BUNDLE: Assemble an Indexed, Paginated Bundle
A bundle is not a folder of PDFs. It is one document, divided into sections, numbered straight through, with an index at the front that tells the court where everything is. This builds that file in your browser: dividers, continuous pagination stamped on every page, an index whose lines are real links to the pages they name, bookmarks, and a CSV of the index for electronic filing. Nothing is uploaded.
1. Add the documents
PDF, JPEG and PNG. Every file is read in this tab. Nothing is uploaded, and nothing is kept when you close it.
Nothing added yet.
2. The sections
A bundle is divided into sections, each one starting with a divider page carrying its name. Rename them, reorder them, add your own, or take the dividers off.
3. The documents
No documents yet.
4. The page numbers
Numbering runs continuously through the whole bundle and is stamped on every page.
5. The index
An index page at the front, listing every document with its date and its page range. Each line is a live link to the page it names.
6. Build it
What this is, and what it is not
What a bundle has to look like is the court's decision, not this page's. Directions, local practice and the tribunal's own guidance say how many bundles, what order, what numbering and what has to be in the index. This follows the convention most common in the civil courts of England and Wales as its default: sections with divider pages, continuous pagination stamped bottom right, an index at the front. Every part of that is configurable because every part of it varies. It does not claim to comply with any particular practice direction, and you should read the one that applies to you.
The numbering is stamped, and it does not sit on top of the words. In the default mode each page is scaled down by the height of the number band and shifted, so the stamp lands on paper that was blank. Nothing is covered and nothing is cropped; the page is a fraction smaller. The overlay mode is there for when you need the page at its original size, and it puts the number on a small opaque patch instead, which can cover something. Pages that carry their own rotation are handled: the stamp is placed where the reader sees the corner, not where the coordinate system started.
The index entries are links, not decoration. Each line in the index is a link annotation with a GoTo action whose destination is the target page's own object in the file. It is not a page number written into a string and hoped for. Renumber the bundle, insert a document, drop a page, and the link still lands on the right page because it never referred to a number in the first place. The bookmarks are built the same way.
Descriptions and dates start as guesses and stay editable. The description starts from the filename with the extension, a leading item number and the underscores taken out. The date starts from the PDF's own creation date, which is what the file says about itself and not necessarily the date of the document. Both are yours to correct, and a bundle index is worth correcting: it is the part a judge reads first.
The index can only print the characters the standard PDF font has. The index and the divider pages are set in Helvetica, which is built into every PDF reader and costs nothing to embed. It covers Western European text and no more. A description in Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic or Chinese cannot be printed in it, so those characters come out as a question mark and the page counts them and tells you how many and which, rather than letting a silent question mark into a court index. The PDF bookmarks and the CSV are written in Unicode and keep the original text either way. If the index itself has to carry non-Latin script, write the description in transliteration.
What it does not do. It cannot open a PDF locked with a password; remove the password in a viewer and add the unlocked copy. It does not recognise text in a scan, so a scanned bundle comes out as a scanned bundle. It does not redact. Nothing is remembered when you close the tab except the section names and your numbering settings, because the documents themselves are somebody's evidence and have no business sitting in a browser store.
Questions people ask
Are the files uploaded?
No. They are read in this tab, the thumbnails are drawn here, and the bundle is written here. The libraries that do the work are served from this site rather than a content network, so you can use the page with the network switched off and watch the network tab while you do.
What does the section letter numbering do?
It stamps the section's letter in front of the page number and restarts the count in each section, so the third page of section B is B3. That is the form many bundles use. The plain and prefixed forms run straight through the whole bundle instead.
Can I start the numbers at something other than one?
Yes. Set the starting number to continue from an earlier bundle, or to leave room at the front. With section lettering the start applies within each section.
Why is my page slightly smaller in the output?
Because the default stamping mode makes room for the number rather than printing over the document. The page content is scaled by the height of the band, which is a few per cent, and centred. If you need the page untouched, choose the overlay mode and accept that the number sits on a patch over the page.
What is the CSV for?
Electronic filing. Several filing systems want the index as data rather than as a page, so it is exported separately with the section, the description, the date, the page range and the source filename. It is plain CSV, so a spreadsheet or a case management system can read it.
Does it work on a phone?
It works, and on a small bundle it is fine. A three-hundred page bundle will be slow on a phone because the whole file is being parsed and rewritten in the browser, and a phone has less memory to do it in. The progress bar is honest about where it has got to.