Bates Numbering Format: Prefixes, Padding, and Best Practices

This guide explains legal Bates workflows. BatesFast applies the identifiers; it does not replace review, redaction, or production validation.

What Are the Core Parts of a Bates Number?

Every Bates number is built from the same three building blocks, though not every number uses all three. The prefix identifies who produced the page or which matter it belongs to. The sequence number, padded with leading zeros, is the actual unique counter. The suffix, when present, flags something about the page's handling — most often a confidentiality designation.

A number like ABC-000123 reads as "the 123rd page produced by party ABC." Add a suffix and ABC-000123-CONF reads as "the 123rd page produced by party ABC, marked confidential." Nothing about the format is arbitrary: each segment answers a specific question a reader might have when they encounter the citation cold.

Some matters also insert a short separator segment between prefix and number for readability on very long prefixes, though this is the exception rather than the rule. The overriding design goal for any format decision is the same: a reader unfamiliar with the case should be able to look at one Bates number and correctly infer who produced it and roughly where in the sequence it falls, without needing to consult a separate key.

How Many Digits Should You Pad?

Padding exists so that every number in the sequence has the same character length, which keeps the numbers sorting correctly as plain text and keeps citations visually aligned in briefs and exhibit lists. Six digits, covering 000001 through 999999, is the de facto default and comfortably covers the overwhelming majority of matters.

Larger productions, or ones where several custodians' documents will eventually be merged into a single running sequence, are safer with 7 or 8 digits from the outset. Re-padding a sequence after numbers have already gone out in a production is disruptive: every prior citation would need to be reissued, so the better move is to over-provision digits up front rather than guess conservatively.

Choosing a Prefix Convention

The prefix is usually a short abbreviation: the party name (SMITH), a role (PL for plaintiff, DEF for defendant), or a custodian or vendor code in a multi-custodian matter. Keep it short — three to six characters is typical — because it repeats in front of every single page number for the life of the case.

Agree on prefixes with opposing counsel before production begins whenever possible. Two parties independently choosing the same prefix is a common and entirely avoidable source of confusion, since it produces two different pages that could be cited by an identical-looking string.

Confidentiality and Redaction Suffixes

A suffix appended after the sequence number flags something true about that specific page without requiring a reader to open a separate log. -CONF for confidential material and -AEO for attorneys' eyes only are the most common examples, mirroring the tiers set out in a typical protective order.

Some productions also use a suffix or a separate marker for redacted pages, so reviewers can immediately see that a page's Bates number corresponds to content that has been withheld in part. Whatever suffix vocabulary a matter adopts, document it once in the numbering protocol and apply it consistently, since inconsistent suffix use is one of the more common sources of rolling-production disputes.

Where Should the Stamp Sit on the Page?

The bottom-right corner of the page is the long-standing convention, chosen because it rarely overlaps existing content and stays visible even when documents are stapled or bound along the left edge. Placing the stamp consistently across an entire production also makes it easy to spot at a glance during a manual review of printed pages.

Coordinating Format Across Multiple Vendors or Reviewers

Large matters often involve more than one law firm, e-discovery vendor, or internal reviewer applying numbers at different points in the case. Without a shared reference, it is easy for one team to pad to six digits while another defaults to seven, or for one reviewer to write a suffix as -Conf while another writes -CONF. Text-based sorting and search treat these as different strings, which quietly breaks citation consistency even though the numbers look almost identical to a human reader.

The fix is procedural rather than technical: write the numbering protocol down in one page, share it with every vendor and reviewer before stamping begins, and spot-check a sample of early output against that protocol before the bulk of a production goes out. A five-minute check on the first batch is far cheaper than reissuing thousands of pages after a formatting drift is discovered midway through review.

Common Formatting Mistakes That Cause Rework

The most frequent error is under-padding a sequence and running out of headroom mid-production, which forces an awkward format change partway through a case. A close second is letting two different vendors or reviewers apply numbers with slightly different prefix casing or punctuation, producing a technically inconsistent sequence that looks unified only at a glance.

• Starting with 4-digit padding on a matter that turns out to exceed 10,000 pages.
• Mixing upper and lower case in the same prefix across different batches.
• Allowing a stamp to overlap existing text or a signature block.
• Forgetting to document the suffix vocabulary before multiple reviewers begin stamping.

Common questions

Further reading: EDRM E-Discovery Glossary.