Just as paper is yield­ing to PDF as the pre­ferred for­mat for dis­cov­ery, man­u­ally stamped Bates num­ber­ing is yield­ing to dig­i­tal num­ber­ing.

I pre­fer the con­ve­nience of dig­i­tal Bates num­ber­ing. But I miss the look of the stamp. The blue ink and the dis­tinct font made the num­ber easy to spot on the page, even after being pho­to­copied. Dig­i­tal Bates num­ber­ing is often small, black, and set in Times New Roman or Arial — all of which cam­ou­flages the num­bers.

Tips for mak­ing dig­i­tal Bates num­bers stand out:

1. Make the point size rea­son­ably big — not smaller than 12 point.
2. Use a font with good numer­als.
3. Use color.
4. Make sure your Bates num­bers don’t get stamped in the con­tent of the doc­u­ment.