How to add page numbers to a PDF

Adding page numbers to a PDF — paginating it, in the word most people search for — means drawing a small piece of text onto each page, at a fixed distance from the edge, and saving the file again. The numbers are real text in Helvetica — selectable and searchable, not a picture — but they sit on top of the page like a stamp. Nothing about the page's existing content moves or reflows, and the document's own structure is untouched, which is both the strength and the limitation of the operation.

The quickest route here: open PDF Page Numbers, drop your file, choose a position and a format, set the start number if the document should not begin at 1, tick Don't number the first page (cover) if there is a cover, and download the numbered copy. Numbers are placed 28 pt from the edge — just under a centimetre — so they stay inside the printable area of a normal printer. Everything runs in your browser; the file is not uploaded.

The three ways to number a PDF

Method	Good for	Watch out for
A browser tool like this one	An existing PDF, on any device, with a cover page to skip	Arabic numerals only, one continuous sequence
Desktop software (Acrobat Pro, LibreOffice, cpdf)	Repeating the job, Roman numerals, per-section numbering	Installation, a paid tier for Acrobat
Built-in OS features	Nothing, in practice	Neither macOS nor Windows can number an existing PDF

On macOS, Preview can annotate a PDF but has no page-numbering function; you would be typing each number by hand. On Windows there is no built-in option either. The usual detour on both is to number the source document and export again: in Word, Insert → Page Number, then File → Save as → PDF; in LibreOffice Writer, Insert → Page Number followed by File → Export as PDF. On iPhone and Android, nothing in Files, Books or Google Drive adds page numbers, so a browser tool or a computer is the practical answer.

If you own Acrobat Pro, Tools → Edit PDF → Header & Footer → Add inserts a page number with full control over margins and lets you restrict it to a page range. For scripted work, cpdf -add-text "%Page" -bottom 28 in.pdf -o out.pdf does the same from a command line.

Which format to choose

Format	Good for
1, 2, 3	Books, reports, anything printed and bound
1 / 10	Documents where the reader must know nothing is missing: contracts, application files, exam papers
Page 1	Documents read on screen, or by people less used to formal layouts

Bottom centre is the most common position and rarely collides with content. Bottom right suits documents printed single-sided. Top positions can run into letterheads, so check a page that has a header before you commit. The font size runs from 7 to 24 pt, with 11 pt as the default — around the size of body text in most reports.

The cover page and custom starts

• Skip the cover. With the option ticked, page 1 gets no number and the count begins on page 2 with your start value. The cover is also excluded from the total: a 10-page file numbered from 1 with the cover skipped ends at 9 / 9, because there really are nine numbered pages.
• Make the cover count as page 1. Keep the option ticked and set the start number to 2. Page 2 then shows 2 / 10, and the last page shows 10 / 10 — the numbering a thesis usually wants.
• Continue a previous sequence. If this PDF is part two of a longer document that ended on page 40, set the start number to 41. Note that the total in the "1 / 10" format follows your start number too: a 12-page part two starting at 41 reads 41 / 52 through 52 / 52.

Merge first, number last

Numbers are painted onto pages, so they move with the page they are on. Reorder, delete or insert anything afterwards and the sequence is wrong, with no way to renumber in place. The order of operations is therefore fixed:

1. Combine the parts with Merge PDF — a report and its appendices, a thesis split by chapter, several scanned letters.
2. Check the page order and fix anything misplaced, upside down or unwanted with Organize PDF.
3. Only then add the numbers, on the final file.
4. If the result has to go by email, compress it after numbering with Compress PDF, not before.

Numbering each file separately gives you several sequences that all restart at 1 — exactly what a reader of a bound document notices first. How to merge PDF files covers the assembly step.

What numbering does to your file

• The numbers are drawn on the page, in dark grey Helvetica. They are not PDF "page labels", the internal names some readers show in their navigation sidebar, so your reader's page counter will not change.
• Existing numbers stay. The tool cannot remove numbering that is already part of the page; you would end up with two sets.
• The file grows by almost nothing. A short text string per page adds bytes, not kilobytes.
• Only Arabic numerals. No Roman numerals for front matter, and the word in the "Page 1" format uses the standard Latin character set.
• The whole document gets one sequence. There is no way to number a range differently in a single run.

Common problems, and what they mean

The number overlaps text or an existing footer. Some layouts already use the bottom margin. Choose another corner, or reduce the font size to 8 or 9 pt.

The numbers are wrong after I removed a page. They were fixed onto the pages when you numbered. Go back to the copy without numbers, fix the pages, then number again — which is why keeping the unnumbered original matters.

I need different numbering for different sections. Number each section as its own file with its own start number, then merge the numbered parts with Merge PDF. The parts keep the sequences you gave them.

"This PDF is password-protected." The tool cannot number a file it cannot open. Remove the password with Unlock PDF if you know it, number, then protect the document again.

A very large file is slow or fails on my phone. Everything runs locally, so memory is the limit. Use a computer, or split the document with Split PDF and number the parts with matching start numbers.

Questions people ask

Can I use Roman numerals for the front matter? Not here — Arabic numerals only. Number the front matter in the source document and export it, or use Acrobat.

Will the numbers be searchable? Yes. They are text, not an image, so a reader can find "page 12" as text on the page.

Can I put something other than a number in the footer? Not with this tool. A recurring word or mark across every page is a watermark — see Watermark PDF.

Does numbering change the page size or content? No. Pages keep their dimensions and their content; the number is added on top, inside the margin.

Is "paginating" a PDF the same as numbering its pages? Yes, in everyday use. In typesetting, pagination also covers how content is broken across pages, but when someone asks to paginate a PDF they mean writing a number on each page — which is what this does. Rearranging the pages themselves is a different job: Organize PDF.

Are my documents uploaded? No. The numbering happens in your browser, on your device.

Next steps

• Assemble the document first: Merge PDF, and the guide How to merge PDF files
• Fix the page order: Organize PDF
• Make the finished file lighter: Compress PDF, and the guide How to compress a PDF