Bates numbering
Stamp a continuing legal control number across several PDFs at once.
Runs on your device. The file is never uploaded.
Bates numbering stamps a running number onto PDF pages across every file you drop, carrying the count from one document into the next. Each label is your prefix followed by the number zero-padded to six digits by default, starting at 1. There is no page range option, so every page of every file gets one.
Questions
Does the numbering continue across all my files?
Yes, that is the point of it. Drop several PDFs and the count runs straight through them in the order you dropped them: if the first file has 12 pages and you start at 1, the second file begins at 13. Each file still comes back separately, with a -bates suffix.
How do I control the format of the number?
With prefix and digits. The prefix is a literal string put in front, and digits is the zero-padded width, which defaults to 6. So a prefix of ABC with the default width gives ABC000001. A number too long for the width is not truncated, it simply gets wider.
Where is the stamp placed?
Bottom right of every page, 24 points in from the right edge and 16 points up from the bottom, in Helvetica at a fixed size of 9. That is the conventional position for a legal control number. There is no setting for position, size or colour, and the number is drawn straight onto the page over whatever is there.
Why was my start or digits value rejected?
Start must be a whole number of 0 or more, and digits a whole number of 1 or more, each with a message saying exactly that. Decimals and negative values are refused. The rest of the format is up to the prefix, which takes any text you want, including none.
Does it upload the documents?
No. Every file is loaded, stamped and saved by pdf-lib inside a Web Worker in this tab. That matters here, since Bates numbering is usually applied to discovery material. Nothing is transmitted, no copy is kept, and the tool runs with your network switched off.
How is this different from Add page numbers?
Add page numbers works on one file at a time, restarts its count for each file, and prints at bottom centre. This runs one continuous sequence across a whole set of documents, pads it to a fixed width with an optional prefix, and prints at bottom right. Use this when the number has to be unique across a production set.