Bates numbering · in your browser

Bates stamp a whole production. Nothing leaves your computer.

Drop in your PDFs, check the stamp on a real page, and download a numbered set with a Bates index.

Never uploaded
No sign-in to try
No Acrobat needed
2,000 pages in seconds

From Essex Software, making PDF software since 2004. BBB accredited, A+. Our desktop apps are notarized by Apple and code-signed for Windows.

What you hand over

Numbered PDFs, named by range

Every page carries its number, and each file is renamed to the range it holds: Exhibit 3.pdf becomes DEF-000024-DEF-000045.pdf.

A Bates index

One row per page, ready to paste into your production log.

Bates Number,Produced File,Original File,Page
DEF-000001,DEF-000001-DEF-000004.pdf,Lease.pdf,1
DEF-000002,DEF-000001-DEF-000004.pdf,Lease.pdf,2

A document list

Begin and end numbers for each document, for the cover letter or privilege log.

Begin Bates,End Bates,Pages,Produced File
DEF-000001,DEF-000004,4,DEF-000001-DEF-000004.pdf
DEF-000005,DEF-000008,4,DEF-000005-DEF-000008.pdf

Built for real productions

Sideways and landscape pages get an upright stamp in the corner you chose.
Password-protected or damaged files are held back, so no number is skipped.
Cover sheets can be left unstamped and uncounted.
Text stays searchable and files stay the same size.
2,000 pages in seconds: 3.5 seconds for 2,000 scanned pages on a 2020 laptop.

Privileged material stays on your computer

Your PDFs are opened, stamped and saved inside this browser tab. They are never sent to us or to anyone else, so there is nothing to delete afterwards and no vendor to add to a data-handling questionnaire.

Here is what does leave your computer: ordinary page-visit statistics, and anonymous counts from the tool, such as how many documents and pages a run had. Never a file name, never a page, never a word of a document. If you buy a pass, your payment goes to Stripe, which runs the checkout, and we keep your email address to send the receipt and the pass link. Each time the page opens, it checks the pass with us and sends a random code that tells your browsers apart, and nothing about your documents. To count your free pages, the page also tells us how many pages a free run uses; we keep that number against a scrambled code made from your internet address, for 90 days, so another browser or a private window does not start the free pages over.

Document contentsNever leave
File namesNever leave
Stamped outputSaved to your computer
Page and document countsAnonymous statistics
Ad click measurementPage visit only
Free pages usedA count per internet address, 90 days

Questions people ask

Are my documents uploaded anywhere?

No. Each PDF is read and stamped inside this browser tab, and the numbered files are saved straight to your computer. What does leave your computer is listed in the section above.

What does it cost?

Trying it costs nothing and needs no sign-in.

Do I need Adobe Acrobat?

No. This page does the stamping itself, in the browser you already have, on Windows, Mac or Linux. There is nothing to install. If you do have Acrobat Pro, here is how Bates stamping works with and without it.

Can I number several documents in one continuous sequence?

Yes, that is the default. Add the documents, put them in the order you are producing them, and the numbers run on from one document to the next without a gap. Each document's range shows in the list before you stamp.

Can I pick up where my last production ended?

Yes. When you use the same prefix again, the page offers to start at the number after your last production on this computer. You can also type any starting number yourself.

Where does the stamp go, and will it cover anything?

You choose the corner or edge and the distance from it, and you can check every page in the preview before stamping. Sideways and landscape pages are handled: the stamp lands in the corner you picked as the page is read, upright.

What happens with a password-protected PDF?

It is held back before anything is stamped, with its name shown, because skipping it would shift every later number. Remove the password or security in the program that created it, then add it again.

What is Bates numbering?

A Bates number is a unique, sequential label stamped on every page of a document set, usually a short prefix for the producing party followed by a zero-padded number, such as DEF-000001. It lets everyone in a case point to an exact page in a deposition, a motion or a letter, and it shows at a glance whether any page is missing.