Add page numbers to a PDF
Number the pages of a document, in the corner you choose. Nothing is uploaded — the numbering happens in your browser.
Your file
Why use this tool
- No file size limit
- Nothing is uploaded
- No signup needed
Page numbers matter as soon as a document leaves your hands. A court filing, a tender, a thesis or a contract all get referred to by page: "see page 14" only works if page 14 says so.
Documents that were scanned, exported from a slide deck, or merged from several sources usually have none. This adds them to a finished PDF, without going back to whatever produced it.
How to add page numbers to a PDF
Add your PDF
Drop it on the box above, or click to pick it. The page count appears straight away.
Choose where they go
Six positions — three along the bottom, three along the top. Bottom center is the usual choice for printed documents.
Set the first number
Numbering starts at 1 by default. Change it if this file continues from another, and skip the first page if it is a cover.
Where to put the number
Bottom center is the safe default and the convention for most printed documents: it sits clear of the binding edge and reads the same whether pages are stapled on the left or the right.
Bottom right is common in reports and legal filings, because it is where a thumb lands when flicking through a stack. Bottom left suits documents bound on the right.
The top positions are for documents that already have something along the bottom — a footer, a disclaimer, a signature block — and would otherwise collide with it.
Starting somewhere other than one
A document split into parts should carry on counting. If the first volume ended at page 40, the second should start at 41 so a reference to page 45 points at one page rather than two.
The starting number does exactly that: set it to 41 and the first page is numbered 41, the second 42, and so on.
Skipping the first page handles the other common case — a cover or title page that should not be numbered, with the count starting on the page after it. The skipped page gets no number at all rather than a hidden one.
How the number is drawn
Numbers are set in Helvetica, one of the fourteen fonts every PDF reader is required to have. Nothing is embedded, so the file grows by a few hundred bytes for a whole document rather than the hundreds of kilobytes a font would add.
The number is placed against each page's own size, so a document mixing A4 text with wide landscape tables gets its numbers in the right place on every page rather than at one fixed coordinate.
Numbers are drawn on top of the existing content. On a page whose margin is already occupied at that corner, choose a different position rather than expecting the number to move itself.
Choosing a position
Where each option puts the number.
| Position | Reads well in | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom center | Most printed documents, reports, essays | A footer already sits centered at the foot |
| Bottom right | Legal filings, documents bound on the left | The page has a signature block bottom right |
| Top right | Documents with a busy footer | A letterhead or logo occupies the top corner |
When people number a PDF
A bundle for a court or tribunal
Continuous numbering across a document assembled from many sources, so every reference lands.
A thesis or long report
Numbers added after the sections were merged, without re-exporting from the word processor.
A scanned document
Pages that never had numbers because they came from a scanner rather than a layout program.
A tender or contract
Paperwork that has to be referred to by page in correspondence and at signing.
