To Bates number a PDF online free, drop the file on the tool below — every page is stamped with a sequential Bates label like DEF000001, DEF000002, and so on, exactly as legal discovery requires. You choose the prefix, the start number and the digit width; the stamp preview shows the first and last labels before you commit. No signup, no account, no page limits — and because the stamping runs entirely in your browser, your documents are never uploaded anywhere.
🔒 100% Private — files never leave your device. Nothing is uploaded, ever.
Published 19 October 2026 · Updated 19 October 2026
Every page gets a sequential Bates stamp
New to the concept? Start with our explainer: What is Bates numbering? — and if you only need simple 1, 2, 3 numbering, see Bates numbering vs page numbers.
The classic use case. During document production, every page of every produced document receives a unique Bates label so both sides — and the court — can cite exact pages ("see Bates DEF000042") without ambiguity. Courts and opposing counsel expect a consistent prefix and an unbroken sequence.
Regulators and internal investigations work with production sets that span email exports, spreadsheets printed to PDF, scans and memos. A single Bates sequence across all of them gives the review team a common page language for the whole matter.
Trial bundles, arbitration exhibits and due-diligence data rooms run to thousands of pages. Bates stamps let anyone locate a page instantly across binders, and let you cross-reference "as produced at CONF001872" in witness statements and briefs.
Forensic accountants and auditors stamp workpaper PDFs so every page is traceable back to the source file it came from. Combined with redaction of privileged material, the stamped set is a defensible record of what was reviewed.
Bates numbering sounds simple, so most "free" tools treat it as bait: you upload a confidential legal production to their server, stamp it, and then hit the paywall — Adobe Acrobat's web tool wants a subscription, and several "Bates stamp" sites want an account plus a per-page fee. That architecture is backwards twice over for this job. First, sequential stamping is trivial local bookkeeping on a file you already have — there is no technical reason your client's documents need to travel to a stranger's server and back. Second, Bates-stamped documents are by definition the sensitive core of a legal matter: discovery productions, privileged material, trial exhibits. Uploading them to a third-party server just to add a page label is the opposite of the caution the situation demands.
This page stamps every page in your browser with pdf-lib and never uploads the document. There is no account, no quota (there is no server to ration), no per-page fee, and no copy of your production sitting on someone else's disk afterwards. You can verify the claim in under a minute: open your browser's network tab, drop a file, stamp it, download — you will not see a single upload. Compare that with Adobe's web tools, which by design receive your full document first, and with freemium sites whose privacy policies describe retention windows on servers you never chose.
Bates labels are not law — they are convention, and courts accept any consistent scheme. The schemes that hold up share three habits. Keep the prefix meaningful: three to six characters that identify the producing party or matter (DEF, CONF, PROD, SMITH). Avoid dots and spaces; court e-filing systems handle plain alphanumerics best. Keep the digits consistent across the whole production: if you start with six digits (DEF000001), stay with six digits in every file of the matter, so alphabetical sorting of stamped files matches numeric order. Never restart the sequence mid-matter unless your protocol says otherwise — the running counter is the whole point. Our step-by-step guide walks through a full production: How to add Bates numbers to legal documents.
One practical note on redaction vs Bates order: redact privileged text first with Redact PDF, then Bates-stamp the redacted set. Stamping before redacting can leave privileged text visible in the stamped copies floating around your team, and re-stamping after redaction avoids renumbering headaches.
Bates numbering is a sequential identification system used in legal discovery: every page of a produced document set gets a unique stamped label such as DEF000001, DEF000002, and so on. The prefix identifies the producing party (e.g. DEF for defendant, CONF for confidential), and the number is a running counter across the whole production. Bates stamps let lawyers cite exact pages — "see Bates DEF000042" — and track every page through review and trial.
Drop your PDF on the tool above, type your prefix (for example DEF or CONF), choose the starting number and how many digits you want (e.g. 6 digits = DEF000001), pick the stamp position, and press "Stamp Bates numbers". Your browser stamps every page and downloads the result — no account, no upload, no cost.
No. The stamping runs entirely in JavaScript inside your own browser with pdf-lib. The document never leaves your device, so there is nothing to leak and no server copy to delete afterwards. You can verify this in your browser's network tab while the tool runs.
Yes. The Bates stamp is drawn onto each page as text, so it works on scanned PDFs, image-only PDFs, digital documents, and mixed files alike. Scanned pages that are sideways or upside down can be fixed first with our Rotate PDF tool.
Regular page numbers restart on every document and identify the page within that file. Bates numbers are unique across an entire production of many documents — the counter keeps running from one file to the next, and the prefix identifies the source or party. Our detailed comparison is here: Bates numbering vs page numbers.
Yes. Stamp the first file starting at your number (e.g. 1), then stamp the second file with the start number set to where the first file ended (e.g. if file one had 120 pages, start file two at 121). The stamp preview shows you the first and last labels before you stamp, so you can verify the sequence.
Password-protected PDFs must be unlocked before they can be stamped. Unlock the file first with our unlock tool (the password is entered and the file decrypted locally in your browser), then drop the unlocked file on this tool.
Stamp sequential legal labels on every page — stamped locally, never uploaded.
Open tool →History, anatomy of a Bates label, and where lawyers use it.
Read the guide →When a simple page number is enough — and when only Bates will do.
Read the guide →End-to-end workflow: sequence planning, redaction order, verification.
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