Add Page Numbers to PDF

Exactly where the number lands

The margin is fixed at 28 points from the edge of the page. A point is one seventy-second of an inch, so that is about 9.9 mm, or a shade under four tenths of an inch. That is a conventional footer position: clear of most page content, and comfortably inside the unprintable strip that domestic printers reserve at the paper edge, which is usually 3 to 5 mm.

For the two bottom positions the 28 points measure up to the text baseline, so the tails of a 9 or a 4 drop a little below that line. For the top right position the same margin is measured down from the top edge to the top of the glyphs.

Horizontal placement is worked out from the real width of the string in the chosen size, not guessed. Bottom centre subtracts half the measured width from half the page width, so "9" and "Page 148 of 200" both sit properly centred. Right-aligned positions subtract the full width from the right margin, so the last character always stops at the same vertical line down the document.

Because the margin is measured from each page's own edges, a document with mixed page sizes still gets a tidy result. An A4 page at 595 by 842 points and a US Letter page at 612 by 792 points both receive a number 28 points in from their own corner.

Start at, skip first page, and the arithmetic behind them

The number printed on a sheet is not its position in the file. The tool works out the printed value as: your starting number, plus how far the sheet is into the document, minus one if you chose to skip the cover.

So with Start at 1 and Skip first page on, the second sheet of the file prints "1". With Start at 24 and no skip, the first sheet prints "24" and the tenth prints "33". Start at accepts 0, which is occasionally handy when a preface is being counted separately.

The "1 of N" format follows the same logic for its total. If your file has 24 sheets and you skip the cover, 23 sheets get numbered, so the last one reads "23 of 23" rather than "24 of 24". The total reflects what is actually printed, which is what a reader checking they have the whole document will count.

A worked example: a 24 page report with a cover

Open the file. Choose bottom centre, the "1 of N" format, Start at 1, size 10, and tick Skip first page. The preview panel goes blank of any number, because it is showing sheet one and sheet one is the cover.

Export, and you get sheets 2 through 24 carrying "1 of 23" up to "23 of 23", each sitting 28 points above the bottom edge in 10 point Helvetica, in a very dark grey rather than pure black so it reads as a footer rather than as body text. The file saves as your original name with -numbered appended.

Bates numbering is a different job

People searching for PDF numbering often actually want Bates stamping, which is what legal discovery and medical records use. A Bates number is a fixed-width identifier with a prefix and zero padding, like SMITH-000147, and it usually has to run continuously across dozens of separate files so that every sheet in a production has a unique reference.

This tool does not do that. There is no prefix field and no zero padding, so you cannot produce ABC-00012 here. What you can do is fake continuity across files by hand: number the first document from 1, note where it finished, then open the next document and set Start at to the following number. For a genuine production run with logs and exhibit stamps, dedicated legal software is the honest recommendation.

Things worth knowing before you export

The number is added as real text in the standard Helvetica font, not as a picture. You can select it, search for it, and a screen reader will read it out. The trade-off is that Helvetica in its standard form covers Western European characters only, so a non-Latin script will not render.

The text is drawn on top of whatever is already there. If a page already has a footer, a printed page number, or a dark image running to the bottom edge, the new number will sit over it rather than pushing it aside. Check the preview, and if there is a clash, move the number to the top right.

The preview is an approximation of sheet one only, drawn as an overlay rather than by generating the real file, so treat it as a guide to position and size rather than a proof. Password-protected documents are refused on opening and need their password removed first.

Everything runs in your browser, so your files never leave your device.

Related steps

Numbering is usually the last step. Combine your sections with Merge PDF first, or trim the spare sheets with Delete PDF Pages, because doing either afterwards will leave the printed numbers out of step with the new order. If you also want a status mark across each sheet, Add Watermark to PDF stacks neatly with this one.

Questions

Can I number only a range of pages, like 5 to 20?

Not directly. The only exclusion available is the first sheet. A workaround is to split the section you want, number it with the right starting value, and merge it back.

Can I remove the numbers later?

Not from this page. They become part of the page content once exported, so keep the unnumbered original if you might need to renumber after edits.

Why is the number grey rather than black?

It is drawn in a very dark grey, close to black but slightly softened, which keeps it legible in print without competing with body text.

How big should the text be?

Between 9 and 11 points suits most printed reports and matches typical body text. The slider goes from 8 up to 36, and the larger end is really for large-print handouts or slides.

Does numbering change my page sizes or content?

No. Existing pages are kept as they are and only the number is drawn on top, so text stays selectable and images are not re-encoded.