Add page numbers to a PDF

How it works

Choose a PDF and decide where the number goes (bottom or top, left, center or right), how it is written (3, 3 / 12, “Page 3 of 12” or your own text with {n} and {N}), which number it starts from, the font size, the margin and which pages are numbered.

The numbers are added on top of each page without rewriting the document: the original file stays intact inside the result, and bookmarks, forms and metadata are kept. Accented letters are drawn correctly; if your text uses other alphabets (Greek, Cyrillic…), a font that includes them is embedded.

Under “Advanced options” there is Bates numbering (a prefix and a zero-padded counter, common in legal documents). Everything happens in your browser and the file is not sent anywhere.

What is not preserved, and limits

• The numbers are added as new text on top of the page: once saved, they cannot be removed with this tool. Keep the original.
• The number is black: if the page has a dark background, it will not be visible.
• A digital signature stays in the file, but PDF readers will warn that the document was modified after it was signed.
• Password-protected PDFs can be numbered: the site asks for the password and it is only used in your browser, never saved or sent. The result keeps the same password. PDFs protected with a digital certificate instead of a password cannot be opened.
• Each character is drawn on its own: there is no right-to-left writing (Arabic, Hebrew) or contextual forms. Characters that no included font has (for example Chinese) are not drawn; the site warns you if that happens.
• Very large files (over roughly 100-150 MB in total, or with thousands of pages) may fail, especially on phones, because everything happens in your device's memory.