Bates Numbering

Stamp Bates numbers on legal documents with custom prefix, suffix, and zero-padded sequential numbering. Live preview included. 100% in your browser — files never leave your device.

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Every attorney, paralegal, and litigation support professional who has worked through document production knows the problem: hundreds of pages that need to be uniquely, sequentially stamped before they go to opposing counsel. Adobe Acrobat charges $23 per month for this. Sejda imposes a three-task-per-hour cap. iLovePDF limits free users to two documents. OneClickPDF's Bates Numbering tool is free, unlimited, and processes every file entirely in your browser. Your confidential legal documents never leave your device.

What Is Bates Numbering?

Bates numbering is a method of indexing legal documents by stamping each page with a unique, sequential identifier, typically combining a prefix code, a sequential number, and an optional suffix. Bates numbers allow attorneys, courts, and parties in litigation to reference specific pages across large document productions with precision. A typical Bates number looks like ABC000001, where “ABC” is the prefix and “000001” is the zero-padded sequential number. Bates numbering is standard practice in litigation, eDiscovery, contract review, deposition exhibits, and regulatory filings across the United States and other common-law jurisdictions.

How it works

How to Add Bates Numbers to a PDF in 3 Steps

Three steps. Upload your PDF, configure the stamp and preview it on every real page, then download — all in your browser.

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Step 1: Upload Your PDF
Drop your PDF onto the tool or click to browse. Your document is loaded and processed entirely within your browser. At no point is your file transmitted to any external server, making this safe for confidential legal documents, privilege-protected materials, and sensitive client files.
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Step 2: Configure Your Bates Stamp
Set every parameter of your stamp: enter a custom prefix (your case code or client abbreviation), an optional suffix, the starting number, and the zero-padding width (1 to 15 digits). Choose from 6 placement positions, pick a separator and one of four colours, and adjust font size and margin. The live preview overlays the stamp on each real page in real time as you change settings, so you see exactly how it will appear before applying it.
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Step 3: Download Your Numbered PDF
Once you are satisfied with the preview, click Stamp & Download and your numbered PDF is ready instantly. Every page is sequentially stamped according to your configuration, ready for document production, court submission, an eDiscovery platform upload, or any other litigation workflow that requires numbered pages.

What the Bates Numbering Tool Includes

Full control over every part of the stamp — prefix, suffix, separator, zero-padding, position, and colour — with a live preview, all running entirely in your browser.

Custom prefix and suffix

Set any alphanumeric prefix to identify the document set, case, or party (e.g. PLAINTIFF, DEF, ABC), and add an optional suffix for further classification. A separator of your choice — hyphen, underscore, space, or none — joins the parts, so you can match almost any production convention.

Zero-padded sequential numbering

Configure the digit width from 1 to 15 digits. Zero-padding keeps the stamp width consistent across the entire document (000001, 000002 … 001000) so numbers sort correctly in document management systems and stay visually uniform from the first page to the last.

Custom starting number

Set the starting number to any value, so you can continue a numbering sequence from a previous document production or batch without restarting at one. Pages you mark to skip are left unstamped and do not consume a number.

6-position placement and colour

Choose from six positions — top-left, top-center, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, or bottom-right — and pick a stamp colour from black, gray, blue, or red. Adjust font size and page margin to fit the stamp around your existing content.

Live preview on every page

See exactly how your Bates stamp will look on the actual PDF pages before applying it. Position, prefix, suffix, padding width, and colour all update in real time on every page thumbnail. No other free online Bates numbering tool offers this.

100% browser-based, no uploads

Your PDF is processed entirely within your browser. It is never transmitted to or stored on any server at any point — the tool has no server-side file-handling component. No account, no email, no signup, and no ads. Free and unlimited, with file size bounded only by your device's memory.

