🔢 Add Page Numbers to PDF
Number a PDF with the position and format you want, skipping a cover and starting from any number. The "of N" counts numbered pages, not sheets.
Choose a PDF, or drop it here
Numbered in this tab. The document is never uploaded.
What Add Page Numbers to PDF Does
Numbering a PDF sounds like a single operation and is really two, because the position of a sheet in a file and the number printed on it are different things. A report with a cover and a contents page starts its numbering on the third sheet, and that sheet is page 1. A chapter appended to an existing bundle starts on the first sheet at page 47. Both are completely ordinary, and a tool that can only write the sheet index cannot do either.
So the two are separate controls here: which sheet numbering starts on, and what number that sheet is called. Everything else follows from them, including the part most tools get wrong.
That part is the total in "Page 3 of 10". If a cover is skipped, the total should count the numbered pages, not the sheets in the file — otherwise a twelve-sheet document with a two-page front matter ends on "Page 10 of 12", which is wrong in a way readers notice. The total is computed from the range you chose, not from the file length.
The numbers are drawn into the page content rather than added as annotations, so they print, they cannot be switched off in a viewer, and they travel with the file. Nothing on the page is moved to make room for them, which is why the margin is adjustable.
How to Use Add Page Numbers to PDF
- Add a PDF, or drop it onto the box
- Choose a format — 1, Page 1, Page 1 of 10 — and a position
- Set which sheet numbering starts on, and what number to call it
- Check the preview line, then add the numbers and save
Formula Used by Add Page Numbers to PDF
What each sheet is called
label(sheet) = startNumber + (sheet − firstNumberedSheet), total = startNumber + numberedPages − 1
- firstNumberedSheet
- the first sheet that gets a number; earlier sheets are left blank
- startNumber
- what that first numbered sheet is called
- total
- the number the LAST page carries — equal to the numbered-page count only when numbering starts at 1
Worked example
A 12-sheet report with a cover and a contents page, numbered from the body.
- firstNumberedSheet = 3, startNumber = 1
- numberedPages = 12 − 3 + 1 = 10, so total = 1 + 10 − 1 = 10
- Sheet 3 → 1 + (3 − 3) = 1, shown as "Page 1 of 10"
- Sheet 12 → 1 + (12 − 3) = 10, shown as "Page 10 of 10"
Result: The document ends on "Page 10 of 10". A tool using the sheet count prints "Page 10 of 12"; one using the numbered count but ignoring the start number prints "Page 47 of 6" on a chapter numbered from 47. Both are wrong, and the second is what this tool did before it was tested.
Common numbering setups
| You want | Start on sheet | Call it number |
|---|---|---|
| Straightforward 1, 2, 3… | 1 | 1 |
| Skip a cover | 2 | 1 |
| Skip a cover and a contents page | 3 | 1 |
| Continue a bundle that ended at 46 | 1 | 47 |
| Number the cover as page 1 but start printing at the body | Not possible in one pass — run twice, or accept a number on the cover | — |
Where to put the number
| Position | Convention |
|---|---|
| Bottom centre | Reports, essays, most single-sided documents |
| Bottom right | Business documents; the eye lands there when turning a page |
| Top right | Legal and technical documents, often alongside a running header |
| Bottom left | Used for the left-hand page of a double-sided spread |
How to Read Your Result
Check the preview line before running it
It states exactly what the first and last numbered sheets will read, which catches the two common mistakes — an off-by-one on where numbering starts, and a total that counts the wrong thing — before you have written anything into the file.
Raise the margin if there is already a footer
Nothing on the page is moved to make room, so a document that already has a footer can end up with the number sitting on top of it. Pushing the margin out, or moving to a different corner, is the fix.
Number last, after merging
If a document is still being assembled, number it at the end. Numbering the parts and then merging them gives you a file with several page 1s.
Limitations & Accuracy Notes
- Arabic numerals only. No Roman numerals for front matter, and no per-section restarts.
- The standard Helvetica font is used, so the label is Latin characters only.
- Existing content is not moved, so a number can overlap an existing footer if the margin is too small.
- One format and one position for the whole run — a document needing different placement on odd and even pages takes two passes over separate files.
- Encrypted documents are refused rather than partially processed.
- Bookmarks, attachments and document JavaScript are not preserved by the save.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I skip the cover page?
Can I start from a number other than 1?
What does the total in "Page 3 of 10" count?
Will the numbers overlap my existing footer?
Do the numbers print?
Is my document uploaded?
References & Further Reading
- ISO 32000-1 / PDF 32000 specification (Adobe copy) — Page content streams and the coordinate space the numbers are drawn into
- pdf-lib — Draws the text and measures its width so right-aligned and centred positions are exact