A PDF with numbered pages is easier to reference, cite, and navigate -- especially once it's printed and the digital page-jump controls are gone. LockerPDF's Add Page Numbers tool stamps a number on every page of a PDF entirely in your browser, with no upload and no account required.
What you can customize
Two settings control how numbers appear: position and starting number. Position has six options -- bottom center, bottom left, bottom right, top center, top left, or top right -- covering the placements you'd typically see in printed documents, reports, and manuscripts. The starting number lets you begin counting from anything other than 1, which matters if this PDF is going to be bound into a larger document, or if you're deliberately excluding a cover page from the count and want page 2 of the file to display as "1."
There's a live preview: as you change the position, an overlay on the page thumbnail shows exactly where the number will land before you commit to it, so you're not guessing and re-downloading to check.
Step by step: adding page numbers
- Go to the Add Page Numbers tool and drag your PDF into the dropzone, or click to browse for it.
- Once it loads, you'll see the page count and a preview of the first page with a number overlay showing the current position.
- Choose a position from the dropdown -- bottom center, bottom left, bottom right, top center, top left, or top right -- and watch the preview update.
- Set "Start at" to whichever number the first page should display.
- Click "Add Page Numbers." The numbered file is built in your browser and a download link appears immediately.
- Download
numbered.pdf.
What this tool doesn't do
It's a straightforward numbering stamp, not a full page-numbering format editor -- there's currently no option for a "Page X of Y" format, custom fonts, or font size. It also won't detect or remove page numbers that are already part of the document's printed content; it simply adds a new number in the position you choose. If a document already has numbers printed on it from a previous export, adding this tool's numbers on top will result in two sets showing -- so check the source file first if that's a concern, and consider whether the position you pick avoids overlapping an existing number.
Where to number from when a document has a cover page
A common case: a report has a title page and maybe a table of contents before the numbered content technically "starts." There's no way to skip numbering specific pages with this tool -- every page gets a number -- but you can control what number the first page shows using "Start at." If you want the title page itself to carry no visible number, the practical option is to number a version of the document that excludes the cover page, then reattach the cover separately, or accept that the first page will show whatever number you set even if it's the title page.
Combining numbering with other steps
Page numbering is often the last step in assembling a document, after the content itself is finalized. If you're combining several PDFs into one report first, use Merge PDF to build the combined file, then run the result through Add Page Numbers so the numbering reflects the final page order rather than each source document's own numbering. If you also need a watermark -- a "Draft" stamp, a confidentiality notice, a company name across every page -- Add Watermark handles that separately; run the two tools in whichever order works for your layout, since they don't interfere with each other's output.
Why this doesn't require uploading your file
Adding a number to every page means writing a small text object into each page's content stream -- a well-understood, purely structural PDF operation that doesn't need server-side processing power. LockerPDF does this using pdf-lib running as JavaScript directly in your browser tab: your file is read from your device, the numbers are added in memory, and the result is handed back to you as a download. Nothing about your document is sent over the network. You can confirm this yourself: open your browser's developer tools (F12 or Cmd+Option+I), switch to the Network tab, and add page numbers to a file. You won't see a request carrying your document's data.
FAQ
Are my files uploaded anywhere when I add page numbers?
No. Numbering happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your PDF is read from your device and processed locally -- it's never sent to a server, and there's no account or signup required.
Can I start numbering from something other than 1?
Yes. Set the "Start at" field to whichever number the first page should show -- useful if the document will be bound into a larger set of pages or you want to account for pages that come before it.
Does this remove or replace page numbers that are already printed in the document?
No. This adds a new number to each page -- it doesn't detect or remove numbers that are already part of the page content from a previous export. If your document already has visible numbers, check that the position you choose won't overlap them.
Which positions can I choose from?
Six options: bottom center, bottom left, bottom right, top center, top left, or top right. A live preview on the page thumbnail shows the exact placement before you apply it.
Does adding page numbers reduce the PDF's quality or add a watermark?
No. The original pages are left intact -- only a small number is added in the position you choose. No watermark or branding is added to the file.
Try Add Page Numbers
Number every page of a PDF, with your choice of position.
Open Add Page Numbers →