Why Legal Professionals Choose OneClickPDF for Bates Stamping

Every competitor uploads your files. Ours does not. Sejda, DeftPDF, and iLovePDF all upload your PDF to their servers for processing, which means your client's confidential documents, settlement agreements, privileged communications, and attorney work product pass through infrastructure controlled by a third party. OneClickPDF processes your document 100% in your browser. The PDF is never transmitted anywhere and no server receives your file — this is not a promise to delete after processing, it is a technical fact: the tool has no server-side file-handling component. For law firms with client confidentiality obligations, that distinction matters.

A live preview no other free tool offers. Every other free Bates numbering tool makes you apply the stamp, download the PDF, open it, check the position and format, and repeat if something is wrong. OneClickPDF shows a live preview of exactly how the stamp will appear on your actual pages as you configure it — position, prefix, suffix, padding width, and colour all update in real time. You do not stamp a document incorrectly, which saves time and avoids re-processing large files.

More customization than free alternatives. iLovePDF's free Bates tool does not support custom prefix or suffix, zero-padded digits, 6-position placement, or colour. OneClickPDF includes all of these — plus a separator choice and a skip-pages option — without a subscription. For legal document production, where Bates format always matters, these are not optional features.

Truly free, with no hidden limits. No daily cap, no hourly restriction, no file count limit, and no watermark. Stamp as many documents as your matter demands, at any time, for free.

Who Uses Bates Numbering?

Litigation and court proceedings — stamping every page of a production set so parties, courts, and experts can reference specific pages precisely in motions, depositions, hearings, and trial.
eDiscovery document production — producing documents to opposing counsel with sequential stamps, tracking what has been produced, and maintaining privilege logs that reference specific Bates ranges.
Contract review and due diligence — giving multiple reviewers a consistent reference system across an M&A or contract-review document set, independent of filenames.
Deposition exhibits — marking exhibits before or during a deposition so transcript references map precisely to stamped pages.
Regulatory and compliance filings — producing numbered documents to agencies such as the SEC, FTC, or DOJ to create an organized, auditable submission record.
Medical records and internal control — unifying voluminous medical record PDFs from multiple providers, or tracking drafts and file versions inside a firm, under one numbering scheme.

Why choose ours?

Private Bates numbering for sensitive legal documents

Every online competitor uploads your confidential legal documents to their server. Ours processes entirely in your browser — your files never leave your device.

Feature	Adobe	Sejda	DeftPDF	iLovePDF	Ours
Free & unlimited	✗ $23/mo	✗ 3/hr	✗ 1 file	✗ 2 files	✓
No account needed	✗	✓	✓	✗	✓
Files stay in browser	Desktop	✗	✗	✗	✓
No ads or interruptions	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓
Prefix & suffix	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓
Zero-padded digits (1-15)	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓
6-position placement	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓
Live preview	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓
Color options	✓	✗	✓	✗	✓
No file size limit	✓	✗ 50MB	✗ 50MB	✗ 100MB	✓

Competitor information was accurate at time of publication and may have changed.

Need to organize the production set first? merge your PDFs into one file before stamping, split a large production into ranges, or add page numbers for a non-legal document. All tools run in your browser, no account required.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bates numbering and why is it used in legal documents?

Bates numbering is a method of stamping each page of a legal document with a unique sequential identifier, typically combining an alphanumeric prefix, a zero-padded sequential number, and an optional suffix. It is used in litigation, eDiscovery, contract review, and regulatory proceedings to create a consistent, universally referenceable page identification system. Named after the Bates Manufacturing Company, which made the original stamping devices used in law offices, Bates numbers allow attorneys, courts, and parties to reference specific pages across large document productions with precision.

How do I add Bates numbers to a PDF for free online?

To add Bates numbers to a PDF for free online, use OneClickPDF's Bates Numbering tool. Upload your PDF, then configure your prefix, suffix, separator, starting number, zero-padding width (1 to 15 digits), page position, and colour. A live preview overlays the stamp on each real page so you see exactly how it will look. When satisfied, click Stamp & Download. The tool is free, requires no account, and processes your file entirely in your browser with no upload to any server. File size is limited only by your device's available memory — there is no fixed cap.

What is the standard format for Bates numbering in litigation?

