Free Bates Numbering Tool — Stamp PDFs with Bates Labels
Bates numbering gives every page of a document set a unique sequential label — ABC000001, ABC000002, and so on — so legal teams, auditors, and archivists can cite exact pages. Drop in one or more PDFs, set your prefix, start number, and zero-padding, choose where the stamp sits, and download. Numbering can continue across all your files or restart per file. The pdf-lib engine runs entirely in your browser, so your documents never leave your device.
Bates Numbering
Sequential page stamps — prefix, padding, position, color — all in-browser.
1 Add PDF files
2 Bates stamp settings
3 Apply & download
✅ Bates-stamped PDFs
How it works
Drop in your PDFs, pick a preset (Legal, Discovery, or Simple) or set your own prefix, start number, and zero-padding — the live preview shows exactly what the next label looks like. Choose the stamp position, size, and color, optionally limit stamping to a page range, then hit Apply Bates Numbering. Each page gets a unique sequential label drawn with the pdf-lib engine in your browser. Turn on “Continue numbering across files” to number a whole document set as one sequence.
Convention: most legal Bates stamps use a 2–4 letter prefix, a hyphen, and 6 zero-padded digits — e.g. ABC-000001.
Everyday uses
- Litigation — number discovery productions so every page is citable.
- Audits — give workpaper sets unique sequential references.
- Archives — stamp digitized collections with permanent page IDs.
- Real estate closings — label large document packages page by page.
- Researchers — number scanned source sets for exact citations.
Privacy note: stamping happens entirely in your browser with pdf-lib — your documents never leave your device.