Three decisions to make before adding page numbers
4 min read
Page numbers are far easier to add than to remove. Three minutes of planning eliminates the redo.
1. Starting page and starting number
If the document has a cover, you almost never want a “1” printed on it. Whether to start numbering on page 2 with the number 1, or count the cover but hide its number, depends on the document's conventions.
For official submissions, check the requirements. Some institutions require a “page X of Y (1/15)” format, and reports may need the body numbers to match the table of contents. Discovering such a rule afterwards means stamping everything again.
2. Put the number where nothing else is
The usual default is bottom center or bottom outside. But if the document already has a footer, footnotes, or a logo at the bottom, they'll collide. Skim the first, a middle, and the last page before stamping and pick a genuinely empty spot.
For documents that will be printed double-sided and bound, outside alignment works best: odd pages numbered on the right, even pages on the left, so the number is always at the outer edge as you flip through.
3. Merged files often already have numbers
A file merged from several documents usually carries each document's own page numbers. Stamping a unified sequence on top produces two sets of numbers and confusion.
The practical compromise: put the unified number in a different position (top right if the originals are bottom center) and a distinct format like “- 3 -” so the two are visually separate. The clean fix is re-exporting the originals without numbers and merging again.
After stamping, verify three pages
Open the first page, the last page, and one from the middle. You're checking that the number doesn't cover content and that the values are what you intended.
Keep the un-numbered original as a separate file. Stamped numbers are text drawn over the page and are hard to remove cleanly later; with the original on hand, a changed requirement just means stamping again.