WalkingPDF

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.

Image stamp and text stamp are different objects

A flattened image stamp is pixels; extraction returns nothing for it. A stamp added as text operators is characters in the page content stream, sitting beside the document's own words. Both look identical on screen. Only the text layer tells them apart, which is why the check reads extraction rather than the rendered page.

What the check reports

The free single-PDF check and the paid set audit both look for Bates-shaped strings in extractable text: a prefix, a run of digits, and a position consistent with a stamp. It reports the file and the page, and it is a warning rather than a blocker, because a searchable stamp does not make the production wrong - it makes it noisier to review.

  • Warning, not blocker: the set is still internally consistent.
  • Reported per page, so a set with one bad run is not condemned wholesale.
  • Free on one file, so you can test a sample before uploading a set.

What you do about it

Removing a text stamp means re-stamping the page with an image, which changes the file and is a production step. We do not stamp at launch. The practical use of the finding is upstream: if your numbering tool offers image or text stamps, choose image, and this finding never appears.

Frequently asked questions

Is a searchable Bates number a discovery problem?

It is a review-noise problem and occasionally a metadata problem. It is not, by itself, a failure to produce. Treat it as a warning to fix on the next run.

Can the checker tell me which pages are affected?

Yes - every finding names the file and the page number where the stamp text was found.

Keep reading

tool Check a PDF for production defects Upload one PDF and get a plain-language result for eight production checks: 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 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. hub Watermark glossary A short glossary of the words used around PDF watermarking, each defined in one or two sentences before any detail: what a watermark is, the difference between text and image marks, what diagonal, background, tiled and confidential mean, and why a dynamic watermark is not the same as a fixed one. Every term links back to the page that shows it in use. guide How to watermark a PDF To watermark a PDF, upload the file, choose a watermark style, type your wording, set the opacity to somewhere between 25% and 35%, apply it to every page and download the marked copy. The whole procedure takes about a minute in a browser, needs no software, and the original file is not changed - you keep the marked copy as a new file. guide What is a PDF watermark? A PDF watermark is text or an image placed on the pages of a document to say something about it - who it belongs to, what state it is in, or who may read it. It becomes part of the page rather than a note attached to the file, so it appears in prints, screenshots and single-page extracts, and it carries no technical protection: anyone can still open, copy and forward the document. guide Batch watermarking PDF files Batch watermarking means applying the same mark to several PDFs so they look like one set. With a browser tool you do it by settling the settings once - style, wording, opacity, colour - then running the tool once per file with those same settings, which takes under a minute each and produces consistent output without installing anything or creating an account.