BASALT · JOURNAL
Bates numbering a large production
Bates numbering is mechanical, which makes it well suited to large volumes and easy to get quietly wrong. The mechanics are simple: every page receives a unique sequential identifier, usually with a prefix, and the numbering continues across documents rather than restarting.
The difficulty is not stamping. It is bookkeeping.
Continuation across a set
A production is usually many documents numbered as one sequence. If a set is stamped in several sessions, the second session has to begin where the first ended, and the number that matters is the last one used rather than the count of pages processed, since blank or excluded pages complicate the arithmetic.
A registry that records the last number issued removes the problem. Without one, the continuation is a manual note somebody has to not lose.
Collisions
The failure that actually causes trouble is issuing the same number twice, which happens when two sets are stamped from the same starting point, or when a set is re-stamped after a partial run.
A duplicate Bates number in a production is a real problem because the numbers are how documents are referred to afterwards. Detection before stamping is worth more than discovery afterwards, and it is cheap: the registry already knows which ranges have been used.
The manifest
A CSV listing each file, its page count and its assigned range is the artefact that makes a production usable. It is what lets somebody find the document containing BATES000472 without opening every file, and it is what makes a re-run verifiable.
If a tool stamps without producing one, that record has to be built by hand, which on a large set is both tedious and error prone.
Interaction with redaction
Stamps should sit clear of redacted areas. A Bates number placed inside a region that was blacked out is confusing at best, and at worst it suggests the stamp was applied before the redaction, which raises a question nobody wants to answer.
The safe order is to redact, then stamp, and to place stamps in a margin that redaction does not touch.
Timing
Stamping is cheap compared with redaction because it does not decode images: a stamp is drawn into the page's content stream. Expect a large production to number in minutes rather than the sixteen minute scale of a scanned redaction run.
Frequently asked questions
How does Bates numbering work across many documents?
The sequence continues across the set rather than restarting per document, so the second document begins at the number after the last page of the first. A registry recording the last number issued is what makes that reliable across separate sessions.
What happens if two documents get the same Bates number?
It is a genuine problem, because Bates numbers are how documents are cited afterwards. Duplicates usually come from stamping two sets from the same starting number or re-running a partial job. Detecting collisions before stamping is far cheaper than finding them later.
What is a Bates manifest?
A record, usually CSV, listing each file with its page count and assigned number range. It is what lets someone locate a specific Bates number without opening every document, and it makes a production auditable.
Should Bates numbers be applied before or after redaction?
After. Stamps should also sit in a margin clear of redacted areas, since a number inside a blacked out region is confusing and raises questions about the order in which the work was done.
Doing it in Basalt
Basalt is a native macOS PDF toolkit with eighteen tools in one window. It opens large documents without loading them into memory, renders pages on demand, and copies files into its engine in fixed-size chunks, so peak memory follows the chunk size rather than the file size. Redaction destroys content rather than covering it, and an independent verifier re-opens every written file to prove the material is gone before the file is saved. A one time $29 licence covers up to three Macs, it is free for the first 24 hours, and the engine holds no network entitlement at all, which macOS enforces at the code-signature level. Download it at basaltformac.com.
Redaction that proves itself
Basalt destroys the content you mark, then re-opens the file it wrote and proves the content is gone before it saves anything. Your documents never leave your Mac.