Pre-Production Stamping Checklist
A step-by-step checklist a paralegal or litigation support person can run through before, during, and after batch-stamping a document production so nothing leaves the office with a duplicate, missing, or misplaced Bates number.
Reviewed for 2026, updated September 8, 2026.
Most stamping mistakes are not caused by software. They come from skipped steps: an original overwritten in place, a prefix picked without checking what the last production used, a scanned set stamped without previewing the odd pages, or a range verified by glancing at the first and last file. This checklist turns the process described in our guide at /guide/ into a list you can print, pin next to the scanner, and tick off for every volume, whether it is forty pages or forty thousand.
Work through it in order. The first block protects the originals and locks in the numbering decisions, the middle block covers file preparation and the run itself, and the last block is the verification pass that proves the numbers are right before opposing counsel sees them. If you need the arithmetic for the range, the Bates Number Range Planner at /tools/bates-range-planner/ will give you the last number, the headroom left in your padding, and a clean starting point for the next volume.
- Copy every original file into a read-only source folder that no stamping run will ever write to.
- Record a manifest of the originals: file names, page counts, and a hash for each file.
- Confirm the matter's Bates prefix against the last production served, and check it does not collide with any other producing party.
- Look up the last Bates number used in the previous volume and choose a starting number that leaves a visible gap.
- Check that the digit padding still has room for this volume and the ones likely to follow.
- Decide which documents need a confidentiality or privilege legend and confirm the exact wording from the protective order.
- Decide whether exhibit labels are needed now or should wait until the hearing exhibit list is settled.
- Sort the set into native PDFs and scanned image PDFs, since they behave differently under stamping.
- Run OCR on image-only files that must be searchable, and do it before stamping, not after.
- Preview stamp placement on a sample of scanned pages, including landscape pages, oversized pages, and pages with dark borders.
- Confirm stamp position, font size, and margin so the number never covers existing text, signatures, or footers.
- Create a fresh, empty output folder named for the matter and volume, separate from the originals.
- Run a small test batch of a few dozen pages and open the output before committing to the full set.
- Run the full batch and note the start time, the end time, and the total pages reported by the software.
- Compare the total stamped pages with the page count from the originals manifest.
- Confirm the first and last Bates numbers in the output match the planned range exactly.
- Spot-check pages from the beginning, middle, and end of the set, plus every scanned file flagged during preview.
- Search the output for duplicate numbers and gaps, using a full-set check rather than a visual scan.
- Verify that legends and exhibit labels appear only on the documents that were supposed to receive them.
- Record the volume, prefix, first number, last number, page count, and date in the production log.
- Archive the stamping settings or profile used so the next volume can be run the same way.
- Keep the untouched originals and the manifest for the life of the matter.
https://pdfstampr.com/templates/pre-production-stamping-checklist/Use it in your business, share it with your team, or link to it from your own site.
Also from PdfStampr
- Bates Range and Production Log: A running log of every production volume served in a matter, with the prefix, first and last Bates numbers, page count, legends applied, and who verified it, so the next volume never overlaps the last one.
- Free calculators