Page numbers are the first thing anyone asks for once a document has to be discussed by more than one person. A tender response, a court bundle, a set of minutes, a printed proposal: all of them need a way to say page eleven and have everyone land in the same place. This tool stamps a number onto every page of a PDF and hands the file straight back.

The stamping happens in your browser. Your document is never uploaded, which matters when the file you are numbering is a contract or a client submission.

Choosing a position

Six positions are available: the bottom and top of the page, each in the left, centre or right. Bottom centre is the usual choice for printed documents and the safest one when a page might be stapled or hole punched along the left edge.

The number sits about ten millimetres in from the edge, which clears the unprintable margin on a typical office printer. On mixed page sizes the position is worked out per page from that page's own dimensions, so an A4 page and an A3 fold out in the same file both come out correctly placed.

Formats and starting number

Three formats cover almost every request. A bare number suits a document going into a bundle with other numbered material. Page 1 reads better on a standalone report. The 1 of 20 form tells a reader whether anything is missing from a printed copy, which is useful for anything posted or handed over in person.

The starting number handles the common case where a cover sheet or a title page should not count. Set it to 0 and the first page carries a zero, set it to 5 and numbering picks up where an earlier document left off. When the 1 of 20 format is used, the total adjusts to match your starting point so the final page always reads as the last one.

Rotated and scanned pages

A PDF page stores its content in one orientation and can carry a separate instruction telling the reader to turn it. Scanned documents use this constantly, and it is why some tools stamp a number sideways along the edge of a scanned page.

Position here is calculated in the orientation you see on screen, then translated back into the page's own coordinates. Bottom centre means the bottom of the page as displayed, and the digits read upright, on all four quarter turns.

What the stamp does to the file

The number is drawn onto the existing page as new content in Helvetica, one of the fonts every PDF reader already has, so nothing large gets embedded and the file grows by very little. The original page content is untouched underneath.

Numbers become part of the page once saved. Keep the unnumbered original if you expect to renumber later, since a second pass would stamp over the first.

Frequently asked questions