About this tool
Bates numbering is a convention from legal document production and discovery: every page in a case file — however many documents it spans — gets a unique, sequential, permanent identifier stamped onto it, such as "ABC0000001", "ABC0000002", and so on. Unlike simple "Page 1 of 12" numbering (which resets per document), a Bates number never repeats across the whole production, so any page can be cited unambiguously in a deposition, a court filing, or an exhibit list without confusion about which document or which copy it came from. This tool stamps Bates numbers onto every page of a PDF using pdf-lib, entirely inside your browser — the file never leaves your device.
Set an optional prefix and suffix to identify the case, party, or batch (e.g. prefix "ABC" and suffix "-CONF" for a confidential production from party ABC), choose the zero-padding width so every number lines up at a fixed length, and pick a starting number so a new batch can continue counting where a previous one left off. Pick any of the four corners for the stamp placement, and the live preview shows exactly what the first stamped page will look like before you commit. Nothing is uploaded — the whole process runs locally using pdf-lib.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bates numbering used for?
It's a convention from legal document production and litigation discovery: every page across an entire case's documents gets a unique, permanent, sequential identifier (like a page-level serial number), so any page can be precisely referenced in court filings, depositions or correspondence without ambiguity — regardless of the document it originally came from.
Can I continue numbering from where a previous document set left off?
Yes — use the "start at" field to begin this document's numbering at whatever number comes right after the last document set's final Bates number, so the whole case maintains one continuous sequence across multiple separately-processed PDFs.