How to number images on a web page

Published November 12, 2026

When several people look at the same page, “the second one on the right” quickly turns into a guessing game. Numbering the images fixes it: everyone says “image 7” and means the same thing. Here are three ways to do it, from slowest to fastest.

1. Annotate a screenshot

Take a screenshot, add numbers in an image editor or whiteboard tool, and share it. It works anywhere, but it is a snapshot: it goes stale as soon as the page changes, and it only covers what was on screen. Long pages need several screenshots.

2. Use your browser’s developer tools

Developer tools can list the images on a page, but they don’t label them visually. In the Console, document.images.length tells you how many <img> elements the page has, and [...document.images].map((img, i) => (i + 1) + ': ' + img.currentSrc) prints a numbered list of their addresses. That is handy for a QA checklist, but nobody in a meeting can see those numbers on the page itself.

3. Put the numbers on the page

A browser extension can draw a numbered badge over every image, so you can share your screen and say “look at image 7.” Image Number Helper does this in one keystroke:

1. Install it from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Open any page and press Alt + Shift + N. Numbers appear on the images.
3. Click a number to copy “Image 7”, ready to paste into chat or a ticket.
4. Type a number in the extension popup and the page scrolls to that image and highlights it.

Tips for clean numbering

• Numbers follow the order images are found on the page. Images that load later (lazy loading) get the next number instead of shifting everything else. If the page changes a lot, use Renumber to start again from the top.
• Tiny images are skipped so icons and tracking pixels don’t clutter the page. The minimum size is adjustable.
• Only <img> elements are numbered. Images set as CSS backgrounds are not.
• Pick a style that suits your team: 1 2 3, A B C, 01 02 03 or I II III.

Related: how to reference images in a design review and how to find images with missing alt text.