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Add Page Numbers

Free
Stamp page numbers onto every page — pick position, format, and font size. pdf-lib drawText overlay, runs in your browser.

What you'll get: a PDF with page numbers stamped on every page — pick position (six corners), format (1, 1 of N, Page 1, Page 1 of N), and font size. Lossless overlay via pdf-lib. For another use, try Rotate PDF.

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Stays in your browser
Free tools run fully on-device — nothing is uploaded to a server.
No watermarks
Clean output, no branding, no daily limits.
Free forever
No signup required. Seriously.

Why people add page numbers

Page numbers turn a PDF from a bag of pages into a navigable document. They’re mandatory for legal exhibits, expected for academic submissions, and just plain useful when someone needs to reference ‘page 47.’

Legal exhibits
Court filings often require pagination on every supporting exhibit. Stamp Bates-style numbers on a binder of evidence in seconds.
Academic submissions
Theses, journal manuscripts, and conference papers expect page numbers. Add ‘Page 1 of N’ before submission.
Multi-section reports
When you concatenate sections from different sources, the original page numbers get out of sync. Re-number end-to-end so the table of contents matches.
Reference packages
Sales decks and proposals reviewed in meetings need pagination so attendees can call out ‘back to page 12.’
Print-prep
Print shops process paginated docs faster — saves a back-and-forth when re-prints are needed for specific pages.
Scan archives
After scanning a stack of paper, page numbers help future-you find the page you need without flipping through the whole archive.

How Add Page Numbers works

Three steps, no signup, no uploads.

  1. STEP 1
    Drop your PDF
    Up to 100 MB. Files stay in your browser — pdf-lib reads and writes locally.
  2. STEP 2
    Pick position + format
    Six positions (corners + bottom/top center). Four formats: bare number, ‘1 of N’, ‘Page 1’, ‘Page 1 of N.’ Font size from 6–48 pt.
  3. STEP 3
    Apply & download
    We embed Helvetica and stamp each page via drawText. Lossless overlay — the underlying content stream is untouched.

What makes pdfcraft ai different

  • Same engine Chrome uses
    PDFium is Google's PDF engine — the one that powers Chrome's built-in PDF viewer. We compile it to WebAssembly so it runs in your browser at near-native speed.
  • 100% local processing
    Most free PDF tools upload your file to a server, process it, and stream the result back. We don't. Your file lives in your browser tab and never touches our infrastructure. Verifiable in your browser's Network panel.
  • No watermark, no signup, no daily limit
    Convert 1 PDF or 1,000. We don't gate on volume because there's nothing to gate on — the engine runs on your machine.
  • Honest about limitations
    When something the tool can't do (encrypted PDFs, cross-reference streams), we tell you clearly instead of failing silently. Same for partial results: sampled vs exact, embedded vs not.
  • Open standards, free engines
    PDFium is BSD/Apache licensed (free for any use). We don't pay vendor license fees and pass that savings on to you (and to ourselves) as a free, ad-supported tool with no upgrade-to-pro pressure.

Frequently asked questions

Is anything uploaded?
No. pdf-lib runs in your browser. The PDF never touches our servers.
Will the numbers overlap with existing content?
Possibly — we draw on top of whatever’s on the page. If the page already has a footer at the position you choose, the new number will overlap. Pick a different position, or strip existing footers first.
Can I number only certain pages?
The current version numbers every page. A startPage option exists in the op but isn’t exposed in the UI yet — for now, use Extract Pages first to isolate the pages, number them, and merge back.
What about Roman numerals or section-specific numbering?
Not in v1. Most users want simple Arabic numerals. Section-aware numbering (‘i, ii, iii’ for front matter then ‘1, 2, 3’ for the body) is on the roadmap.
Does the font support non-Latin scripts?
Helvetica covers Latin + Western European characters. CJK scripts (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) need different fonts; not supported in v1.

Need to rotate or reorder pages first?

Rotate fixes upside-down pages before numbering. Sort Pages reorders before numbers go on.

Try Rotate PDF

Related PDF tools

Other tools in the Edit category — built on the same private, in-browser pipeline.

Booklet PDFFree
Saddle-stitch imposition — reorder pages so you can print double-sided, fold the stack in half, and staple along the fold to make a booklet.
Bates NumberingFree
Stamp legal-style sequential identifiers (LAW000001, LAW000002, …) on every page. Configurable prefix, digit count, start number, position. For litigation discovery and document production.
PDF OverlayFree
Stamp the first page of one PDF (letterhead / template / watermark) onto every page of another PDF. Front-or-behind layer, configurable opacity, fit-or-stretch, optional page subset.
Fill PDF FormFree
Visually fill PDF AcroForm fields — text, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns, multi-select. Optional flatten to bake values so recipients can't edit.
Batch Process PDFsFree
Apply one operation (rotate, page numbers, watermark, remove metadata, flatten, strip links) across many PDFs at once. Output bundles into a downloadable zip.
Rotate PDFFree
Rotate selected pages by 90°/180°/270°. Lossless via pdf-lib's /Rotate adjustment — runs in milliseconds.

Use cases for this tool

Step-by-step workflows that put this tool to work.

How to combine bank statements into one PDF for your accountant
Stitch 12 monthly statements into one searchable, OCR'd PDF in under 5 minutes.
How to turn a folder of receipt photos into one expense-report PDF
Phone photos → searchable, ordered, named PDF in 3 minutes. Concur, Expensify, SAP-ready.
How to combine thesis chapters into one submission-ready PDF
Cover, abstract, chapters, references, appendices — one file, with bookmarks, page numbers, and TOC.
How to prepare exhibits for a court filing
Combine, Bates-number, and archive your exhibits into one court-ready PDF.
How to build a new-hire onboarding pack as one PDF
Combine your handbook, policies, and forms into one clean, fillable onboarding PDF.
How to turn a slide deck PDF into a printable handout
Put 2, 4, or 6 slides per page, number them, and shrink the file for clean printing or sharing.
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