Add Page Numbers To PDF Pages With Enfocus PitStop Pro

Are you looking for a solution that can add page numbers to PDF documents? Perhaps you’d like to automate this as part of a regular workflow? Or maybe you need to remove page numbers before adding new ones that are sequenced and formatted differently? For example, how about a use case where you need to start page numbering with “1” but on page 3 of the PDF?

Enfocus PitStop Pro makes it easy to add page numbers!

PitStop Pro is a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional and it is compatible with Mac and Windows. With PitStop Pr0 you can convert any PDF to an iPad-ready PDF, a print-ready PDF, or an optimized PDF for client approval.

How do we add page numbers to PDF pages with PitStop Pro?

There are several methods for all page numbers to a PDF using Enfocus PitStop Pro. In the following, we are going to look at using Global Changes and Action Lists.

Global Changes for Page Numbering

One way to get started modifying page numbers is to use Enfocus PitStop Pro’s Global Changes. Some Global Changes are installed by default and you can find these into the “Standard” folder.  Let’s take a closer look at the one called “Add Page Numbers”.

(See this page on where to find the Global Changes panel.)

The steps (see below) are to grab the structure you would like using the eye-dropper (select the page number text on your page with the PitStop Select tool before using the eyedropper) then set the digit that indicates the page number you want. In this case we have 2 numbers, namely 1 and 34 (“Page 1 of 34“).  Set which page will be the first page in the Text Settings.  You can also change the position and the other options.  Save your configuration and you can now run the Global Change on your documents.

Note that if you use this option that you have no control in changing the font or font size or color unless you select a new structure and use the Eyedropper to grab it.

Let’s take a look at “Add Variable Text” Global Change that can also be used to add page numbers to our pages.

Use the same options as above to grab details of what you have selected in your document.  “Add Variable Text” will also give you a lot more control over various details like font, font size, color and the position.

   

Once we have our text selected and grabbed vie the eyedropper, how do we add the page number and page count in this Global Change?  We use variables and text to create our line of text.

The “Use Variables…” button includes some settings, like deciding what your first page will be and how many digits to use.

By adjusting these Global Changes, you will be able to add page numbers to your pages.

Note that you can save these Global Changes as an Action List, and that would open up the usage for your other Enfocus products. Looking at the saved Action List is also a great way to learn about building Action Lists.

Add Page Numbers with a PitStop Pro Action List

Action Lists provide more power and flexibility in automating PDF edits in Enfocus PitStop Pro. Some Action Lists are installed by default and you can find them into the “Standard” folder in the Action Lists panel in PitStop Pro.  Let’s take a closer look at “Number of pages alternating” which is located in “Standard>Add”.

You’ll notice that there is a sequenced list of actions, so the interface is different from the Global Changes. We also have options to select odd or even pages and add the page numbers either on the left or the right.

Above you can see the “Add page number” action for the odd pages. There are similar options like grabbing the offset if you have a text line selected. And there are also options for selecting the complete text line and grabbing font and font size/color.

When you’ve set your preferences, click “OK” to save the Action List locally.  A name can be given in the General Information property, see top left corner.

Tip! If you want to start from page 3 then you should set the option “First page of document is page -1”, the logic behind it is page 1 is -1, page 2 is 0 and page 3 is 1. Go figure!

You can, of course, use the  “Add page number” action by itself and, for example, add page numbers to all the pages in your document.

The other Action List that you can use to add page numbers is “Add object”.  You can easily find it by using the search option at the top in your Action List editor. (See here on how to create a new Action List.)

 

The Add object Action List can be used to add lines, rectangles, ellipses or text to pages.  In our case we want to use the text option.

Note that there are 3 tabs on the top so that means there 2 further panels with various formatting options!

This Action List looks similar to the “Add variable text” Global Change.  We have more control over the font type or size, variables and the position.  The variable options are the same as in the Global Change so you set them up in exactly the same way.  Set up your Action List and click “OK” to save locally.

Note that you cannot grab the position of a selected object in this Action List—you must specify it instead.

Benefits of PitStop Pro’s Add Page Number features?

Enfocus PitStop Pro provides an easy and quick way to add page numbers to PDF pages or other objects, saving you time and increasing accuracy as you get your files ready for print or imposition!

You can run these Action Lists in PitStop Pro (the plugin for Adobe Acrobat), batch process large numbers of files using PitStop Server’s hot folders, or even route jobs through a fully-blown automated workflow in Enfocus Switch. The Enfocus product range provides the tools to match any scale of print production needs.

And there’s a great deal more to discover about Enfocus products, so if you’d like to learn more, please contact us today.