What Is Bates Number?

What's a Bates number? It's the answer to your prayers. Bates numbers are like bookmarks for your images. They're how you tell scanners and OCR readers where to find the image you want them to read so they can tell you what they see and they're essential because they help you get your data back quickly. A Bates number is an electronic number that identifies images and document pages in an automated database system. It serves as a type of digital reference point that is used to facilitate timely data retrieval. Bates numbers are like a barcode for documents. They're used by large organizations for document management and may be used during litigation presentations because they are components of litigation and medical source solutions. Bates numbering allows users to select page number location and page context and print large quantities of documents in predesignated batches. You can use Bates numbers to track your work, make sure that you have the correct version of a copy when you need it, or give your documents a unique identifier so that they don't get mixed up with someone else's files! Bates numbers are printed on each paper page, usually at the bottom-right corner. If one must cite this document, the Bates number makes it easy to find the correct page. Similar to the way a book's ISBN makes it easy to see that book, a document's Bates number makes it easy to find that document. It's a little-known fact that the Bates numbering machine was invented in 1893 by Edwin G. Bates and patented by the Bates Manufacturing Company. So what is a Bates number, exactly? A Bates number is a unique identifier that printers use to track where they are in their document. It's like a book's Dewey Decimal number, only way cooler because it's for printing documents, not books about books. So how does it work? Every time you start something new, a new chapter or section, you must create a unique Bates number. If you're working on an already-existing book and your boss wants you to add a new chapter, then you have to go back through all of your old branches and add the chapter numbers from there. It can be pretty tedious work!