How to put page numbers in a PDF document

How to add page numbers to a PDF in PDFZyro

1. 1Open Page numbers on the Home page and choose the PDF from your documents, or upload it.
2. 2Choose the Position: top left, top centre, top right, bottom left, bottom centre or bottom right.
3. 3Pick a format: click one of the ready-made ones (1, Page 1, Page 1 of 9, 1 / 9 or – 1 –) or type your own. {page} stands for the number and {pages} for the last number, so Page {page} of {pages} gives Page 3 of 12.
4. 4Set the First number if the numbering shouldn't start at 1.
5. 5Under Pages, leave the box empty to number every page, or type the pages to number, for example 2- to skip the cover.
6. 6Choose the font, size, bold or italic, the colour and the margins. The preview shows how the page will look before anything is saved.
7. 7Click Apply and save. The numbered PDF is saved as a new version you can download, and the unnumbered original stays in the version history.

Skipping the cover page or starting from another number

PDFZyro counts only the pages you choose to number. If you number pages 2- with the first number set to 1, the cover has no number and the page after it shows 1. Page X of Y formats count the same way, so the total is the last number shown, not the number of sheets. If the second page should show 2 instead, set the first number to 2.

Some common setups:

• A report with a cover page: pages 2-, first number 1.
• A thesis with a title page and contents: number from the first chapter, for example pages 5-, first number 1.
• The second part of a long document: set the first number to continue from part one, for example 101.
• Only some pages: list them, for example 1-3, 5, 8-.

Adding headers and footers as well

Page numbers often go with a header or footer: the document's title, a date, the word Confidential or the file name. Open the document in Edit, choose Page design, then Headers & footers, and type text into any of the six positions. Insert {page}, {pages}, {date} or {filename} and they're filled in for you on every page.

For example, a footer could read Draft {date} on the left and Page {page} of {pages} on the right. Like page numbers, headers and footers are saved as a new version.

Other ways to number PDF pages

• Word, Google Docs or another word processor: if you still have the original document, add page numbers there (in Word, Insert, then Page Number) and save it as a PDF again.
• Adobe Acrobat: the paid version has a header and footer option in its Edit PDF tools that can add page numbers. The free Acrobat Reader can't add them.
• Preview on a Mac has no page numbering option. You can type a number on each page with the Text tool, one page at a time, which only makes sense for a few pages.

Tips for page numbers

• Merge first, then number. If you're combining several PDFs, merge them into one document first so the numbering runs through the whole thing.
• Check the corners first. If the pages already have a footer or a logo, pick a position that doesn't overlap it, or change the margins.
• Use Page X of Y for documents that will be printed, so a missing page is easy to notice.
• For legal productions, use Bates numbering instead: the numbers continue across several documents and carry a prefix, such as ACME000001.
• To change numbers you added, remove them (in Edit, choose Page design, then Remove added headers, watermarks…) or restore the earlier version from the version history, then number again.

Why page numbers can't simply be typed into a PDF

A PDF isn't a word processor document: each page is laid out at fixed positions, and there's no automatic page number field that updates itself. A page numbering tool writes the right number onto each page for you, at the same position and in the same style, and works out totals such as the 12 in Page 3 of 12.

That also means the numbers don't move when pages change. If you add, remove or reorder pages after numbering, number the document again so the numbers match.