What's the difference between Bates numbering and plain page numbering?

Plain page numbering restarts at 1 in every file, while Bates numbering continues sequentially across an entire batch of files without stopping — this is the core requirement in legal review, ensuring every page in the set has a unique identifier that's never repeated.

Can I use non-Latin characters in the prefix or suffix?

No, Bates numbering is an international legal convention that always uses Latin letters and digits, so the prefix and suffix fields only accept English letters, numbers, and basic punctuation.

Bates Numbering for Legal Documents

The Bates Numbering tool adds a unique sequential identifier (like ABC-000001) to every page across a whole batch of PDF files, with the numbering continuing from one file to the next without restarting — the defining requirement for Bates numbering in legal documents and eDiscovery review, unlike plain page numbering which restarts at 1 in every file. You can customize the prefix, suffix, digit padding width, starting number, and on-page position. All processing happens in your browser; no file is ever uploaded to a server.

PDF Tools Runs entirely in your browser

Your files are processed on your device and are never uploaded to our servers.

Bates numbering is an international legal convention that always uses Latin letters and digits (e.g. ABC-000001), so the prefix/suffix fields only accept English letters, numbers, and basic punctuation — the tool's own interface stays fully in your language.

Drag PDF files here or choose them, in the order you want numbered

Numbering continues sequentially across every file in the order shown below

Choose files

What this tool does

Applies Bates numbering — the sequential identifiers used on legal documents, such as ABC-000001 — across a batch of PDFs in one continuous sequence running through all of them, rather than restarting in each file.

When to use it

You are preparing a document set for litigation or an audit and need a unique identifier for every page in the whole set.
You need to cite a specific page in formal correspondence by a number that appears nowhere else.
You are delivering documents to a party that requires continuous Bates numbering.

How to use it

Put your PDFs on the drop area — more than one is the point.
Order the files with the move up and move down controls; that order determines the sequence across them.
Set the prefix (such as ABC-) and suffix if you want them, the starting number, and the number of digits.
Choose the stamp's position on the page and its size.
Run the numbering to download the stamped files.

A practical example

Input

Three files of 10, 5 and 8 pages in that order, prefix ABC-, starting at 1, six digits.

Output

The first file numbered ABC-000001 to ABC-000010, the second ABC-000011 to ABC-000015, the third ABC-000016 to ABC-000023 — one unbroken sequence across all three.

Limitations

The prefix and suffix accept Latin letters, digits and punctuation only. Unsupported input is rejected up front with a clear message rather than producing a file with broken text — which matches the international convention of always using Latin identifiers in this context.
The stamp is drawn over the page content, so it can overlap a document with no margin where you placed it.
The order you set determines the sequence; reordering the files after numbering breaks the identifiers' logic.

Privacy and processing

All files are processed on your device and none are uploaded to our servers, including when the results are bundled for download.

Technical notes

The stamp is drawn in pdf-lib's built-in Helvetica, a deliberate choice because it is fast and synchronous and needs no per-page canvas rasterisation.
The prefix and suffix are validated before processing starts, so you get a comprehensible message instead of an internal encoding error from the library.