Can I start numbering from page 3?

Yes. Set “Start at” to the number you want the first numbered page to show, and enable “Skip the first page” if the cover should stay blank.

Will the numbers overlap existing footers?

The numbers are placed inside the page margin. If the document already has a footer in that spot, choose a different position, such as top right.

Does this work on scanned PDFs?

Yes. The number is drawn on top of the page image as text.

PDF Tools

Add Page Numbers to PDF

Name: Add Page Numbers to PDF
Author: Miikka

Add numbers to the top or bottom of every page, start counting from any number and skip the cover if you like.

By Miikka · CalcBrew · Updated Sep 24, 2026

Runs in your browser — files never leave your device.

Drop PDF file here

or click to browse · paste from clipboard · up to 100 MB

Select file

Options

Position

Format

Start at

Skip the first page

Font size

About Add Page Numbers to PDF

Merged documents, court bundles and printed handouts need running page numbers so readers can refer to a page — and the numbers baked into the file survive printing, unlike a viewer’s page counter.

Numbers are drawn as real text with an embedded standard font, so they stay crisp at any zoom and can be found with search.

How to add page numbers to PDF

Drop PDF file onto the box above, click it to browse, or paste from the clipboard.
Adjust the options if you need to — the defaults suit most cases.
Press Convert. The work happens on your device, so speed depends on your computer or phone.
Download the result.

About the format

PDF · Portable Document Format · .pdf

The fixed-layout document standard: looks the same on every device and printer, which is why forms, invoices, contracts and reports are shared as PDF.

A PDF can contain vector text, embedded fonts, images, form fields, annotations and digital signatures.
Scanned PDFs are just pictures of pages; they need OCR before the text can be searched or copied.
PDF is an open ISO standard (ISO 32000) since 2008.

Related conversions

Watermark PDFOn-deviceStamp text or a logo across every page.Merge PDFPopularOn-deviceCombine several PDFs into one, in the order you choose.Split PDFPopularOn-deviceCut a PDF into separate pages or page ranges.Rotate PDFOn-deviceTurn pages the right way up and save the PDF.PDF Page RemoverOn-deviceRemove unwanted pages from a PDF.Extract PDF PagesOn-deviceSave selected pages of a PDF as a new document.

Frequently asked questions

Cite this calculator

APACalcBrew. (2026). Add Page Numbers to PDF. https://calcbrew.com/add-page-numbers

MLA“Add Page Numbers to PDF.” CalcBrew, 2026, calcbrew.com/add-page-numbers.

Link to https://calcbrew.com/add-page-numbers. Results are estimates; cite the underlying formula or data source for academic work.