Add Page Numbers to PDF

How to add page numbers to a PDF

1. Drop the PDF onto the box above, or click it to browse. One document at a time.
2. Pick the position: bottom centre, bottom right, bottom left, top centre or top right. Bottom centre is the default and suits most printed documents.
3. Choose a format: a bare 1, Page 1, Page 1 of 12 or 1 / 12. In the last two, the total is taken from the document for you.
4. Set the starting number if the count should not begin at 1 — useful when the document is one section of a larger set.
5. Choose the font size, from 6 to 72 points. The default 12 matches ordinary body text; 9 or 10 is more discreet.
6. Press “Add Page Numbers”. Every page is numbered in black Helvetica, roughly 30 points in from the edge, and the file downloads with -numbered added to its name.

What people use it for

Numbers matter the moment a document stops being read on screen by one person and starts being discussed, printed or filed by several.

• Preparing a contract or tender for signature, where clauses get referred to by page in a meeting.
• Numbering a bundle of scanned invoices or receipts before sending it to an accountant.
• Getting a thesis, manual or report ready to print, so a dropped stack can be reassembled.
• Continuing the count across an appendix that starts at 47 rather than 1.
• Adding numbers to a merged file that came from several separate sources, none of which had any.

Good to know

The numbers are drawn directly onto the pages as real text, exactly as if they had been typed there. That means they print, they survive being emailed and reopened, and they can be selected and searched — but it also means they cannot be edited or removed afterwards without going back to your original file. Keep the unnumbered version if you expect the document to change. There is also no header or footer logic behind them: the number sits at a fixed offset from the page edge, so on a page whose existing content already runs close to the margin the two can overlap. Check the first and last page before sending anything out.

Every page gets a number, including any cover or blank page, and the count follows the page order in the file rather than any numbering already printed on the pages. With the two formats that show a total, the total is the last number printed, so a 12-page file started at 5 runs from “Page 5 of 16” to “Page 16 of 16”. Nothing about your document is transmitted while this happens — it is opened, stamped and rebuilt by code running in this browser tab, so numbering a confidential set of accounts leaves no trace outside your own machine. If the page order needs sorting out first, do that with Merge PDF or Delete PDF Pages and number the result, and Watermark PDF can add a label across the same pages.

Questions people ask

Can I skip the cover page?

Not directly. The usual workaround is to split the cover off, number the rest starting at 2, and merge the two parts back together — Split PDF and Merge PDF handle both halves of that.

Can I use formats like “Page 3 of 20”?

Yes — choose Page 1 of 12 or 1 / 12 under Format and the real page count goes in automatically. Wording in another language, or a section prefix such as “A-3”, still has to come from the program the document was written in.

What happens on pages of different sizes or rotations?

The position is worked out from each page individually, so a mixed A4 and landscape document still gets its numbers in the corner you selected on every page.

Will it renumber a document that already has numbers?

No. Existing numbers are part of the page content and stay where they are, so you would end up with two sets. Number a file that has none, or remove the old ones in the source document first.

Can I number a password-protected PDF?

Yes. Files that only restrict printing, copying or editing open without a prompt, and if a PDF needs a password before it will display, you are asked for it here — it is used only inside this tab. The numbered copy is saved with no password and none of those restrictions, and the page tells you when that has happened, so run it through Protect PDF if it needs to stay locked.