Add page numbers to a PDF

A PDF page has two sizes: the one written in the file, and the one you see. A page can carry a rotation of 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees, and every reader applies it when drawing. A scanned landscape sheet is very often stored as a portrait page with a quarter turn on it.

Tools that stamp a number at the bottom of the stored page get that wrong. On a page with a quarter turn, the stored bottom is the visible left edge, so the number comes out running up the side of the sheet, rotated ninety degrees, sometimes half off the paper.

This tool places the number in the frame you actually see, then converts that point back into the page's own coordinates and rotates the text by the same amount the reader is about to rotate the page. The two turns cancel, so the number sits along the visible bottom edge and reads the right way up. A file that mixes portrait and landscape scans comes out consistent.

Submissions rarely want the cover counted. Two boxes cover it: the page range decides which sheets get stamped, and the first number decides what the first stamped sheet is called.

Leave a title page and a contents page clean and start the count at 1 on the third sheet by writing 3- in the range and 1 in the first number. Continue a second volume from where the first ended by leaving the range blank and setting the first number to 84. The preview shows exactly which number lands on which page before you save.

Page 1 of N uses the last number the tool prints rather than the sheet count, so a numbered sequence always ends on its own total instead of quoting a number the reader never sees.

Nothing existing is touched. The numbers are added as new content on top of each page, so text stays selectable, images are not re-compressed and the page count is exactly what it was. The tool says how many pages it stamped and how many the file still has, so you can check.

The fonts are the ones built into every PDF reader, so nothing has to be embedded and the file grows by a fraction of a kilobyte per page. That is also why the wording is limited to Latin letters, digits and punctuation.

Related: watermark PDF stamps text or a logo across the pages instead of numbering them, rotate PDF straightens a sideways scan for good, and merge PDF joins the parts together before you number the result. For pictures there is watermark image and circle crop.

How do I add page numbers to a PDF for free?

Drop the PDF in, choose where the number sits and what it says, and save. The numbers are drawn into the file itself, so they print and they survive being emailed. There is no account, no upload and no limit on the number of pages.

Can I start numbering from a page other than the first?

Yes. The page range decides which pages get a number, so 3- numbers everything from the third page on and leaves a cover and a contents page clean. The first number box decides what the first stamped page is called, so you can have the third sheet print as 1 if that is what your submission asks for.

What does the N in Page 1 of N mean here?

It is the last number the tool prints, not always the sheet count of the file. Number every page of a twelve page PDF starting at 1 and it reads Page 1 of 12. Number pages 3 to 12 starting at 1 and the last one printed is 10, so it reads Page 1 of 10, which is what a reader of that numbered sequence expects.

My PDF has sideways scanned pages. Will the numbers come out sideways too?

No. A page carries its own rotation, and this tool reads it, places the number in the frame you actually see on screen, then converts that position back into the page's own coordinates and turns the text to match. A landscape scan gets its number along the bottom of the landscape view, the right way up, not running up the side of the sheet.

Does adding numbers change anything else in the file?

No. The existing page content is untouched and nothing is redrawn or re-compressed, so the text stays selectable, images keep their quality and the page count is exactly what it was. The number is added as new content on top, using one of the standard PDF fonts, which adds very little to the file size.

Can I remove the numbers afterwards?

Not from the saved file, so keep your original. Once the numbers are drawn they are part of the page content like any other text. That is what makes them print correctly everywhere, and it is why the tool never overwrites your input file, only offers a new one to download.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. The file is opened, stamped and saved entirely inside your browser using pdf-lib. Nothing is sent to FORKSAI or to any third party, nothing is stored, and there is no account. Close the tab and it is gone.