Add page numbers to a PDF

Put page numbers on a PDF, where you want them and from the page you choose.

Privacy: runs in your browser

This tool processes your input in this browser. Inputs and results are excluded from analytics. Recent tools save tool names, visit counts and last-visit times. Favorites store only tool names. Draft saving is optional and stays on this device; delete saved text with the draft controls. Loading text from a URL is optional and contacts that server; its URL and your IP address are visible to the server. When a button sends your result to another tool, it waits in this tab until that tool opens it, for up to a minute, and is then deleted.

Copy link includes the inputs you choose to share in the address. Anyone with that link can reopen them. Files and generated results are excluded. Password and key tools share settings only.

Or drop it here. It is read on this device and never uploaded.

No PDF chosen yet.

Leave empty for every page, or write 2- to leave the first page without a number.

Your PDF

The numbered file appears here.

More
Keyboard shortcuts

Sharing and starting over

A copied link includes what you entered and your settings, so anyone with it can see them. Leave private text out. Files and results are not included; random draws are made again.

Start over puts the tool back to its starting values and closes any open file or device. Drafts you saved stay on this device until you delete them.

How to add page numbers to a PDF

Choose the PDF, where the numbers go and how they read: 1, 1 / 9 (the page and the count) or – 1 –. To leave a cover page without a number, type 2- in the pages box; to start counting from another number, change the first number.

Each number is written onto the page in Helvetica, black, a third of an inch from the edge; a page stored sideways gets its number at the edge you see as the bottom or top. The rest of the page is copied as it is.

Next: Delete PDF pages

Worked example

A 9-page report numbered from page 2, starting at 1, in the format 1 / 9 at the bottom center, gets 1 / 8 on its second page and 8 / 8 on its last; the cover stays blank.

Before you rely on the result

One PDF of up to 200 MB at a time. The numbers are digits only, so they read the same in every language. A PDF locked with a password has to be unlocked first. Nothing is uploaded.

Next: Merge PDF

Cite this page

ToolOctopus. “Add page numbers to a PDF.” Updated 2026-10-12. https://tooloctopus.com/add-page-numbers-to-pdf.

Add an access date if your instructions require one.

Citation formatting uses citeproc-js by Frank Bennett and Citation Style Language styles. License and source code.

Find a tool

Type a task, a unit pair, a sum or a time zone. ↓ to choose, Enter to open.