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+# PATH-worthy Scripts
+
+Hey folks, this repo is just a collection of various scripts I use frequently enough to justify keeping them in my system PATH. I haven't written documentation for all of these scripts. I might in time. For now, here's just a few highlights.
+
+# bates: PDF Bates Number Extractor & File Renamer
+
+A simple utility for extracting Bates numbers from PDF documents and optionally renaming files based on those numbers. Particularly useful for organizing legal documents or any PDFs with sequential numbering.
+
+## Overview
+
+This tool helps you:
+- Extract Bates numbers from PDFs (both text-based and scanned documents)
+- Rename files based on their Bates number range
+- Preserve original filenames in macOS Finder comments
+- Process entire folders of PDFs in one go
+- Prepare files for use with my [Bates Source Link](https://sij.ai/sij/DEVONthink/src/branch/main/Bates%20Source%20Link.scpt$0) DEVONthink script
+
+## Installation
+
+1. Install Python dependencies:
+```bash
+pip3 install pdfplumber
+```
+
+If you plan to use OCR capabilities, also install:
+```bash
+pip3 install pytesseract pdf2image
+```
+
+2. For OCR support, install system dependencies:
+
+On macOS:
+```bash
+brew install tesseract poppler
+```
+
+On Ubuntu/Debian:
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install tesseract-ocr poppler-utils
+```
+
+## Basic Usage
+
+Test extraction without renaming files:
+```bash
+python3 bates.py /path/to/folder --prefix "FWS-" --digits 6 --dry-run
+```
+
+Rename files based on Bates numbers:
+```bash
+python3 bates.py /path/to/folder --prefix "FWS-" --digits 6 --name-prefix "FWS "
+```
+
+## Options
+
+- `--prefix`: The Bates number prefix to search for (default: "FWS-")
+- `--digits`: Number of digits after the prefix (default: 6)
+- `--ocr`: Enable OCR for scanned documents
+- `--dry-run`: Test extraction without renaming files
+- `--name-prefix`: Prefix to use when renaming files
+- `--log`: Set logging level (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL)
+
+## Notes
+
+- Always test with `--dry-run` first
+- Original filenames are preserved in Finder comments (macOS only)
+- OCR is disabled by default to keep things fast
+
+## Questions or Issues?
+
+Feel free to open an issue on GitHub if you run into any problems or have suggestions for improvements.
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