Add Page Numbers to PDF
Number the pages of a PDF — position, style, size and the page to start on — see them on the pages, then download a checked file.
PDF Workspace
Add PDFs to start
Drop PDFs or images here, or choose them. Merge, split, reorder, rotate, edit, sign, convert or compress — as many steps as you like, with undo — and download one checked file.
PDFs up to 300 MB each, 5,000 pages in all; JPG, PNG and other images become pages. Password-protected PDFs ask for their password.
Your files are read and written in this browser. They are not uploaded to ToolsDev or anyone else.
Runs in your browser — nothing you enter leaves this device.
About this tool
What it does
Add Page Numbers puts a number on the pages of a PDF: plain ("3"), with the total ("3 / 10"), or written out ("Page 3 of 10"), at the top or bottom, left, centre or right, in the size you choose. You can leave a cover or contents pages unnumbered and start counting from any number. The numbers appear on the page pictures as you change the settings, so what you see is what you download. The file is then opened again and every page is checked for its number before it is offered.
How to use it
- Choose a PDF, or drop it on the page. Add more PDFs to number them as one document.
- Press Add page numbers. The numbers appear at the bottom centre of every page.
- Choose the position, the style and the size. Each change shows at once on the pages and can be undone with Ctrl+Z.
- To skip a cover, set "Start on page" to 2; to continue from another document, set "First number".
- Reorder, rotate or delete pages if you need to: the numbers follow the order the pages are in.
- Press Download PDF. The file is made, checked page by page — number included — and then offered.
Limits and your data
- Numbers are drawn in Helvetica, a font every PDF reader has. Only digits and Latin words are used ("Page", "of"), so this works for any document; the words themselves are in English.
- The number is drawn on top of the page. If the page already has text where the number goes, both show — choose another position or a smaller size.
- Numbers are placed on the page as it is seen: on a page turned sideways they still read upright at the chosen edge. On a cropped page they sit inside the part that is kept.
- Files up to 300 MB each, 1 GB and 5,000 pages in all. A password-protected PDF asks for its password when added.
- Bookmarks, attachments and accessibility tags of the original are not carried over, and a digital signature in the original is no longer valid — a signature covers the exact file that was signed.
- Your PDFs are read and written in this browser tab. They are not uploaded to ToolsDev or anyone else, and nothing is saved: closing the tab ends the session, so download what you want to keep (the page asks before you leave with work not downloaded). The page downloads its own code, and pdf.js's fonts and image decoders when a page needs them, from toolsdev.in — none of those requests carries your document.
Questions
How do I leave the cover page without a number?
Set "Start on page" to 2. Page 1 then carries no number, and page 2 shows 1 — or any number you put in "First number".
Does "Page 3 of 10" count the unnumbered pages?
No. The total counts the numbered pages: a 12-page file numbered from page 3 shows "Page 1 of 10" to "Page 10 of 10".
If I split the file afterwards, do the numbers restart?
No. A split or an extract keeps the numbers the pages have in the workspace, so page 7 of a report is still "7" in the part it lands in. Number the parts separately if you want each to start at 1.
Can I remove the numbers again?
Before downloading, yes: Remove page numbers, or undo. After downloading, the numbers are part of the new file's pages; your original file is never changed.
Is this Bates numbering?
Not on its own: these numbers have no prefix. For a Bates stamp such as "ABC-000123", use Header and Footer in the same workspace and type ABC-{page:6} in the footer; add every PDF of the set first so the numbers run on across them.