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Bates Tab
Note: Move the mouse over the screenshot below and click on an item of interest.
Bates stamping (also called Bates numbering) is used to number and/or date/time stamp images and documents for future reference.
Typically this would be done as and when images and documents are received.
This is often used for identifying receipts, orders or agreements.
This is used extensively by the legal profession when evidence/exhibits must be numbered during the "discovery stage" of preparations for legal action.
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Apply Bates Stamp |
| Purpose: |
Enables Bates stamping as specified by the rest of the options on this tab. |
| Notes: |
There is no standard format for a Bates number although it is common to use 8, 9 or 10 digit numbers with additional identifying text (usually a short identifying prefix or suffix). The Bates number can either uniquely identify every page of every document (with the Bates number incrementing with every page) or just uniquely identify every document (with the Bates number incrementing with every document). |
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Bates Stamp: Format |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the format of the "Bates number" that will be "stamped" on every page. This format text can include any text you like as well as some special Bates markup characters. |
| Notes: |
A maximum of 100 characters can be used.
Available Bates special markup characters:
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BN-B to BN-BBBBBBBBBB |
Inserts the current Bates number, with the number of B's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed Bates number if it is less than the number of B's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg BBBB, than the actual number, eg 50423, then the full Bates number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
| PG-P to PG-PPPP |
Inserts the current page number of the PDF, with the number of P's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed page number if it is less than the number of P's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg PP, than the actual number, eg 132, then the full page number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
| DT-DD, DT-D |
Inserts the current day of the month (1 to 31), with the number of D's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed day number if it is less than the number of D's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg D, than the actual number, eg 12, then the full day number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
| DT-Day, DT-DAY, DT-Dy, DT-DY |
Inserts the name of the current day of the week, eg DT-Day=Monday, DT-DAY=MONDAY, DT-Dy=Mon and DT-DY=MON. Note: The actual full and abbreviated day names are retrieved from the current system locale information, if this is not available then it reverts to the English names. |
| DT-MM, DT-M |
Inserts the current month in the year (1 to 12), with the number of M's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed month number if it is less than the number of M's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg M, than the actual number, eg 11, then the full month number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
| DT-Month, DT-MONTH, DT-Mon, DT-MON |
Inserts the name of the current month of the year, eg DT-Month=January, DT-MONTH=JANUARY, DT-Mon=Jan and DT-MON=JAN. Note: The actual full and abbreviated month names are retrieved from the current system locale information, if this is not available then it reverts to the English names. |
| DT-YEAR, DT-YY |
Inserts the current year, eg DT-YEAR=2007, DT-YY=07. |
| TM-HH, TM-H |
Inserts the current hour of the day (0 to 23), with the number of H's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed hour number if it is less than the number of H's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg H, than the actual number, eg 19, then the full hour number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
| TM-Hh, TM-h |
Inserts the current hour of the day (0 to 12, values larger than 12 wrap around to 1, so 13 becomes 1, 14 becomes 2 etc), with the number of H's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed hour number if it is less than the number of H's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg H, than the actual number, eg 10, then the full hour number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
| TM-AMPM, TM-ampm |
Inserts either AM/am or PM/pm depending on the current hour in the day, 0-11=AM, 12-23=PM. |
| TM-MM, TM-M |
Inserts the current minute of the hour (0 to 59), with the number of M's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed minute number if it is less than the number of M's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg M, than the actual number, eg 53, then the full minute number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
| TM-SS, TM-S |
Inserts the current second of the minute (0 to 59), with the number of S's representing the number of leading zeroes that will pad the displayed second number if it is less than the number of S's indicated. If you specify a smaller number of digits, eg S, than the actual number, eg 27, then the full second number will be displayed in it's entirety. |
You don't have to specify any of the special markup formatting above, you could just have your company name, a copyright message or some general text (eg DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL etc).
If you just want each page numbered then just use PG-P.
You can create quite complex "Bates" numbers, eg "(c) Acme DT-YEAR, BN-BBBBBBBBBB-PG-PPPP [DT-MM/DT-DD/DT-YY TM-HH:TM-MM:TM-SS]" would appear as "(c) Acme 2007, 0001234567-0003 [01/31/07 14:06:29]" |
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Bates Stamp: Format Help |
| Purpose: |
Displays a popup window with brief information on the special Bates markup characters (as shown above). |
| Notes: |
This saves having to open and display the whole help file when all you want is a quick reference to the markup characters. |
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Bates Stamp: Vertical Location |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the vertical location on the page where the Bates number will be displayed. |
| Notes: |
Available options are:
A margin between the Bates "number" and the edge of the image can be specified if required (see below).
