Count the pages across a pile of PDFs, separate colour from black-and-white, and price the print run.
PDF Page Counter
Count the pages across a pile of PDFs, separate colour from black-and-white, and price the print run.
Every page is measured in this tab, so a client's artwork is not uploaded to be counted. Only the numbers leave the page, and only when you copy or download them.
Quoting a print job needs three numbers the file does not state: how many pages, what paper they are cut to, and how many of them carry colour — because a colour side costs several times a mono one, and a mixed document is where a quote goes wrong. Drop the whole folder in at once. Every page box is measured and named, so A4, Letter and the one A3 fold-out are separated rather than averaged, and every page is then drawn small and its pixels examined, so a page carrying a red logo is counted as colour while a warm scan is not. Totals, the sheet count for double-sided printing and the estimate all follow the prices you type.
Features
Any number of PDFs at once, a row for each and a totals row underneath
Paper sizes named and grouped, as in "A4 portrait × 12 · A3 landscape × 2"
Rotated pages reported the way a reader shows them, not as they were saved
Colour pages separated from black-and-white, with a sensitivity setting
Blank pages counted apart — they still go through the machine
Sheets worked out per document, so no two files share a sheet
Cost per mono page, per colour page and per sheet, times the copies
A CSV row per page, and a summary worded for pasting into a quote
How to use the PDF Page Counter
Drop the PDFs in — a folder's worth at a time is fine
Leave colour detection on to have every page measured, or turn it off for a quick page count
Move the sensitivity if a warm scan is being called colour
Type your page prices, the paper price and the number of copies
Copy the summary or download the CSV
Example
Input
12 PDFs dropped together — brochures, terms and one fold-out
Each document starts on a fresh sheet, which is why 318 pages make 163 and not 159.
Common errors & troubleshooting
A page I know is in colour was counted as black-and-white. — Colour is judged from a small rendering, so a single coloured hairline can fall between pixels. Set the sensitivity to "Any trace of colour" and read the pages again.
Every scanned page is coming out as colour. — A scanner lamp leaves a warm cast across the whole sheet. Choose "Only obvious colour", which wants a strong hue over a visible area before it calls a page colour.
One file shows a password message instead of a count. — An encrypted PDF cannot be opened to be measured. Remove the password with Decrypt PDF first; the rest of the batch is counted as normal and that row simply says why.
The count stopped short of the whole batch. — Two thousand pages is as far as one pass goes, and the warning says how many were left out. Clear the list, count the remainder, and add the two totals.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a print shop count colour pages separately?
Because the machine charges by the click, and a colour click costs several times a mono one. On a 300-page document the difference between 12 colour pages and 120 is the difference between two quotes, and nothing in the file says which it is — so somebody has to look at every page.
How is a page judged to be in colour when the ink is nearly grey?
Each pixel dark enough to be ink is checked for how far it sits from grey, and the page is called colour when enough of them are far enough. Both halves of that are adjustable, which is the point: a scanner's warm cast fails the strict setting and passes the keen one.
Does the sheet count assume both sides of the paper are used?
Only when you ask it to. With double-sided printing on, each document's pages are halved and rounded up separately, because a new document starts on a new sheet rather than on the back of the last one. Single-sided, a sheet is a page.
Why is a paper size sometimes reported in millimetres instead of a name?
Because it is not a standard size. Trimmed booklets, US legal variants and artwork sized to the bleed all end up as custom boxes, so they are grouped by their own measurements instead of being rounded into A4 and priced wrongly.
Can I count a whole folder of PDFs in one go?
Yes — select them all and drop them together. Each file keeps its own row with its pages, sizes and colour split, the totals row adds the batch up, and a file that will not open is reported in its row instead of stopping the count.
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