Assemble a clean, paginated exhibit bundle for tomorrow's hearing: combine the listed exhibits into one PDF, add conti…
Open the PDF file you want to apply Bates numbering to in Adobe Acrobat.
Go to the Tools tab and select Edit PDF.
In the secondary toolbar, click on More and then select Bates Numbering.
Choose Add Bates Numbering.
In the dialog box, click Add Files to select additional PDFs if you want to apply Bates numbering across multiple files, or proceed with the current document.
Click OK to continue to the Bates Numbering dialog.
Click Insert Bates Number and configure the numbering format, position, and font as desired.
Set the starting number and any prefix or suffix if needed.
Preview the Bates numbering placement if available.
Click OK to apply Bates numbering to the document(s).
Best practiceIf you need to remove or change Bates numbers later, use the 'Remove Bates Numbering' option in the same Bates Numbering menu.
You can preview how the Bates numbers will appear on each page before finalizing the changes.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
Bates numbering is a way to give each page in a set of documents a unique, stamped number. This helps people find and talk about specific pages easily, especially in legal cases. It is important because courts and lawyers often need to reference exact pages.
Yes, Bates numbering will still stamp numbers on each page, even if the scan is blurry. But it is best to use clear scans so the numbers and the page content are easy to read.
| Bates numbering | Page labels/renumbering |
|---|---|
| Stamps a visible number on each page | Only changes the displayed page number |
| Used for legal indexing | Used for navigation, not legal use |
| Numbers stay even if pages move | Numbers may change if pages move |
You need Acrobat Pro because only this version has the Bates numbering feature. Other versions do not let you stamp legal index numbers onto pages, so you cannot use them for proper Court Bundles.