Question 1

How do I number only from the second page, without counting the cover?

Accepted Answer

Turn on Skip the first page. The cover stays unnumbered and the second page gets the start number (1 by default). The total "of N" follows: in a 10-page PDF, page 2 comes out as "Page 1 of 9" and page 10 as "Page 9 of 9". If you would rather have the second page show "2", set the start number to 2; the total becomes 10.

Question 2

Which page number formats are available?

Accepted Answer

Seven: 1; Page 1; Page 1 of 10; 1/10; - 1 -; lowercase roman numerals (i, ii, iii) and uppercase ones (I, II, III). The words "Page" and "of" can be in English or Portuguese (Página 1 de 10), regardless of the site language. Roman numerals work from 1 to 3999; outside that range the number shows in Arabic digits.

Question 3

What is Bates numbering and how do I set it up?

Accepted Answer

It is a unique sequence that identifies every page of a set of documents, common in legal cases, audits and evidence production. The format is a prefix, a zero-padded counter and optionally a suffix, such as CASE-000001. Set the prefix, the start number (to continue from an earlier batch), the number of digits (1 to 12) and the corner. The counter is never truncated: if the number is longer than the digits, it shows in full. Bates counts every page of the chosen scope, the cover included.

Question 4

Which variables can I use in the header and footer?

Accepted Answer

{page} is the page number in the file, {total} is the page count, {date} is today's date in the chosen format and {filename} is the file name without .pdf. You can combine them, for example "{filename} - p. {page}/{total}". Anything in braces that is not one of those four words stays as typed. Each zone (left, center and right) is independent.

Question 5

Does a watermark protect the document from copying?

Accepted Answer

No. It is a visual mark written over the content with transparency. Anyone with a PDF editor can remove it or rebuild the file without it. It signals the document's status (draft, copy, confidential) and discourages misuse, but it does not prevent copying. If the content is truly secret, access control has to happen before the file is shared.

Question 6

How do the tiled watermark and the automatic fit work?

Accepted Answer

In centered mode, the automatic fit computes the largest font size at which the text, already rotated to the chosen angle (45 degrees by default), takes at most 80% of the page width and height. In tile mode the text repeats in a grid aligned to the angle, with the horizontal and vertical gaps you set; alternate rows are shifted by half a cell, like a classic diagonal watermark. There is a cap of 400 repeats per page so the file does not grow out of control.

Question 7

Can I use a logo as a watermark?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Upload PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF or SVG; it is converted to PNG (at most 2000 pixels on the longest side, keeping transparency) and embedded just once in the PDF, even if it shows on every page. Choose centered, in a corner or tiled, the width as a percentage of the page, the opacity and the angle.

Question 8

Do the marks sit correctly on rotated pages and pages of different sizes?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Each page is handled as you see it: the number always sits at the bottom of the visible page, even if the PDF stores the page rotated 90, 180 or 270 degrees, and the position accounts for the crop box (CropBox). In PDFs with pages of different sizes, millimeter margins and percentages apply per page. There are automated tests for the rotations.

Question 9

Does it work with password-protected PDFs?

Accepted Answer

The tool asks for the password only to show the document. Because pdf-lib cannot decrypt the file, the export turns every page into a JPEG image and writes the marks on top; the text stops being selectable, and you are told first. This mode works for up to 150 pages. Without a password, the original PDF is kept and the marks are added on top.

Question 10

Which fonts and characters can I use in the marks?

Accepted Answer

The three PDF standard fonts: Helvetica, Times and Courier, each with a bold variant. They cover the Latin alphabet with accents for English and Portuguese (the WinAnsi set), so COPY, Página and São Paulo come out right. Characters outside that set, such as emoji and letters from other alphabets, become a question mark. The preview already shows the text with that substitution.

Add Page Numbers and Watermark to PDF