pdf tool

Add page numbers to a PDF

Most numbering tools make you guess, then hand you a file with the number sitting on top of a footnote. Here the page itself is the interface: pick a corner on a real preview of your document, see the number land there, and only then download.

Runs on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

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How to use it

  1. 1

    Open the PDF

    The first page renders straight away, at its real proportions, so you are looking at your document rather than a diagram of one.

  2. 2

    Tap a corner on the page

    Six markers sit on the preview at the real anchor points. Tap one and the number appears there at its true size, colour and typeface. Drag a marker to change the margin.

  3. 3

    Choose what the number says

    Plain numbers, Page 1, 1 of 24, dashes, roman numerals, letters or a Bates number. Each tile shows the real text your file will get.

  4. 4

    Read the collision warning

    Every page is scanned for content where the number would land, and the pages that clash are listed by number before you commit.

  5. 5

    Add the numbers and download

    The stamps are drawn into a new copy in this page. The original file is untouched.

Your PDF never leaves this page

The file is read into memory by your browser and rewritten there. There is no upload, no queue and no server copy, which you can confirm in the network tab: choose a file and watch nothing happen. That matters more for PDFs than for most things, because the documents people number are contracts, court bundles, tender responses and board packs.

Two different ways to skip a page

A cover sheet and an exhibit divider are not the same problem, and most tools only solve one of them. Under Advanced options there are two lists. Leave blank but keep counting stamps nothing on those pages while they still consume a number, which is what a blank divider inside a bundle needs. Leave blank and do not count skips them entirely, so the sequence runs straight over the front matter as if it were not there.

Bates numbering, and why lawyers need it

A Bates number is a unique, permanent identifier stamped on every page of a disclosure set, usually a prefix plus a fixed width number such as ABC-000147. It exists so that a page can be cited unambiguously in a deposition, a brief or a hearing, independent of which file it came from or where it sits in the bundle. Set the prefix, the suffix and the digit count under Advanced options, from one digit up to fifteen.

Where the number actually lands

PDF pages are measured in points, at seventy two to the inch, and the margin here is set in millimetres and converted for you. Twelve millimetres is a safe default: comfortably inside the unprintable border of a normal office printer, and far enough from the trim edge that a commercial printer will not cut into it. Pages carrying a rotation flag are handled too, so a landscape table gets its number on the edge a reader will see.

Limits

  • The collision check reads the first sixty pages, so a very long file is only partly checked.
  • Existing numbers already printed on the page are not removed, so a numbered document ends up with two.
  • Numbers use the five built in PDF fonts, so a document set in a brand typeface will not match exactly.
  • A password protected PDF will not open until you save an unprotected copy.

What it does not do

  • It does not renumber or remove numbers that are already on the page.
  • It does not add a running header or a chapter title next to the number.
  • It does not shrink the page content to make room, the way Acrobat offers to.

Questions people ask

Can I make the first numbered page read one when there is a cover?

Yes, and there are two ways. Set Start numbering on page to two so the cover is skipped, then set First number shown to one so the second sheet reads one. Or add the cover to the do not count list, which produces the same sequence and leaves the start page alone.

What does the collision warning actually check?

Every page is rendered off screen at a coarse resolution and turned into a map of where ink sits. The box the number will occupy is tested against that map, for each page, every time you change a setting. It names the pages that clash so you can move the number rather than discover the problem after printing.

Why would I use the white patch?

Because sometimes the only clear corner is not clear at all. The patch paints a small white rectangle under the number before drawing it, which hides whatever was there. It is the honest trade: you get a legible number and you lose a sliver of the original page, so the warning switches to telling you which pages it would cover.

Will it renumber a document that already has numbers?

No, it adds numbers on top of whatever is there. If the document already carries them you will finish with two sets, usually in different places. Remove the originals in whatever made the document, or pick a corner the existing numbers do not use, such as the top outer edge.

Does mirroring matter if I am not printing double sided?

No, leave it off. Mirroring swaps left and right on even pages so the number always sits on the outer edge of a bound book, which is the convention for anything printed on both sides and stapled or perfect bound. On a single sided document or a file that stays on screen it just makes the numbers wander.

Is my file uploaded?

No. The preview is rendered by pdf.js and the stamps are written by pdf-lib, both running in this tab. The page makes no network request after it loads, so the document, the numbers and the Bates prefix all stay on your device.

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Related tools

Built with pdf.js (Apache-2.0), pdf-lib (MIT).

Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .