Number PDF Pages Without Numbering the Cover

You can number a PDF without numbering its cover by keeping the cover out of the numbering pass and putting it back afterwards. PixelTools' Add Page Numbers tool stamps a number on every page of the file you give it, so it has no setting that skips the first page. The workaround takes three steps and about two minutes. First, extract the cover and the rest of the pages into two separate PDFs. Second, run the rest through Add Page Numbers with the starting number set to 1. Third, merge the cover and the numbered file into one document, cover first. The result has an unnumbered cover, and page 2 of the finished file reads 1. Everything runs in your browser, so the document is never uploaded.

Open Extract PDF Pages and drop in your file. Select page 1 only, download it and name it cover.pdf. Then run the file through the tool a second time, select page 2 through the last page, and download that as body.pdf. Keep your original file untouched as a backup. If the cover is more than one page, for example a title page plus a blank page, put all of those pages in cover.pdf and select only the pages that should carry numbers for body.pdf. The Split PDF tool can also cut a file in two, but Extract is quicker when you only need one contiguous block of pages.

Open Add Page Numbers and drop in body.pdf. Pick a position (six corners and centres are offered) and a format: the bare number, Page N, or Page N of total. Leave the starting number at 1. The first page of body.pdf, which is page 2 of your real document, gets the label 1, and the numbers count up from there. Download the numbered file. The numbers are drawn onto the page as ordinary text in 10 point Helvetica, 24 points in from the edge, so they show in every viewer and print exactly where you see them in the preview.

Open Merge PDF, add cover.pdf first and then the numbered body file, and check that the cover sits above the body before you merge. Download the merged file. Page 1 is your unnumbered cover, page 2 shows the number 1, and every page after it follows in sequence. Open the result and scroll through it once to confirm the order before sending it on. Merge PDF keeps the files in the order you add them, so if the numbered pages come out ahead of the cover, remove both files and add them again in the right order. Nothing is uploaded at any point, and your original file is still there if you need to start over.

When you choose the Page N of total format and start counting above 1, the total is the highest number printed, not the number of pages in the file. Starting at 5 in an 11 page document numbers the last page 15, so its label reads Page 15 of 15. The tool computes the total this way on purpose, because Page 15 of 11 would be nonsense. This matters for the cover workaround: numbering the body starting at 1 gives labels that end at the body's own page count, so an 11 page document with a cover reads Page 1 of 10 up to Page 10 of 10. If you would rather the total match the real page count of the whole file, use the plain number or Page N format instead.

The method cannot start numbering at 0 or at a negative number, because the starting number field has a minimum of 1. It also cannot produce Roman numerals for front matter, since the formats are the plain number, Page N and Page N of total. The stamped numbers are visible text, not PDF page labels, so the page thumbnail panel in Acrobat or Preview will still show its own 1, 2, 3 sequence for the cover-inclusive file. Finally, the tool cannot open encrypted PDFs, because the library it uses does not decrypt them. Remove the password first with Unlock PDF, then repeat the steps.