How to add page numbers to a PDF
To add page numbers to a PDF, open it in Page Numbers PDF, choose where the numbers go and how they look, check the pages in the preview, and press Add Page Numbers. You get a new PDF; the original file is not changed.
Steps
- Open the PDF. Drop it on the page or choose it from your files. The file is read inside your browser; it is not uploaded to app.zone’s servers.
- Choose a position. There are six: top or bottom, each on the left, in the center or on the right. Bottom center is the default. The selector shows a small page with the spot marked, and its name.
- Choose a format. “1”, “1 / 12”, “Page 1” or “Page 1 of 12”.
- Choose which pages get a number. “All pages”, or a range of PDF pages with a start page and an end page.
- Choose the first number. Usually 1, but any whole number up to 99,999 works.
- Choose a size and a color. Small, normal or large; black, or white for dark pages.
- Check the preview. Every page shows the number where it will be printed. Open any page to see it larger, at real proportions.
- Press Add Page Numbers. The new file is called yourfile-numbered.pdf. On an iPhone or iPad, the PDF is prepared first and you save or share it from the share sheet.
Where the number sits
The number is placed close to the edge of the page, about 7 mm from it on an A4 page, so it stays out of the way of the text. If the PDF was made for print and has a trim box, the number is measured from the trim line, so it is not cut off after trimming. On landscape, rotated and unusually sized pages the number still lands in the corner you chose, as you see the page.
The three sizes are scaled to the page. On A4 they are about 7, 9.5 and 12 points: small for a discreet footer, normal for an ordinary document, large when the number should stand out.
What changes in the file, and what doesn’t
The numbers are added as real text, so they can be selected and found with search. The pages themselves are not redrawn: text stays text, images are not recompressed, and colors, page sizes and rotation stay as they were. Form fields, links and bookmarks remain.
Before the file is handed to you, it is opened again and checked: the page count, the page boxes, and a number on exactly the pages that should have one. If the check fails, nothing is saved.
Good to know
- Several PDFs as one document. Page Numbers PDF works on one PDF at a time. To number a report made of several files continuously, combine them first with Merge PDF, then number the merged file.
- Pages that already have numbers. Existing page numbers are not detected or removed; a new number is added where you choose.
- Signed PDFs. Adding page numbers changes the document, so a digital signature will not be valid in the new file. You’ll see a note when you open such a file.
- Password-protected PDFs can’t be opened.