# PDF Page numbers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-page-numbers/839158>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 24, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-page-numbers/839158 "2019-08-24T14:23:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-page-numbers/839158/21 "2019-08-26T09:30:22Z")

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> [@ftg](#):
>
> That document is just a series of scans of the pages of a book with no attempt to provide a ToC or anything. You are really out of luck there. It would require a reader programmed to do OCR, look for page numbers, chapter headings, etc.

That’s pdf was just a random example. I was looking for a document with a large table of contents, in order to show the discrepancy between sheet number and page number.

Here’s a 2019 pdf from a technology company.

> **[2018-full-annual-report.pdf](https://www.rolls-royce.com/~/media/Files/R/Rolls-Royce/documents/annual-report/2018/2018-full-annual-report.pdf)**
>
> 6.59 MB

Page 1 starts on sheet 3. Is there any method when working with pdf’s to indicate where page 1 starts? Some sort of indexing? If so, is there a shortcut for documents that have that indicator to go straight to page 1?

Also, I’m not referring to a document I’ve created. I’m referring to documents I view while doing research, many of which I may only look at once.

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pdf-page-numbers/839158/22 "2019-08-26T09:46:58Z")

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> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#):
>
> Page 1 starts on sheet 3. Is there any method when working with pdf’s to indicate where page 1 starts? Some sort of indexing? If so, is there a shortcut for documents that have that indicator to go straight to page 1?

You can set the initial view to be whatever page you want, and also add a clickable table of contents, in Acrobat or any other full-featured PDF editor.

If the creator of the document didn’t bother to set it up right, though, then it does not magically fix itself. Certainly, it is possible many files have it screwed up and that is why you are seeing discrepancies when you open them. I have even seen a published, printed book with a messed-up index, not even a simple offset but one that varied throughout the book, so some entries were 3 pages ahead while others were off by 7, and so on.

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