Add Page Numbers
Add Page Numbers stamps a number onto every page in one of nine positions. Choose the format (1, 1/10, or Page 1 of 10), the starting number, which pages get stamped, and the font, size, colour and margin. A live preview shows exactly where the number will land.
1 Add your file
Enter the open password to use it here. It is checked in your browser and never sent anywhere.
2 Choose your options
How to add Page Numbers
Add your PDF
The first page is rendered as a live preview so you can see exactly where the number lands.
Choose position and format
Click one of the nine positions, pick a format, and set the font, size, colour and margin. The preview updates instantly.
Download the numbered PDF
Numbers are drawn as real text, so they stay crisp at any zoom and can be searched.
Numbering a document that already has numbers
Page numbers are drawn into the page content as text at a chosen position, with the font, size and colour you pick. Because they become part of the page, they print everywhere and cannot be switched off — which is the point when a document is going to be referred to by page in a meeting or a court bundle.
The two settings that matter most are where numbering starts and which page counts as number one. A document with a cover and two pages of front matter usually wants numbering to begin on the fourth sheet while still calling it page 1.
A worked example
A 120-page bundle assembled from several sources already carries the original page numbers of each source, in different corners. Adding a bundle-wide number in the bottom centre, starting at the first substantive page, gives everyone a single shared reference — and placing it in a corner the originals do not use avoids two numbers sitting on top of each other.
Limitations worth knowing
- Numbers are drawn into the page and cannot be removed afterwards. Keep the original file.
- They do not replace numbers already printed on the page, so choose a position the source does not use.
- A number placed in the margin can be cut off by a printer's unprintable edge — keep it a few millimetres inside.
- Mixed page sizes and orientations shift where a fixed position lands; check a landscape page before running a long document.
- Numbering follows physical page order in the file, so reorder pages before numbering rather than after.
Further reading
Related tools
Add Page Numbers — frequently asked questions
Yes, in two independent ways. Put 3- in the pages box to stamp only from page 3 onward, and set Start numbering at to whatever you want that page to say — so page 3 of the file can be labelled 1.
Yes. Choose the i, ii, iii format. Lower-case Roman for front matter and Arabic for the body is the classic combination — run the tool twice, once for each range.
Only if your margin is very small. The preview shows exactly where the number will sit, and you can move it to any of nine positions or increase the margin.
Real text, drawn with a standard PDF font. They stay sharp at any zoom, can be selected and copied, and add almost nothing to the file size.
Not with this tool — once stamped they are page content. Keep your original file, which is why we never modify it.
The total is the number of pages in the document, not the number of pages you stamped. If you skip a cover, a ten-page file still reads 'of 10'.