Add page numbers to PDF
Add page numbers to a PDF in a few clicks: pick where they go, how they read (1, Page 1, 1 of N or Page 1 of N), the number to start at and the size. Leave the cover page without a number if you like. It all runs in your browser, so your PDF is never uploaded.
How to add page numbers to a PDF
Add page numbers to a PDF without uploading it
A report, a thesis, a contract or a bundle of scanned pages is much easier to discuss when every page has a number. Instead of "the page with the table, about halfway in", people can say page 14. Courts, schools and offices often ask for numbered pages, and a printed stack that gets dropped is easy to put back in order. This tool adds page numbers to a PDF you already have, without opening it in a word processor.
Everything happens in your browser. The PDF is read from your device, the numbers are written into a copy on your device, and the copy is saved back to it. Nothing is sent to a server, so confidential documents stay private. One PDF of up to 60 MB and 500 pages can be numbered at a time; a PDF that needs a password to open has to have the password removed first.
Page number position, format and size
Six positions are offered: top left, top center, top right, bottom left, bottom center and bottom right. Bottom center is selected when you open a PDF, because that is where most books and reports put the number. The number sits 24 points from the edges, about a third of an inch or 8.5 mm, close to the edge without touching it.
The format decides how the number reads: 1, Page 1, 1 of N or Page 1 of N. The "of N" formats show the total, which helps readers see whether a printout is complete. N is the number printed on the last page, so it always matches what the reader sees at the end.
The size can be 10, 12 or 14 points, with 12 as the default. The numbers are written in a clean sans-serif font, Liberation Sans, which looks like Arial, in a dark gray that prints clearly without looking heavier than body text. They are written as real text, so they can be selected and searched like the rest of the page.
Start at a different number or skip the cover page
Start at sets the number on the first numbered page. Leave it at 1 for a standalone document. If the PDF is chapter three of a longer work and the earlier chapters end on page 48, type 49 and the numbers carry on from there.
Skip the first page leaves page 1 without a number, which is the usual choice when the first page is a cover or a title page. Numbering then starts on page 2, with the Start at number. A line under the options says exactly what will happen, for example "Page 1 gets no number, page 2 shows 1." If the cover should count but not show its number, set Start at to 2.
Numbers are placed on the page as you see it in a PDF reader. A landscape page, or a page that was turned in a scanner app, gets its number in the chosen spot and the right way up, not sideways along the edge.
Download the numbered PDF
Press Add page numbers and the new file is ready in a moment. It is named after the original with -numbered added, so thesis.pdf becomes thesis-numbered.pdf, and its size is shown before you download it. The file you started with is not changed. Pages are not redrawn as pictures: text stays sharp and selectable, and only the numbers are added on top.
The numbers are added on top of what is already on the page. If a page already has text in the spot you choose, pick another position. To mark every page as a draft or as confidential, watermark PDF adds a text across each page in the same way. To put pages in order before numbering them, organize PDF and merge PDF do that, also in your browser.