Add page numbers to a PDF report, thesis or assignment

The short answer: six steps in your browser

You can number a PDF without Word, without an app and without making an account. Open Add Page Numbers and do this:

1. Choose your PDF. Press Choose PDF files and pick your report. You can also drop the file anywhere on the page.
2. Pick the corner. Under Position, leave Bottom centre, or choose another place.
3. Pick the style: 1, Page 1, Page 1 of 9 or 1/9.
4. Choose the pages. All pages, or All but the first if the cover should stay bare.
5. Look at the cards. Each page shows a yellow patch where its number will go, and a line saying what the number will be.
6. Press Add page numbers, then Download. The new file is named after yours, like report-numbered.pdf. Your original is not changed.

The starting choices (bottom centre, a plain number, medium size) suit many reports as they are. Everything happens inside your browser, so the report is never uploaded. There is no sign-up and no watermark. That matters for a thesis, which is usually unpublished and often carries your name, your guide's name and your college on the cover.

The rest of this article covers what is worth thinking about: what to do before you number, which corner and style to pick, what to check, and what to do when something looks wrong.

First, get the pages into their final order

Number the report last. The numbers are drawn onto the pages as they are at that moment, and they do not change if the pages change afterwards.

Say your report is made from one file for each chapter. If you number each file and then join them, every chapter starts again at 1. Or say you join first and number, with chapter 2 on pages 4, 5 and 6 and chapter 3 on pages 7, 8 and 9. Then your guide asks you to put chapter 3 before chapter 2. The numbers travel with the pages, so the report now reads 7, 8, 9, then 4, 5, 6. Both are surprises you don't want the night before you submit.

Check these before you number

• Everything is in one PDF. If the report is in pieces, such as a typed report, a scanned certificate and photos of drawings, join them in reading order with Merge PDF. Photos become pages first with JPG to PDF.
• No stray pages. Blank backs from two-sided scanning, a repeated page or an old draft page are easy to remove with Organize PDF, which can also move pages.
• Every page is upright. A scan that came out sideways stays sideways, and only the number is upright. Turn it first with Rotate PDF.
• The file opens. A PDF that asks for a password to open can't be numbered until it is unlocked. If you know the password, Unlock PDF makes a copy that opens without it.
• You have a spare copy. Numbers can't be taken out again here. Keep the un-numbered file safe in case you need to redo it.

The guide on the tool's page lists the same order of jobs in one place: join, organize, number, and shrink last.

Which corner, style and size for a report

There is no single right answer. If your college gives a format sheet, follow it. When nothing is specified, these are safe and common choices. To leave out more than the cover, or to start the count later, see the article on starting from page 2 or 3.

Why these picks

• A plain 1 is the custom for reports and theses. Page 1 of 9 adds the total, so a reader can tell at once if a page is missing, which is why it suits assignments and bundles of papers. You don't type the 9: it is worked out for you, as the last number shown. 1/9 says the same in less room.
• Medium, 11 points, is about the size of body text. Choose Small, 9 points, for pages with small print, or Large, 14 points, if the number must be seen from further away.
• Normal, 1.3 cm from the edge, is the usual choice. For pages that will be printed, avoid Near, 0.6 cm, because some printers can't print that close to the edge of the paper. Far, 1.9 cm, keeps the number furthest from the edge of the paper. That is a safe pick for a thesis that will be printed and bound, if the number still sits on empty paper.

Two limits are worth knowing now. The number goes in the same place on every page, so it can't swap sides on left and right pages for two-sided printing: the centre is the simplest answer. And the numbers are always black Helvetica. If your format sheet names a particular font or colour for page numbers, this tool can't match it.

Look at every page before you save

This step can save you a resubmission. Each page of your report appears as a small card. A yellow patch shows where its number will go, and a line under the card says what the number will be, like Shows "Page 2 of 9". A page that gets none says No number. Above the cards, one line adds it up, like "5 pages get the numbers 1 to 5."

Scroll through the cards and look for these:

• A patch on top of something printed. A footer, a logo, a line of text near the edge or the border of a scanned page. Change the corner, or move the number with Distance from the edge, until the patch sits on empty paper.
• Landscape pages, such as a wide table. The number goes at the bottom of the page as a reader sees it. In the sample report, the table page is a landscape one, so you can see how it looks.
• Scans with a dark edge. The numbers are always black, so a number on a dark border is hard to read. Try Far, which moves it further in.
• Pages that already show a number. If the PDF already has numbers in its footer, for example from Word, the new number is drawn over whatever is in that place, or close beside it. Use a different corner, or number a copy of the report that has none.

The numbers look tiny on the cards because the cards are small pictures. The saved PDF shows them at full size. If you change an option after saving, the result goes away and the button comes back, so the file you download always matches what the cards showed.

After you save: what to check, and what changed

A row appears under the tool with the new file's name, the size before and after, and a Download button. The file is a new copy, so your original stays as it was.

