In this tips series, the legal technology training experts at Affinity Consulting Group offer straightforward answers to common questions about popular software programs used in law offices. This time: Handling Bates numbering in Power PDF, adapted from “Kofax (Nuance) Power PDF for Legal Professionals.“
Regularly find yourself wrestling with Bates numbering? Follow these tips to learn how to Bates number your documents in Power PDF like a pro. Bates numbers are useful for tracking discovery. When added to documents with Power PDF, the Bates numbers appear as headers or footers on the pages of each PDF in the batch.
Getting Started
Start by opening the Add Bates Number dialog:
Edit ribbon > Insert group > Bates Numbering button > Add.
Select Files to Bates Number
First, you need to select the files to Bates number. You can select individual files or entire folders at once. And you can additional files or folders as necessary. Once added, you can reorder the files to meet your needs. Reordering the files affects which documents get “lower” Bates numbers.
- Select individual files. Click on the Add Files… button to select individual files. Use Ctrl or Shift click to select multiple files at once. Repeat as necessary.
- Select entire folders. Click on the Add Folders… button to select an entire folder. Repeat as necessary or add additional individual files.
- Reorder files. To reorder the files, select a file that is out of order and use the Move Up or Move Down button to change its location in the list. Use Ctrl or Shift click to select multiple files at once.
Change How Bates Numbered Files Are Saved
Click on the Output… button to modify how the Bates numbered files will be saved. If you want to keep a copy of both the unnumbered files and the files with Bates numbering, you need to make a change to the output settings. Once the settings are changed, uncheck the Overwrite existing files box.
Destination Folder
By default, Power PDF will save Bates numbered files to the folder where the original file was located. To change which folder the Bates numbered files are saved in, select Save to this Folder and click on the Browse… button. Select the desired folder for the saved files.
File Naming Rules
By default, Power PDF will use the original filename for the Bates numbered files. If you save the Bates numbered files in a different folder, you can avoid overwriting the original documents. Alternatively, you can change the names of the Bates numbered files. Under File Naming Rules, you can add a prefix or a suffix to the original file names or you can replace the file name with the starting and ending Bates numbers for that file.
Add Bates Numbering
Click OK on the Add Bates Numbers – Output Rules and Add Bates Numbers dialogs to move to the Add Header and Footer dialog.
- Font formatting. In the font group, select the desired font, font size and color.
- Numbering options. To set up the numbering format, click on the Macro Settings… button. Change the number of digits, the starting numbering, or add a prefix or suffix.
- Adjust margins. Use the preview at the bottom of the dialog to ensure that the Bates numbering will not overwrite the content of any of the files being numbered. If there is a conflict, either adjust the Bates numbering margins or shrink the document to make room for the Bates number. To shrink the document, click on the Appearance… link and check Shrink document to avoid overwriting the document’s text and graphics.
Insert Bates Numbering
Place your cursor inside the desired header or footer location and click the Insert Macro button. Click OK.
Download your copy of “Kofax (Nuance) Power PDF for Legal Professionals” in the Attorney at Work bookstore, or opt for a license for all your attorneys.
Also on Attorney at Work:
- “E-signatures in Adobe PDFs”
- “Going to Court: Ditch Your Expanding Folders for a PDF Portfolio”
- Video: “The Fastest Way to PDF a Word Document”
About Affinity Consulting Group
Affinity Consulting Group inspires, enables, and empowers legal teams of all sizes to work smarter, from anywhere. The company’s holistic approach incorporates people, process, and technology. Affinity’s passionate, well-connected industry experts work hand in hand with you to help you better understand and optimize your business — from software to growth strategy, and everything in between.
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