How Do I Get Page Numbers On My Kindle App

If you are new to Kindle, you may have noticed that Amazon eBooks come with three or four times as many page numbers as you would expect.

So how on earth do you know what page you're on?

Well in this Quick Answers blog, I have a simple step-by-step guide on how to quickly change your Location Number to Page Number.

Finally, I'll also show you a couple of handy tips such as displaying how many pages are left in the chapter and how to jump to a specific page.

How to show page numbers on Kindle Paperwhite & Oasis

1. Select and open an eBook to read.

2. At the bottom-left of the page, tap on the Loc (Location) text.

3. This will change the Location ID to Page Number.

If you continue to tap you will also see Time Left in Chapter. This gives you an approximate time left on the chapter based on your average reading time, as well as the total Time Left in Book.

Continue to tap and you will eventually return to the Location ID.

You can toggle between Location to Page Number as frequently as you like. Alternatively, you can achieve the same result by following the below (although it will take longer).

Open the top menu and select on the Aa icon.
Select the tab More.
Tap on Reading Progress.
You now have 5 options to choose from: Page in book, Time left in chapter, Time left in book, Location in Book and None.
Select your preferred progress option.
Tap away to return to your book.

What does Loc mean on Kindle

Loc means Location ID on all Kindle devices, these include Paperwhite, Oasis and Fire and Kindle App users. A Location reference is used instead of a page number as not all eReaders can comfortably display the whole page due to the size of the screen.

To make reading easier on Kindle, Amazon have opted to split a single page into three sections separately.

The advantage of doing this is that the text is much bigger than in books, making reading more comfortable for the visually impaired.

As a result of having more "screen pages" Amazon created the Location ID so reader can track their progress.

Percentage Read

For a more accurate figure on your reading progress, Amazon have also included a percentage icon at the bottom-right of the page.

Personally, I feel this provides a better measurement on my reading progress and is universally understood.

How to see page numbers on Kindle App for Mac and PC

For Mac and PC users, the position of the page number and percentage read is slightly different that on mobile or on Kindle ereaders.

In this case, it is positioned center at the bottom of the page. You should see a grey bottom header that runs right across the screen. The bottom header includes both the Page Number and Location ID, as well as the percentage read. Unlike mobile apps, the PC and MAC page info is static and cannot be changed.

Example of Page/ Loc ID on PC and Mac.

There are times where the Kindle App attempt to sync to the cloud and you may see the page information disappear. Don't worry, as soon as the app connects and syncs correctly, it will provide you with the correct page/location ID.

By the way, did you realise you can read any book in your library on your PC or laptop through a web browser? For more details, check out our guide to using Kindle Cloud Reader.

Page Numbers on Kindle – FAQ

Change Kindle Loc to Page Number

Simply tap on the Loc ID to switch to the page number. If you continue to tap the icon you will eventually go back to the Loc ID. You can also do this via the Reading Progress page which I've discussed previously.

How to show Kindle Page numbers instead of Percentage?

You cannot hide the percentage icon on Kindle books. If you cannot see the page number, it is likely that the Location ID is visible in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. To change this to Page Number, simple tap on the Location ID number to switch to Page number.

How to cite a Kindle book without page numbers?

The best solution would be to quote the Kindle books location ID instead. To access the location ID, simply go to All Settings > Reading Progress and select Location ID. The page ID will now be displayed at the bottom left-hand corner of the device.

How to tell if a Kindle book has page numbers?

If a Kindle book does have original page numbering, they should be available at the bottom left of the screen. If this blank or contain loc ID, you can tap on this to change to the page number.

Kindle page in book is greyed out

There are times where a Kindle books page number is unavailable. You can tell by going to Reading Progress, the Page Number option will be greyed out. This is generally when a book was only released as an ebook i.e. no physical book copy available.

How to tell if a Kindle book has page numbers?

The quickest method is to tap the Loc ID of the ebook at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. If this changes to Page Number then it's available. Most ebooks that originated as physical books are likely to have the original page numbers.

I have more of the same page number on Kindle?

This is due to the sectioning that Kindle does of the original pages in the book. So, for the first page you may see three Page 1 identifiers even though you can see three different pages. This is why Kindle has a location ID, as the Loc ID is an independent page on the ebook. The reason for this is to allow the text on smaller Kindle devices to be visible.

Why are my Kindle books missing pages?

If you have more than one ebook with missing pages there may have been an issue while downloading. In this case you can simply delete go to the main menu, next to the book tap on the three-dot icon and select Remove Download.

Then open the top menu and tap on Sync Your Kindle to re-attempt to download the ebook again, hopefully including the page numbers.

PDF Page Numbering

If you are reading pdf documents from third-party sources i.e. not directly from Amazon. You may have noticed that the page numbers are present (provided they were there in the original source).

Amazon has no control over third-party documents which is why the page numbers are available.

But they do include their own page number or location ID and percentage progress to assist you while you are reading.

Just bear in mind that the page number at the bottom of the document may not be the same as the Kindle page number, as Amazon includes table of contents and the front page in the calculations.