Open the numbered file and scroll through it. Look at the first numbered page, a landscape page if you have one, a page from the middle, and the last page. If your phone has no PDF app, our PDF Viewer opens it in the browser.

Numbering hardly changes the size of a file, because the numbers use a font every PDF reader already has, so no font is added, and nothing else on the page is redrawn. In our tests in Chromium 141 (the browser Chrome is built on) on a Linux computer, a 117-page maths textbook went from 5.07 MB to 5.06 MB with Page 1 to Page 117 added, and a 42-page colour scan stayed at 47.8 MB. The guide lists every test result, with times.

Pages are never drawn again, so a scan keeps every pixel, and typed text stays text that can be searched and copied. Links and bookmarks still work: the textbook kept all 35 of its bookmarks and 509 links. That matters for a thesis whose contents list jumps to each chapter when you tap it.

If the college portal limits the file size, shrink the numbered PDF last, so the limit is checked on the exact file you upload. Resize PDF aims at a size such as 2 MB, and our compressor suits email.

Numbering a report on your phone

Many reports are finished on a phone, with the file arriving on WhatsApp, in email or on Google Drive. The page runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install. Use Chrome on Android, or Safari on iPhone and iPad. (Our own tests ran in Chromium, the browser Chrome is built on, with phone screen sizes; Safari should behave the same, but we did not test it on a real iPhone.)

1. Save the PDF to your phone first. If the report came in a chat or an email, download it, so it is in Downloads on Android or in the Files app on iPhone. That is where the file picker looks first.
2. Open Add Page Numbers and tap Choose PDF files. Pick the report.
3. Set the options, then scroll down to the cards. On a phone the options come first and the cards follow, two to a row.
4. Tap Add page numbers. The button stays in view at the bottom of the screen, so you can tap it from anywhere on the page. Keep the page open until the Download button appears, because the work happens on the page itself.
5. Tap Download. On Android the new PDF goes to your Downloads folder. On iPhone it usually goes to Downloads in the Files app.

Phones have less memory than computers, and the browser holds both the old and the new PDF in memory while it works. A typed report is usually small and should be no trouble. A very big scanned thesis is different. In our tests on a computer, numbering the 117-page textbook took about 72 MB more memory than when idle, the 42-page scan about 290 MB, and a 400-page scan about 2.0 GB. If you see "These files are too big to handle in this browser's memory", use a computer for that file.

Word, Google Docs or this tool: which is better?

If you still have the editable file, number it there. Microsoft Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice Writer all put page numbers in the footer, and the numbers update by themselves when you add or remove a page. Word can also leave the first page bare. Then save the file as a PDF. Our Word to PDF page says it keeps the page numbers that a Word file already has.

This tool is for the other cases, when the PDF is what you have:

Privacy is the other reason to prefer a tool that stays on your device. Most online PDF tools upload your file to their servers, and an unpublished thesis is the kind of file you may not want on someone else's computer. Here the page can't send your file to another site, even by mistake. The guide's part on privacy explains how.

Problems and quick fixes

• The cover has a number. Choose All but the first under Pages to number. The next article, adding page numbers starting from page 2 or 3, goes through cover pages in detail.
• Your contents page says Chapter 1 is on page 5, but the page says 4. The numbers count from the first page you chose. If the contents list counts the cover, choose All but the first and set First number to 2.
• A number lands on the footer or the border. Pick another corner, like top right, or change the distance. The yellow patch on each card shows where it goes.
• The button can't be pressed. A box in the options has a problem, and it says what in red. First number must be a whole number, and with Only some, the pages must be typed, like 3-12.
• A file says "Locked with a password". It needs a password to open. Unlock it first with Unlock PDF if you know the password, then add the unlocked copy.
• You numbered the wrong version. The numbers can't be taken out. Go back to the original, fix it, and number it again. That is why you keep the original.
• You need Roman numerals or Hindi words. They aren't available here. The numbers are digits and the words "Page" and "of" are in English. Digits work for a report in any language.

Questions students ask

Should the cover page have a number?

Often it doesn't, but your college's rule decides. To leave the cover bare, use All but the first.

Will it work for a 200-page thesis?

We set no page limit. The file only has to fit in your device's memory. In our tests in Chromium 141 on a Linux computer, numbering the 117-page textbook took 1.0 second, and a 400-page, 455 MB scan took 5.5 seconds. A phone, or a busy computer, will usually be slower.

Can I add my name or the title in the footer too?

No. This tool adds page numbers only. Put your name in the footer in Word before you save the PDF.

Can I take the numbers off later?

Not with this tool. Numbers are added for good, and your original is never changed, so you can number it again differently.

Is it really free?

Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit set by us.

Is my report uploaded?

No. The numbers are added inside your own browser, and the new PDF is saved straight to your device.