Had a simple task of adding page numbers to a PDF file. Normally I use NitroPDF for this sort of PDF edits and normally it works well. This time, however,  NitroPDF refused to play nicely. PDF document was quite large and contained some maps with mixture of high resolution raster and vector graphics (which I suspect was causing the whole issue).

Page numbering feature in NitroPDF is called Bates Number.

After adjusting settings and clicking apply, page numbers would temporarily appear (while progress bar was displaying “Applying bates numbers“).

But once process was finished, page numbers were gone.
It seemed like NitroPDF was failing on pages with above mentioned maps as adding numbers to a page range which not included these maps worked fine. Trying to add numbers via Header & Footer feature failed as well. In this case NitroPDF would simply crash.

To my rescue came a little utility called A-PDF Number. It’s a free dedicated PDF numbering tool. It dealt with the document in question with no issues. Formatting options are pretty limited but in this particular case they were sufficient for what I wanted to do. If you need more formatting options you can purchase A-PDF Number Pro which is priced at $35.