WalkingPDF

guide

How to find a missing Bates number before the set is served

A Bates gap is a number that should exist in the sequence and does not. Most gaps are invisible on screen, because the pages either side of the hole look continuous. The reliable way to find one is to read the stamp off every page and compare what is there against the range each file claims to cover.

What counts as a gap

A gap is a number between the lowest and highest stamp in the set that no page carries. ABC000118 is missing while ABC000117 and ABC000119 are both present: that is a gap. A set that runs 1 to 400 and resumes at 500 is not a gap in the same sense - it is a hole between productions, which is either a second volume or a missing one, and the two mean different things.

That distinction decides what you do about it. A gap inside a volume is a page that was dropped after numbering. A hole between volumes is either a volume nobody sent or a number range nobody used. Treating both as one problem is why the first conversation with the other side usually goes badly: they answer the wrong complaint.

The three ways a number goes missing

  • The page was never imaged. A document was collected and never scanned, so the number was skipped when the stamper ran over the images.
  • The page was imaged and then dropped. It was numbered as part of the run, then removed from the folder - pulled for privilege, replaced by a corrected scan, or lost in a copy.
  • The set was renumbered after the drop. This is the expensive one: the sequence is continuous, every number is unique, and the only evidence is that the page count no longer matches the range.

Why you cannot see it by scrolling

Open a 40-page volume and page 17 is missing. Page 18 follows page 16. Nothing is blank, nothing looks broken, and the numbers on either side are ordinary. A reviewer scrolling the file sees forty pages of a document that reads perfectly well.

The only place the loss shows is arithmetic: the file's stamp range claims 40 numbers and the file holds 39 pages. That is the check worth doing on every file in a production, and it is the one people skip because it requires reading the first and last page of every file and trusting the count.

Checking by hand, and where it stops working

  1. Read the first and last stamp in each file

    Open the file, read the number on page 1 and on the last page. Write both down. That is the range the file claims.

  2. Count the pages

    The page count of the file must equal the range width: last minus first, plus one. A mismatch is a page missing or a duplicated number inside the file.

  3. Check the joins

    Sort the files by their first stamp and confirm each file starts one number after the previous file ended, with the same prefix and the same zero padding.

What the check reports

The audit reads the stamp off every page, groups the stamps by prefix, and reports a hole by naming both ends and the number of pages inside it - for example PROD000006 to PROD000019, 14 pages - rather than printing the pair of numbers and leaving you to work out what they mean.

A hole with nothing accounting for it is a warning, not a blocker, because every production has holes and most of them are legitimate. What changes the answer is what you tell it at intake: a declared range, or a privilege log attached to the run. A declared gap is reported as explained, with your reason, and a declaration that matches no hole raises its own warning - a typo must not read as a clean set.

What to do with a real gap

  • If the page exists, put it back and re-stamp from that point. Do not renumber the whole set after anything has been served: the numbers the other side already has are the only common reference you both hold.
  • If the page was withheld, say so in the transmittal and in the log, and put a slip sheet in the set if the protocol requires one.
  • If the page never existed - a skipped number from the stamper - say that, once, in writing. An unexplained gap is the first thing a receiving party writes about.

Check this set for gaps

Upload the folder you are about to serve. The numbering is read off every page, holes are named with both ends, and the verdict is free - you only pay if you want the documents to hand to somebody else.

The verdict, the file list and the worst findings are free and stay free. The certificate, report and findings CSV unlock on payment, from $49 for a set up to 1,000 pages. The three sizes.

Frequently asked questions

Is a gap always a defect?

No. Pages are withheld for privilege, excluded by agreement, or held back as a later volume, and all three leave a legitimate hole. A gap becomes a defect when nothing in the production explains it - which is why the check asks you to declare the ones you know about instead of guessing.

Can a gap hide because the set was renumbered?

Yes, and that is the case the check exists for. If the set was renumbered after a page was dropped, the sequence is continuous and no number is missing - but the file's page count no longer matches its stamp range, and the range no longer matches the transmittal.

Does the check need a load file?

No for gaps inside a file, which are read from the pages themselves. A load file makes the joins between files explicit, so the set-level checks have something to compare against rather than inferring order from the stamps.

What if the gap is in a set somebody sent me?

That is the same check read the other way, and the output you want is the deficiency report: each hole named with both ends and a request to produce the missing pages or explain them, rather than a verdict you have to translate into a letter yourself.

Keep reading

guide How pages go missing from a production Pages disappear from a production in three ways: a document was never imaged, a document was imaged but dropped from the set, or the set was renumbered after the drop so the sequence looks continuous. The first two leave a gap in the Bates range. The third leaves no gap at all, which is why the range alone is not enough - the page count per document and the load file have to agree with it. guide Why Bates numbers land in the wrong order across files When you number a folder of PDFs in one pass, the numbering follows the order the files were added, which is usually alphabetical by filename - and neither the filename order nor the file-modified order is the order a production is served in. The sequence is still continuous, so nothing looks wrong until a receiving party reads the set. The check that catches it compares the Bates range of each file against the order the files are meant to appear. guide Privilege log template, and the columns a reviewing party needs A privilege log needs six things for every withheld document: the Bates range it covers, the document type, its date, its author, its recipient, and the basis for withholding. A log missing any of them invites a challenge that has nothing to do with whether the document is actually privileged. tool Check a PDF for production defects Upload one PDF and get a plain-language result for each production check: text layer, Bates gaps, duplicate Bates numbers, extractable stamp text, page size and rotation drift, redaction leakage, and whether the file opens at all. No account or email address is needed, and the uploaded file is checked in a temporary directory and discarded. guide Why Bates numbers show up in keyword search A stamp is either an image drawn on the page or text added to the content stream. When it is text, it stays in the text layer, and every keyword search for that number or for a stray date inside it returns the page. Receiving parties use stamped numbers as identifiers, so a searchable stamp quietly pollutes their results - and in the worst case leaks a number into a privilege log as if it were document content. guide What a slip sheet for a native file has to contain A production that includes native files - spreadsheets, presentations, anything not printed to images - needs a slip sheet for each one: a page in the numbered set that stands where the native would have been, carrying the Bates number, the confidentiality designation, the original filename and enough metadata to identify the file. Without it the paper set has a hole where the native should be, and the receiving party cannot tell a missing document from a withheld one.