How to add page numbers to a PDF (and skip the cover page)

Decide where the numbering starts

Two settings do almost all the work, and people usually only notice one of them.

• Start numbering on page is which sheet carries the first number. Every page before it stays clean.
• First number shown is the figure that first page displays.

Together they cover every common layout:

• A report with a cover. Start on page 2, first number 1. The cover is blank and the first page of content reads 1.
• A cover and a contents page. Start on page 3, first number 1.
• A chapter that continues a longer document. Start on page 1, first number 31 — so a section you are sending separately carries the same numbers it has in the full version.

In Add page numbers the preview shows the number on every page as you change these, and the pages that will stay blank are marked, so you can check the cover before anything is written.

Where the number goes, and which format

Bottom centre is the safe default: nothing else on a typical page lives there, and it reads the same whether the document is printed single- or double-sided. Bottom right suits documents that will only be read on screen or printed on one side. Avoid the top corners on letters and forms, where a letterhead or a reference box usually sits.

The format is about what the reader needs:

• 7 is enough for almost everything.
• Page 7 helps when the pages will be handled loose — a printed pack someone will separate.
• 7 / 24 tells the reader whether they have the whole document, which is worth having on anything that will be signed, faxed or submitted page by page.

One limitation worth knowing: the word in the "Page 7" format is written in English, whatever language the document is in. On a document in another language, the plain number or the 7 / 24 format reads correctly everywhere.

What the numbers are — and what they are not

The numbers are drawn onto each page as ordinary text, in a standard font every PDF reader has. That is what makes them print, survive email and show up in any viewer. It also means three things:

• They do not update. Add, delete or reorder pages afterwards and the numbers stay where they were drawn. Finish the page work first — removing pages, reordering, merging — and number last.
• They are not the reader's page labels. The number a PDF reader shows in its own page box comes from a different place in the file. Why PDF page numbers do not match explains the three numbers a page can have.
• They can collide with existing content. A page with a footer already printed at the bottom will get the number on top of it. Look at the preview of a busy page before you apply.

Mixed page sizes and rotated pages

Numbers are placed from each page's own size, so a document that mixes A4 and Letter, or has an A3 fold-out in the middle, still gets its numbers at the bottom of each page rather than at a fixed distance that falls off the smaller sheets.

Pages that carry their own rotation are the exception to check. A landscape table that was turned with a rotation setting, rather than created landscape, is numbered by its stored geometry — so the number can land on what looks like the side of the page. Check those pages in the preview. If one is wrong, it is usually quicker to number the document and then accept that one page, or to rotate it so that the stored page and the displayed page agree before numbering.

Before you send it

Three quick checks catch nearly every mistake:

• Look at the first numbered page and the last. If the first reads 1 and the last matches the count you expect, everything in between is right.
• Print one page, or view it at actual size. A number that looks fine on screen can sit inside the area a printer cannot reach; bottom centre with the default margin is safe on ordinary office printers.
• If the document must be archived as PDF/A, check it afterwards. The numbers use a standard font that is not embedded in the file, which PDF/A does not allow; what PDF/A is covers why.