Add Page Numbers to PDF

1. Choose your PDF, or drop it onto the box. It is opened in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.
2. Click a spot on the little page to place the numbers: top or bottom, left, center or right.
3. Pick a style, such as a plain 1 or Page 1 of 10.
4. Choose which pages to number if the first pages are a cover or contents page (see the next section).
5. Check the preview with the arrows, then click Add page numbers and download.

You get a new copy named yourfile-numbered.pdf; the original is untouched. The numbers are real text on the page, so they print and show in every PDF reader. Landscape and rotated pages are numbered the way they appear on screen, upright and in the corner you picked.

Most reports, theses and manuals don't show a number on the cover or the contents page. Two boxes handle this. Number from page is the first PDF page that gets a number. Start counting at is the number printed on it. Pages before it stay blank.

Continuing from another file works the same way. If chapter 1 ended on page 40, number chapter 2 from page 1 and start counting at 41. Use To page to leave out pages at the end, such as an appendix with its own numbering.

For anything else, open Fine-tune and type your own text. {n} becomes the page's number and {total} the last number printed. p. {n} gives “p. 1”, and Smith {n} gives an MLA-style “Smith 1”.

The total is the last number printed, which is the number of numbered pages when you start counting at 1. If you start at 41 to continue another file, a 10-page PDF reads “41 of 50”. The built-in PDF fonts cover English and Western European letters, so text in Greek, Cyrillic or Chinese can't be used in the label.

For anything printed double-sided and bound, turn on Book layout under Fine-tune and choose a right-hand position. Odd numbers then sit on the right of right-hand pages and even numbers on the left of left-hand pages, so the numbers are always on the outside edge where readers flip.

Distance from the edge is ½ inch by default, about where Word puts footers. Use ¾ inch if your printer cuts off the edge of the page. Legal files usually need a document prefix as well as a number; the Bates numbering tool adds both.

• Merge and reorder first. Numbers become part of each page, so numbering before you combine files or move pages leaves the count out of order. Numbering the merged file gives one clean sequence.
• Deleting pages afterwards leaves gaps. Remove unwanted pages with Delete PDF pages before numbering.
• Old page numbers stay. New numbers are added on top of the page, not swapped for existing ones. If the PDF already has numbers, check the preview and pick a different corner.
• Locked PDFs can't be changed. A file that needs a password to open or edit has to be unlocked first.
• Signed PDFs lose the signature check. Any change, including page numbers, makes a digital signature show as invalid, so number before the document is signed.