The standard Bates numbering format in litigation typically uses an alphanumeric prefix identifying the producing party (such as PLF for Plaintiff or DEF for Defendant, or a case or client code), followed by a sequential number with consistent zero-padding (commonly six to eight digits, e.g., 000001). Many courts and jurisdictions follow local rules specifying where the Bates stamp must be placed on the page, usually in the bottom-right corner. Federal courts and many state courts require or strongly recommend Bates numbering for document productions in discovery.

Can I add a custom prefix and suffix to my Bates numbers?

Yes. OneClickPDF's Bates Numbering tool lets you set any alphanumeric prefix before the sequential number and an optional suffix after it, joined by a separator of your choice (hyphen, underscore, space, or none). For example, you can configure a prefix of "SMITH" and a suffix of "EX" with a hyphen separator to produce stamps like "SMITH-000001-EX". The prefix typically identifies the producing party, case, client, or document category. The tool also lets you set the starting number and zero-padding width from 1 to 15 digits, so your stamps maintain consistent length throughout the production.

Is Bates numbering required in federal court litigation?

Bates numbering is not universally mandated by federal rules, but it is required or strongly recommended under the local rules of many federal district courts and is standard practice in virtually all major litigation. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1)(A)(ii) requires parties to identify documents they may use in their case, and Bates numbering is the standard method for satisfying that identification requirement in productions. Many ESI (Electronically Stored Information) protocols in complex litigation expressly require Bates-stamped productions.

What does zero-padded Bates numbering mean?

Zero-padded Bates numbering means each sequential number is left-padded with zeros so that all stamps have the same total digit width. For example, with 6-digit zero-padding, the first page is stamped "000001", the hundredth is "000100", and the thousandth is "001000". Zero-padding ensures that Bates stamps sort correctly alphabetically and numerically in document management systems, and that the stamp width remains visually consistent across the entire document production regardless of where in the sequence a particular page falls. OneClickPDF allows you to set the padding width from 1 to 15 digits.

Does OneClickPDF upload my legal documents when adding Bates numbers?

No. OneClickPDF processes your PDF entirely within your browser. The file is never transmitted to any server at any point in the process. This is a technical characteristic of the tool: it has no server-side file-handling component. For legal professionals with client confidentiality obligations, privilege protections, and data security responsibilities, this is a meaningful distinction from tools like Sejda, DeftPDF, and iLovePDF, which upload the document to their servers for processing.

What is the difference between Bates numbering and standard page numbering?

Standard page numbers are sequential numbers added to identify page position within a single document. Bates numbers are designed for document productions involving many separate documents: they use a prefix to identify the producing party or document set, and a sequential number that runs continuously across all documents in the production rather than restarting with each new file. This creates a unique, non-duplicated identifier for every page across the entire production, not just within a single document. Bates numbers also include customizable position, formatting, and zero-padding options specifically designed for litigation and legal use.

Where can Bates numbers be placed on a PDF page?

OneClickPDF's Bates Numbering tool supports six placement positions: top-left, top-center, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, and bottom-right. The bottom-right position is the most commonly used in litigation practice, though many courts and jurisdictions accept any consistent position. The live preview lets you see exactly where the stamp will appear on your actual document pages before you apply it, so you can confirm the placement does not obscure important content.

What software do lawyers use for Bates numbering?

Lawyers and legal professionals use a range of tools for Bates numbering. Adobe Acrobat Pro is the most widely used paid option (~$23/month), offering robust Bates stamping with full customization. Relativity, Ringtail, and other eDiscovery platforms include Bates stamping as part of their document review and production workflows, typically at enterprise pricing. For smaller firms, solo practitioners, or anyone who needs a free option without uploading documents to a server, OneClickPDF offers Bates numbering with custom prefix, suffix, separator, zero-padding, 6-position placement, colour options, and a live preview, all processed locally in the browser at no cost.

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Bates Numbering

What Is Bates Numbering?

How to Add Bates Numbers to a PDF in 3 Steps

Step 1: Upload Your PDF

Step 2: Configure Your Bates Stamp

Step 3: Download Your Numbered PDF