Add Page Numbers to PDF

Use this tool directly in your browser with local WebAssembly processing - your files stay on your device unless you explicitly choose an AI feature that sends extracted text to our API. JoyPDF offers a free tier for core PDF tasks and an optional Premium plan for advanced limits and AI-powered workflows.

Guide & FAQ

Add Page Numbers to PDF

Place page numbers with precision - choose position, font, size, and starting number.

About this tool

Stamp consistent page numbers across hundreds of sheets - bottom-centre pagination, Bates-style prefixes, or custom ranges - before court filings, tenders, and board binders. JoyPDF applies numbering locally in your browser with control over font, size, colour, start value, and which pages receive numbers. Free, no account. Existing printed page numbers in scan content remain visible underneath unless you redact them first.

What you get

Output: PDF with text overlays on selected pages - visible in all standard viewers.
Templates: numeric only, Page N of Total, custom start offset for split volumes.
Position: corners and centre top/bottom - per-page overrides where UI supports.
Typography: font family, bold, italic, underline, colour from picker.
Title page skip: option to treat first page as unnumbered cover while body counts from 1.
Limits: numbering is overlay - doesn't rewrite scan pixels hiding old numbers; redact duplicates manually.

When to use

Bates-stamping discovery productions with sequential identifiers for court.
Adding pagination to merged scans before e-filing portals reject unnumbered bundles.
Uniform footer numbers on board packs exported from mixed sources.
Restarting chapter numbering mid-document for academic thesis PDF assembly.

Why JoyPDF for this

Cloud numbering tools upload full productions - thousands of privileged pages - to stamp remotely. JoyPDF numbers locally: configure once, preview on thumbnails, export without third-party retention of discovery sets.

How to use

1Add your PDFDrop the document - thumbnails load locally for page-range selection.
2Configure numberingSet position, font, size, colour, start number, and template - simple number or Page X of Y.
3Choose page rangeNumber all pages or exclude title pages - set from/to when front matter shouldn't count.
4Download numbered PDFSave the file with footer or header numbers burned in as overlay content.

100% in-browser

Files stay on device

GDPR-friendly

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Common questions

Can I start page numbers at a specific number?

Yes - set startAt to begin at 1, 401, or any Bates start your litigation requires. Combine with fromPage/toPage to number only body chapters while skipping covers. Page X of Y templates compute total from selected range. Verify first and last page after export - off-by-one errors annoy courts. JoyPDF applies overlays locally so you can iterate quickly without re-upload.

What's the difference between overlay numbers and printed scan numbers?

JoyPDF adds new text on top of the page - existing numbers baked into scan images remain visible unless you redact or crop them. For clean pagination on scans, redact old footers or crop margin first, then add numbers. Born-digital PDFs without old footers work best. Double numbering looks unprofessional in filings - inspect zoomed.

Can I use Bates numbering format?

Use startAt plus text templates and consistent padding in your naming convention outside PDF if courts want PREFIX_000001 in filename - footer Bates often uses plain sequential numbers with prefix in template if supported. Check local rules for prefix, suffix, and digit count. JoyPDF focuses on visible footer/header numeric overlays - adapt template fields to match standing orders.

Is my PDF uploaded when adding page numbers?

No. Overlay rendering runs in your browser. Discovery PDFs stay on-device during numbering - critical for privilege sensitivity even though numbers themselves aren't secret. Close session after export on shared machines.

Will page numbers appear when printing?

Yes - overlays are part of PDF content and print with the page unless viewer settings hide annotations (JoyPDF numbers are content, not optional comments). Test grayscale print if colour chosen for numbers. Margin setting prevents clipping on home printers.

Add page numbers vs Organize PDF order?

Organize fixes sequence before numbering if pages were shuffled - otherwise numbers follow current PDF order, not logical reading order. Workflow: organize, remove blanks, rotate, then number. Numbering doesn't fix wrong page order - it labels whatever order exists.