How to Bates number PDFs for legal and document bundles

What Bates numbering is

• The practice: Bates numbering is the practice of stamping a unique, sequential identifier on every page of a set of documents.
• Where the name comes from: The name comes from the Bates numbering machine, a hand stamp from the late nineteenth century that printed a number and advanced it automatically with each press.
• Who uses it: Law firms, courts, companies and government bodies still use the method, now applied digitally, whenever large volumes of pages are exchanged: in litigation and disclosure, in regulatory submissions, in audits and in internal investigations.
• Why it works: Because each identifier appears on exactly one page, anyone can locate a cited page quickly and confirm that nothing has been added or removed.

How a Bates number is built

• Prefix and padded number: A typical Bates number has two parts: a prefix that identifies the party, matter or source, and a number padded with zeros to a fixed width, like ACME-000001. The fixed width keeps identifiers the same length and makes them sort correctly.
• What the tool produces: Bates Numbering uses exactly this pattern: your prefix followed by a six-digit number, set in a small gray font and aligned to the bottom-right margin of each page, including landscape and rotated pages.
• Added as real text: The numbers are added as real text, so they can be searched and copied in most PDF viewers.
• How far six digits go: Six digits cover up to 999,999 pages, which is enough for most productions.

Choosing a prefix and a starting number

• Pick a short, distinct prefix: Pick a short prefix that means something and won't be confused with anyone else's, like a company abbreviation or a matter code. Add a separator like a hyphen so the number stands out.
• Follow any agreed format: If a protocol, agreement or court rule specifies the format, follow it exactly.
• A first production: For a first production, start at 1.
• Later productions: When you produce more documents later in the same matter, continue from the last number used instead of starting again, so identifiers never repeat.
• Record it before stamping: Record the prefix and starting number before stamping, because changing either afterwards means renumbering everything.

Numbering a set of documents

Bates numbers usually run across a whole production, not file by file.

• Merge, then number: The simplest method is to put the documents in their agreed order, combine them with Merge PDF and number the combined file once.
• If files must stay separate, number the first one, note its last identifier, and start the next file one number higher.
• Unselected pages still use numbers: Keep in mind that VelloDoc bases each number on the page's position in the file. If you leave some pages unselected in the page grid, they don't get stamped, but their numbers are still used up. That leaves gaps.
• Removing pages avoids gaps: To number a subset without gaps, remove the unwanted pages first with Remove Pages.

Finalize and redact before you stamp

Bates numbers are meant to be permanent references, so the page set should be final before any number is applied.

• Remove and redact first: Take out privileged or irrelevant pages first, and apply redactions with Redact PDF, which deletes the content inside the marked areas instead of covering it.
• Then stamp the numbers.
• Changing pages afterwards breaks the sequence: Reordering, inserting or removing pages after numbering breaks the sequence and invites questions about completeness.
• Flatten to prevent alteration: If recipients shouldn't be able to alter the stamped pages, Flatten PDF turns them into images, although that also makes the text, including the Bates numbers, unsearchable.

Checking the result and keeping a log

• Check the first and last numbers: Before you send anything, open the numbered file and check the first and last numbers.
• Watch landscape and busy corners: Also check any landscape page, and any page with content near the bottom-right corner, where the number could cover text.
• Keep a production log: Then record the production in a log: the file name, the Bates range, the date, the recipient and a short description. A log makes later references easy to verify and shows exactly what was produced.
• Confidentiality labels: For confidentiality labels like CONFIDENTIAL, Header & Footer or Watermark PDF can add them, and for ordinary page numbers without a prefix, Add Page Numbers offers more positions.

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