RunToolRunPDF Page Numbers
Add page numbers to PDF.
How to Add Page Numbers to a PDF
Select a PDF
Click the upload area or drop the document that needs numbering.
Numbers are stamped locally
Sequential numbers are written onto every page directly in your browser.
Download the numbered PDF
Save a new file with clean, consistent page numbers throughout.
Numbers are drawn onto the page
Adding page numbers writes new text objects onto the existing pages. The original content is untouched underneath, and the numbers become part of the document exactly as if they had been printed there — they will appear in any reader, in print, and in an exported copy.
Because they are drawn rather than generated dynamically, they do not update themselves. Remove a page later and the numbering will skip; insert one and two pages will share a number. Number the document once its page order is final.
Where to put them and why it matters
Bottom centre is the safe default: it works for single-sided and double-sided printing, and it rarely collides with existing content. Bottom outer corner looks more considered in a bound document but requires alternating sides, and bottom right on every page reads oddly in a book-style layout.
The real constraint is what is already there. Documents produced from templates often have footers, and a number placed on top of one is worse than no number at all. Check the busiest page rather than the first before committing.
Starting number and skipped pages
Reports frequently need the cover page unnumbered and the numbering to start at one on the following page, which means both skipping a page and offsetting the count. Legal and academic documents sometimes need to continue a sequence from a previous file, starting at a number other than one.
Getting this wrong is easy to miss because the first pages look right. Check the last page as well as the first: if the final number equals the page count when it should not, the offset was not applied.
Why numbered pages matter beyond tidiness
In any document that will be discussed rather than merely read, page numbers are how people refer to it. Contracts, court filings, tenders and technical specifications all depend on being able to say 'clause 4 on page 12' and have that mean the same thing to everyone.
They also matter physically. A printed document that gets dropped or handed round without numbers is a document that may be reassembled wrongly, and nobody will notice.
How it runs
The document is rebuilt with the new text drawn in, and nothing is re-rendered — pages keep their original quality and the file grows only by the size of the added text. It runs in your browser, so contracts and internal reports are not uploaded.
As with any modification, a digital signature will be invalidated. Number the document before it is signed, not after.