files or restart in each one?
Run them continuously across the whole set unless you have been told otherwise. A production is treated as one body of pages, and a number that appears twice cannot identify a page.
Can I skip the cover sheet?
Yes. Set a page range that starts at the first page that should be numbered. The count then begins on that page.
Are my documents uploaded to a server?
No. Every page is opened, stamped, and saved inside your browser, and no part of the file is sent anywhere. That matters for discovery material, which is confidential by default.
What is in the numbering report?
A CSV row for every file, with its first and last Bates number, how many pages were stamped, and its total page count. Files that could not be opened are listed with the reason, so the report accounts for everything you handed in.