How to add page numbers to a PDF
- Drop your PDF onto the box above, or press Browse files to select it.
- Choose where the numbers should sit, pick a corner your pages leave empty.
- Select the format and, if the document is a continuation, the number to start from.
- Tick Leave the first page unnumbered when the document opens on a cover.
- Press Add page numbers and download the finished file.
What this tool offers
- Four positions covering the corners people actually use.
- Three formats: plain digits, “Page 4”, and “4 of 20” with the total filled in automatically.
- A custom starting number, for documents that continue from another file.
- An option to skip the cover page while still counting from the right number.
- Numbers drawn in a standard font that needs no embedding, keeping the file small.
- Works on documents of any length without slowing down.
Why an unnumbered document causes trouble
Page numbers are how people refer to things. Without them, a review meeting turns into "the page with the table, about two thirds through", a printed stack cannot be checked for completeness, and a reader who drops the pile has no way to reassemble it. Court submissions, tenders and academic work frequently require numbering outright.
Plenty of PDFs arrive without any. Scanned documents have whatever was printed on the paper and nothing more. Files exported from design software often omit them. Merged documents restart their printed numbering at every join, which is worse than having none at all.
Choosing a position that does not collide
Numbers are drawn on top of the existing page content, so the only real decision is which corner your document leaves empty. Bottom centre is the conventional choice for reports and books and is rarely occupied. Bottom right suits documents that already carry a footer on the left. Top right works well for legal and technical material where the foot of the page holds a reference block.
Look at a few pages before committing, particularly any with full-width tables or images running to the edge. If every corner is busy, the alternative is to add a margin, export through PDF to JPG and rebuild with JPG to PDF using a generous margin, then number the result.
Starting from something other than one
- A second volume continuing from page 120 of the first: start at 121.
- A document with a cover that should not be numbered: tick the skip option so page two shows 2.
- An appendix that must continue the main document's sequence: start at the next number.
The skip option and the starting number work independently, which is what you want. Skipping the first page does not renumber everything after it, so the counting stays aligned with the document's real structure.
The numbers become part of the page
This is drawn content, not metadata. It prints, it appears in every reader, and it survives being merged into a larger document. The trade-off is that it cannot be removed afterwards by unticking a box. The text is now part of the page, and undoing it means going back to the file you started with.
So number last. If the document still needs pages removed, rotating or splitting, do all of that first, then number the finished result. Numbering a document and then deleting page seven leaves a visible gap in the sequence, which looks worse than no numbering at all. The page deleter and merge tool belong earlier in the chain.
Font choice and privacy
Numbers are drawn in Helvetica, one of the fourteen standard PDF fonts that every reader is required to provide. Nothing has to be embedded, so the file grows by a few hundred bytes rather than the tens of kilobytes a custom font would add.
As with every tool here, the document is processed inside your browser and never uploaded, which matters for the tenders and legal filings that most often need numbering.