Add page numbers to a PDF

How it works

Drop the PDF and the numbers appear straight away: "Page 1 of 12" at the bottom middle of every page. Change where they go, the style or the first number and the preview updates by itself. Press Download and the numbered copy is saved on your phone or computer with "-numbered" added to the name. Nothing is uploaded, there is no account and there is no daily limit.

Choices that matter

• Where: any of six spots — top or bottom, left, middle or right. Bottom middle is what most offices and colleges expect.
• Style: "Page 1 of 12", "1 / 12" or just "1".
• First number: start at 1, or carry on from another file — an annexure can start at 41.
• Cover page: tick "Leave the first page without a number" and numbering starts on page 2, counted from your first number.
• Size: small, medium or large.

Sideways and scanned pages are handled

A PDF often mixes portrait pages with landscape tables, or holds pages that were scanned sideways and turned later. The numbers are placed on the page as you see it, upright and inside the visible area, so a turned page never gets a number running up its side or lost in a margin that was cropped away.

What ends up in the file

The numbers are written into each page as ordinary text, the same way the rest of the document is. They print, they stay put when the file is re-saved or uploaded, and nothing else changes: the original text stays selectable and searchable, links keep working and the page count is the same. The file usually grows by only a few kilobytes.

When people use it

Project reports and theses before binding, court and RTI filings that must be paginated, tender documents, merged bundles of certificates for a job application, and any PDF a portal or a reviewer will refer to page by page.

Good companions

Joining several files first? Merge PDF, then number the result so the pages run in one sequence. Need a stray page gone or a page turned? Organize PDF. If a portal caps the size, Compress PDF keeps the text intact. If the PDF has a password, Unlock PDF removes it first — a locked file cannot be changed.

Privacy

The PDF is read and changed inside your browser. It is never sent to us or anyone else.