Four-step filing workflow
Prepare a scanned contract for filing
Trim the page edges, make the scan searchable, add a filing number, and protect the finished document without choosing the file four times.
One file · 4 connected steps
Start the workflow here
Choose the PDF once. Each completed step passes it directly to the next tool on this device.
The whole job, visible up front
What will happen
- 01
- 02
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03
Add a Bates number
Open Bates numbering and enter a prefix, such as a file reference, to stamp a running number on every page.
Open Header, footer & Bates by itself - 04
Common questions
- Which languages can the text step read?
- English only for now, so a contract in another language comes back with misread words. Handwriting, including signatures and initials, is not reliably read either, though it stays visible on the page. The step reports a confidence figure and says when to read the text through; the OCR PDF page explains it.
- Does recognising the text change how the contract looks?
- It changes how the pages are stored, not what they show. Each page is redrawn as a picture with the recognised words laid invisibly behind it, so a misread word affects what a search finds, not what the page says. If the original was scanned at a high resolution, the redrawn pictures are coarser, so keep the original with the filing copy; the OCR PDF page has the figures. Fill in Pages to recognise only if you mean to leave pages out, because the filing copy then holds just the pages that were read.
- What is a Bates number, and where does it go?
- A fixed prefix and a running six-digit number stamped at the bottom right of every page, so any page can be cited exactly: with the prefix CONTRACT-, the pages run CONTRACT-000001, CONTRACT-000002 and so on. Use a prefix that ties the pages to your file, such as a matter or reference number. The number sits half an inch inside the edge of the trimmed page, which can put it on the last line of text, so check a few full pages.
- What do the password and the permission boxes protect?
- The password to open the document is real encryption: the copy is encrypted with AES-256 and cannot be read without it. The Allow boxes for printing, copying text, editing and commenting are different. They are only requests: the password you set also counts as the permissions password, so a reader that follows the PDF standard gives full access to anyone who opens the file with it, and other readers ignore them. Do not rely on them. Nobody, Filozy included, can recover a lost password, so store it safely before you delete any unprotected copy.