[Tex/LaTex] Set arbitrary page numbers in pdf file

page-numberingpdfpdftex

When I am using different \pagenumberings in a document, the PDF viewer shows the right page numbers, that is pages i, ii, etc… for \pagenumbering{roman} and 1, 2, etc… for \pagenumbering{arabic} for instance.

I wonder if it is possible to make the PDF viewer print anything as a page number. Since using LaTeX, the only possible options for page numbering are arabic, roman, Roman, alpha and Alpha, my goal is to make the PDF viewer print something else than what LaTeX would print by using the command \thepage. To be more specific, I'd like my title page to be "numbered" by the label "Title" in the PDF viewer for instance.

Thanks in advance!

P.S.: I am aware my question is not very well formulated but I have troubles to exactly explain what I wish, I still hope you'll understand!

Best Answer

If I compile the following document, the adobe reader shows "Title (1 of 2)" as page number of the first page and " 2 (2 of 2)" of the second. But it also depends on the settings in the reader: you must activate "show logical page numbers".

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\begin{document}
\renewcommand\thepage{Title}
abc
\newpage
\renewcommand\thepage{\arabic{page}}
abc

\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Suppress introductory page numbers

The warnings are probably caused by hyperref, because you're not generating the page numbers that the package needs for setting anchors. It's probably better to redefine the page style for frontmatter to empty:

\documentclass{memoir}
\usepackage{hyperref,kantlipsum,etoolbox}

\makeatletter
\aliaspagestyle{title}{empty} % suppress the page number after \maketitle
\let\origps@chapter\ps@chapter
\preto\frontmatter{\let\ps@chapter\ps@empty\pagestyle{empty}}
\preto\mainmatter{%
  \cleardoublepage
  \let\ps@chapter\origps@chapter\pagestyle{headings}}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

\frontmatter
\title{My Book}
\author{Me}
\maketitle

\tableofcontents*

\chapter{Intro}
\kant

\mainmatter

\chapter{First}
\kant
\end{document}

Change headings into mystyle if you want to use this one in the main matter.

Personally I find it a bad idea to suppress page numbers: every page should have a printed number, in order to help the reader in consulting the document. Only some special pages may be an exception (dedication or colophon, for example, but not an introduction). But this depends on the document, of course; if the frontmatter consists only of a title page and a one page table of contents the page numbers are probably not necessary. If the frontmatter has table of contents, list of figures and other material such as a preface, the pages should be numbered, in my opinion.

[Tex/LaTex] Offset in page numbers in pdf viewer due to roman numbering of frontmatter makes printing difficult

Thanks to the comments of Qrrbrbirlbel Torbjørn T. and I found the solution myself:

Skim.app (version 1.3.22) indeed displays both page numbers (example for first page of MWE):

enter image description here

it shows page "i" in the white box on the left
and it shows page "1 of 5" (the "real" page, starting by 1 for the first page) in the title bar of the window

Preview.app (version 5.0.1.) only displays the "real" page number (first page of PDF = 1) in the title bar

So in both applications if I choose the "real" page number from the title bar in the printing dialog, I can precisely select the page range to print.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Suppress introductory page numbers

[Tex/LaTex] Offset in page numbers in pdf viewer due to roman numbering of frontmatter makes printing difficult

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