Bates numbering for a document set

Bates numbering is the sequential stamp that turns a pile of documents into a citable production: ABC-000001, ABC-000002, and so on, one number per page, running unbroken across every file in the set. Once applied, that number is the page’s identity: it is what an index points to, what a deposition transcript cites, and what opposing counsel refers to. Which is why the number has to be unique across the whole production, not restarted per document.

That is the part most free tools get wrong by capping you at one file at a time, which removes the only difficult bit: anyone can number a single PDF. Here you add the whole set, put it in order, and the sequence is laid across it before anything is stamped. Each file in the list shows the exact range it will receive, so you can check the assignment before committing. Set a prefix, a suffix, the starting number and the zero-padding width; the tool also tells you the next available number, so a later production can carry on where this one stopped.

Every file comes back stamped with its pages otherwise untouched: no re-rendering, so text stays selectable and scans keep their resolution. A set arrives bundled in one zip; a single document downloads as a plain PDF. And because it all runs in your browser, a production set full of privileged material is never uploaded anywhere. There is no page cap and no file cap: the work happens on your own machine, so the only limit is your computer.