Numbering pages after the fact
Page numbers usually come from whatever produced the document. That breaks down as soon as a PDF is assembled from several sources — merged reports, scanned batches, contracts with appendices bolted on — because each part carries its own numbering or none at all.
This tool draws numbers directly into each page's content stream using one of the fonts every PDF reader is required to support. Nothing has to be embedded, so a 300-page document grows by a few hundred bytes rather than the size of a font file.
Position, format and where the count starts
Six positions cover the conventional choices: any corner, or centred at the top or bottom. Bottom centre is the traditional default for printed documents; outer corners suit anything intended to be flipped through rather than read straight.
The format options run from a bare numeral to Page 4 of 12. The longer forms are more useful than they look on a document that will be printed and physically handled, because a reader who drops the stack can tell immediately whether anything is missing.
The starting number exists for documents that are part of something larger. A chapter extracted from a bound report should carry the numbers it had in that report, not restart at one.
Rotated and mixed-orientation documents
A PDF page stores its dimensions in one place and its display rotation in another. A landscape page produced by rotating a portrait one still reports portrait dimensions internally. Placing a stamp using those raw numbers would land it on what the reader sees as the left or right edge, sideways.
The tool inverts the page's rotation to work out where the requested position actually falls, then rotates the text by the same amount so it reads correctly. On a document mixing portrait body pages with landscape tables, the numbers appear in the same visual place on every page and all read the right way up.
Numbering is permanent
Once drawn, a page number is ordinary page content. There is no layer to hide and no annotation to delete — it is as much a part of the page as the original text. If you might need an unnumbered version later, keep the original file.
Common uses
- Numbering a report assembled by merging several separate PDFs
- Adding exhibit or bates-style numbering to a legal bundle
- Preparing a scanned document for printing and physical filing
- Making a long document easier to reference in a meeting