Starting Page Numbers After the Cover and Table of Contents

A thesis, a formal report, or a court filing usually has a specific expectation: the cover page and table of contents either carry no visible number at all, or use a different numbering scheme (small Roman numerals is a common convention), and the actual "page 1" begins with the first page of real content. The page numbers tool handles the first case in one pass, with two settings that do different jobs.

Two settings, two different jobs

Pages to number decides which pages get a number at all. Leave it empty and every page does; type 3- and numbering starts at page 3 and runs to the last page; type 3-40 and it stops at page 40. Start at decides what the first numbered page reads. Counting always begins at the first page that gets a number - so with the pages set to 3- and Start at left on 1, page 3 of the PDF is stamped "1", page 4 is stamped "2", and the cover and contents stay exactly as they were. Both settings sit under Numbering details.

Where the numbering actually begins

The one-pass way to leave the front matter bare

Open Numbering details, type the first body page followed by a dash into Pages to number - 3- if the cover and the contents take two pages - and leave Start at on 1. The page tiles then say "No number" on the pages that will stay bare, the scope line reads "Numbering 38 pages of 40", and the button reads "Number 38 pages". If it is only the cover that should stay bare, tick Don't number the first page instead: same result, nothing to type.

Starting the count somewhere else

Start at works the same way when the count shouldn't begin at 1. A document assembled from several files, where this part picks up at 47 because pages 1 through 46 were numbered in a companion volume, just needs Start at set to 47: the first numbered page reads 47 and the rest follow. When only some pages are numbered, "page X of Y" counts the numbered pages too, so the total always matches the sequence the reader sees.

An appendix that shouldn't share the sequence

A legal filing might want its exhibits numbered on their own instead of continuing the main sequence. Run the tool twice. The first time, type the body's range - say 3-52 - so the appendix stays bare. Then drop the finished file back in, type 53-, and keep Start at on 1: the appendix pages read 1, 2, 3 by themselves. The tool stamps plain digits, "Page 3" or "3 / 12", so a scheme with letters or Roman numerals (A-1, iv) can't be stamped here.

Checking it before you commit

Everything above is visible before you click: the page tiles show which pages will carry a number, the preview shows where the number lands and how big it is, and the button states how many pages it will stamp. For an unusual Start at, a quick check is simple arithmetic - Start at, plus the page's place among the numbered pages, minus one - which should match what appears once the file downloads.

Nothing about the document leaves your device to do this

The numbering happens entirely in your browser. The PDF is never uploaded, so a thesis or a filing that is still being finalised stays on your own device from the first look at the page tiles to the finished download.

For the full mechanics of position, format, and font size, see how to add "page X of Y" to a PDF. And for why a finished PDF needs this kind of stamping at all rather than relying on a word processor's built-in numbering, see why Word's page numbers don't carry over.