If you do not want the Bates "number" to obscure part of the image then use the border options to add space around the image where you want the Bates "number" to be displayed. |
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Bates Stamp: Horizontal Location |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the horizontal location on the page where the Bates number will be displayed. |
| Notes: |
Available options are:
A margin between the Bates "number" and the edge of the image can be specified if required (see below).
If you do not want the Bates "number" to obscure part of the image then use the border options to add space around the image where you want the Bates "number" to be displayed. |
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Bates Stamp: Rotation |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the orientation of the Bates "number" text. |
| Notes: |
Available options are:
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0 degrees |
Normal (text goes from left to right) |
| 90 degrees |
Left Side (text goes from bottom to top) |
| 180 degrees |
Upside down (text goes from right to left) |
| 270 degrees |
Right Side (text goes from top to bottom) |
A margin between the Bates "number" and the edge of the image can be specified if required (see below).
If you do not want the Bates "number" to obscure part of the image then use the border options to add space around the image where you want the Bates "number" to be displayed. |
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Bates Stamp: Background Style |
| Purpose: |
Specifies what style of background to show behind the Bates "number". |
| Notes: |
Available options are:
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None |
No background behind the Bates number is added. |
| Filled |
Both the background and border colors are used. |
| Outline |
Just the border color is used. |
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Bates Stamp: Background Border Color |
| Purpose: |
Click to bring up the standard Windows color selection dialog to select the border color. |
| Notes: |
A good combination of border and fill colors is to use a dark color for the border and a light color for the fill (eg dark green and light green, or black and white). |
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Bates Stamp: Background Fill Color |
| Purpose: |
Click to bring up the standard Windows color selection dialog to select the fill color. |
| Notes: |
A good combination of fill and border is to use a light color for the fill and a dark color for the border (eg light green and dark green, or white and black). |
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Bates Stamp: Margin |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the margin between the Bates "number" and the edge of the image. |
| Notes: |
Valid values are from 0 to 100 points.
1 point is 1/72 inch. |
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Bates Stamp: Font Size |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the point size of the font used to display the Bates "number". |
| Notes: |
Valid values are from 1 to 300 points.
1 point is 1/72 inch. |
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Bates Stamp: Font Name |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the font name of one of the standard PDF fonts (which are also known as base14 fonts) used to display the Bates "number". |
| Notes: |
Available options are:
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Courier |
| Courier Bold |
| Courier Bold Oblique |
| Courier Oblique |
| Helvetica |
| Helvetica Bold |
| Helvetica Bold Oblique |
| Helvetica Oblique |
| Times Roman |
| Times Bold |
| Times Italic |
| Times Bold Italic |
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Bates Stamp: Font Color |
| Purpose: |
Click to bring up the standard Windows color selection dialog to select the Bates font color. |
| Notes: |
White is usually a good color to pick - but it's up to you! |
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Bates Stamp: Text Style |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the text drawing style for the Bates font. |
| Notes: |
Available options are:
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Normal |
The Bates "number" is displayed using the font color specified. |
| Outline |
The Bates "number" is displayed using the font color specified and it is also outlined using the specified outline color. |
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Bates Stamp: Outline Color |
| Purpose: |
Click to bring up the standard Windows color selection dialog to select the Bates font outline color. |
| Notes: |
Dark gray is usually a good color to pick - but it's up to you! |
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Bates Stamp: Initial Number |
| Purpose: |
Specify the initial Bates number (BN-B). |
| Notes: |
Valid values are from 0 to 4294967295.
If a Bates filename has been specified and that file contains a number then then this option is ignored as the next Bates number to use is based on the value in the filename give. If the file does not exist or is empty, then this value is used and will be recorded in the filename (if it has been specified) for later use. |
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Bates Stamp: Increment Number |
| Purpose: |
Specify the value by which the Bates number is incremented every time it is used. |
| Notes: |
Valid values are from 0 to 1000000.
When the Bates number exceeds 4294967295 after being incremented it resets to start again with 1.
If a value of zero is used this has a special meaning in that the Bates number is not incremented per page in the PDF document but incremented by 1 each time a new PDF is created (no matter how many pages might be in the document). |
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Bates Stamp: Number Filename |
| Purpose: |
Specifies the name and location of the file to store the Bates number in. |
| Notes: |
If the file does not exist it will be created automatically when the first Bates number is used.
This file records the last used Bates number, when it is read in the number is incremented before it is used and stored back in the file. |
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Bates Stamp: Select Number Filename |
| Purpose: |
Displays the "Select Bates Number Filename" dialog box that allows a file to be selected to have the last used Bates number stored in it. |
| Notes: |
If the file does not exist it will be created automatically when the first Bates number is used. |
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