Add Page Numbers to PDF

This tool adds page numbers to a PDF that does not have them — choose a corner, choose how they should read, and download the numbered file. You can leave the first page blank when it is a cover, and start counting at any number, which is what a thesis or a chapter of a longer report usually needs. Pages that are already rotated are numbered the right way up rather than sideways, which is the thing that most often goes wrong elsewhere. The whole job happens in your browser: the document is never uploaded, which matters because the files people number are usually contracts, dissertations and reports.

How to use it

1. Add a PDF. Nothing is sent anywhere — it is opened on your own device.
2. Pick a position: bottom centre is conventional, bottom right is common for printed reports.
3. Pick a format. A plain number is cleanest; 'Page 3 of 14' makes a missing sheet obvious in a printed contract.
4. Set the starting number, and say whether the first page is a cover to leave blank.
5. Download. The rest of the document is untouched — only the numbers are added.

Examples

• A thesis numbered from the introduction rather than the title page.
• A contract numbered 'Page 3 of 14' so a missing sheet is obvious.
• A scanned report where some pages were fed in sideways, numbered upright throughout.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add page numbers to a PDF?

Add the file, choose where the number should sit and how it should read, then download the result. There is nothing to install and no account to make. The numbers are drawn into the page content, so they print and they travel with the file — anyone you send it to sees them, in any reader. If you need a particular look, the text size is adjustable between 6 and 24 points; 10 is a normal footer size and 8 is discreet.

Can I skip the cover page?

Yes — set 'Leave the first page blank' and the first sheet is left alone while numbering starts on the second. One detail worth knowing: the total in 'X of Y' then counts only the numbered pages, so the page after a skipped cover reads '1 of 12' in a thirteen-sheet file rather than '1 of 13'. That is deliberate. The number is there to tell a reader whether any of the numbered pages are missing, and counting a cover they can plainly see would make it say something untrue.

Can I start numbering at a number other than 1?

Yes. Set the starting number to whatever the first numbered page should show — useful when a document is one part of a larger bound work, or when front matter has already been numbered separately in roman numerals. The count runs on from there, and any 'of' total is adjusted to match, so starting at 5 on a ten-page document gives 'Page 5 of 14' rather than a total that contradicts the numbers beside it.

Why are the numbers sideways on some pages?

On this tool they should not be, and that is the reason it exists in the form it does. Many PDFs carry a rotation instruction — every page scanned in sideways, and every landscape sheet made by turning a portrait one — and a PDF library draws in the page's original, unrotated coordinates. A tool that simply writes at 'bottom centre' puts the number up the side of any rotated page. Here the position is worked out per page from its rotation, so the number lands where the reader sees the bottom, the right way up. If you find a page where it does not, that is a bug worth reporting.

Can I remove page numbers that are already there?

Not with this tool, and be wary of anything that claims to. Once a number is drawn into the page content it is just marks on the page, indistinguishable from the rest of the text — removing it means editing the content stream and guessing which marks were the number. What you can do is cover them, or crop them off if they sit in a margin. If the numbers came from a word processor, the honest fix is to change them there and export the PDF again.