Numbering refers to the numbering of pages and in Japanese publications is called nombre, from the French word. Books, magazines and other bound publications have the page number displayed on each page. This is also called pagination.

Numbering generally comprises odd numbers on pages on the same side as the front cover and even numbers on pages on the same side as the back cover. The page on which the first number, 1, appears will depend on the type of publication and its structure. Page 1 most often is the first page of the text after the title page, foreword, index and other preliminaries in standard books. The numbering used for the preliminaries and back matter containing addenda, references, etc. following the main text, is different to that used in the main text. Numbering for horizontal addenda text such as references at the end of a book written in vertical text is sometimes paginated in reverse order from the last page. This is called gyakucho in Japanese, meaning reverse pagination.

In many simple bound books such as paperbacks, pocket books, library and magazines, Page 1 begins from the preliminaries. When all pages, including back matter is numbered in the same default style, this is called tōshi nombre or oi pēji in Japanese. When a document comprises several sections, and all of the pages in all of the sections are numbered with tōshi nombre, this is known as oicho (follow on numbering) in Japanese but is also called tōshi nombre or oi peji.

Fundamentally, all pages are numbered but the numbers are often not shown on the title page and pages carrying illustrations. These hidden numbers are called blind folio. This term also refers to numbers placed in less conspicuous locations in books of poetry, etc. When composing publications on computers, numbering can be set to different specifications to those in the main text by word processing, DTP software, etc. Generally, numbers are placed in the margin at the bottom of the page, called a footer, by word processing software or on a master page, which specifies the elements to be displayed on all pages by DTP software, and are automatically generated.