PDF tool
Add page numbers to a PDF
Put numbers on a document that does not have them — usually one assembled from several sources, where the original numbering stopped making sense. Choose the corner, the style, where the count starts, and whether the cover page gets one.
- 100% free
- No signup
- Never uploaded
Drop your file here
or click to browse from your device
Supports PDF · Max 100 MB · Up to 3,000 pages
Settings
Useful when this file is one chapter of something longer.
For cover pages. The count still advances, so page two is numbered 2.
- Secure & privateYour files are never shared
- Lightning fastMost images in under a second
- High qualitymozjpeg and libvips under the hood
- Works everywhereAny device, any browser
Output quality
Numbers are drawn as real vector text in a standard PDF font, so they stay sharp at every zoom level and add only a few bytes per page. The existing content is not touched — text stays selectable, images keep their resolution. Placement accounts for the fact that PDF positions text by its baseline rather than its top edge, which is the detail that makes naive implementations clip numbers placed at the top of a page. The number is drawn over whatever is already there rather than reflowing the page, so on a document with existing footers you may need to increase the edge distance.
See what this tool actually did to real files — median size change, speed and sample size, published whichever way the numbers fall.
Privacy: this tool does not upload your file
The file is never sent anywhere
This tool is JavaScript running in your tab. Your document is read from your disk into browser memory and never transmitted — not to us, not to anyone. It handles files up to 100 MB and 3,000 pages.
You can check this yourself
Load this page, turn off your internet connection, and run the tool. It still works. That is not a promise about our conduct — it is something you can verify in ten seconds.
Nothing to delete afterwards
There is no upload, no job record and no copy on any server, so there is no retention period. Close the tab and the working copy is gone with it.
No third parties involved
The PDF engine and its fonts are served from this domain rather than a public CDN, so no outside company sees that you used this page, or when.
Input, output and limits
Every figure below is read from the same configuration the server enforces, so this page cannot promise a limit the system will refuse.
- Input formats
- application/pdf
- Output format
- application/pdf
- Maximum file size
- 100 MB per file
- Maximum pages
- 3,000 per run
- Multiple files
- One file at a time
- Price
- Free, with no account and no watermark
- Processing
- Inside your browser — the file is never uploaded
- Engine
- pdf-lib, running inside your browser
- File retention
- None — nothing is uploaded, so there is nothing to keep or delete
Common use cases
A document assembled from several files
After merging, the original numbering restarts at every join. One continuous sequence makes the combined file usable.
Anything that will be discussed by phone or in a meeting
Being able to say "page fourteen" and have everyone land in the same place is the entire purpose.
Printed documents that might be dropped
An unnumbered stack of paper cannot be reassembled with confidence once it is out of order.
Settings you can change
Position
Bottom centre · Bottom right · Bottom left · Top centre · Top right · Top left
Style
1 · Page 1 · 1 / 24
Start counting at
From 0 to 10000, default 1.
Useful when this file is one chapter of something longer.
Leave the first page unnumbered
Default: off.
For cover pages. The count still advances, so page two is numbered 2.
Text size (pt)
From 6 to 24, default 10.
Distance from the edge (mm)
From 3 to 40, default 12.
Troubleshooting
- The numbers overlap existing content
- Increase the distance from the edge, or choose a different corner. They are drawn on top of the page rather than reflowing it.
- The first page is numbered 2
- That is the skip-first option working as intended — the count advances even on the page that is not marked. Turn it off if you want the first sheet numbered 1.
- The document now has two sets of numbers
- The original numbers are part of the page content and cannot be detected or removed. Cropping the old ones off before numbering is one way round it.
- The numbers are hard to read
- Raise the text size. They are drawn in dark grey, which is deliberately less assertive than black on a page of body text.
Something else went wrong? Tell us what happened — a person reads every report, and that is how this list gets longer.
Frequently asked questions
Browse pdf toolsCan I start numbering from something other than 1?
Yes. Set the starting number to whatever you need — useful when the file is one chapter of something longer and its first page is really page 47.
How do I leave the cover page unnumbered?
Turn on "leave the first page unnumbered". The count still advances underneath, so the second sheet is numbered 2 rather than 1 — which is almost always what a cover page means.
What if the pages already have numbers printed on them?
You will end up with two sets, which is usually worse than either alone. Check first — this tool adds numbers, it cannot detect or replace existing ones.
Will the numbers cover up existing content?
They are drawn on top, so they can. Increase the distance from the edge if a number lands on a footer, or move it to a different corner.
Where does my file go when I use this tool?
Nowhere. This tool is JavaScript that runs inside your browser tab, so the file is read straight from your disk into memory on your own device and never sent to us. There is no upload, no job record and no copy to delete afterwards — close the tab and the working copy goes with it. You can confirm this yourself: load the page, disconnect from the internet, and the tool still works. It handles files up to 100 MB and 3,000 pages, and those limits come from what one browser tab can hold rather than from anything on our side.