# Folio

> Source: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/folio

Last updated: 2026-09-06
Category: Typesetting & layout
Also called: Page number · Blind folio · Drop folio

A folio is a printed page number; a blind folio is counted but not printed, and a drop folio sits at the foot of a chapter opener.

## Definition

In book design a **folio** is the printed page number — not the page itself. Folios sit in the head margin beside the running head, or centred at the foot, and they carry the reader's sense of place through the book.

A few conventions govern them. **Front matter** uses lowercase roman numerals; the main text starts at arabic 1, traditionally on a recto. A **blind folio** is a page that is counted in the sequence but carries no number — title pages, part titles, blanks. A **drop folio** is a number moved to the foot on a page whose head is empty, such as a chapter opener. Odd numbers always fall on rectos, even numbers on versos, which is why a chapter that must start on a recto may force a blank page before it.

The word has a second, older meaning: a sheet folded once, giving the large "folio" format of Shakespeare's First Folio.

## Related

- [Running head](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/running-head)
- [Recto and verso](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/recto-and-verso)
- [Front matter](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/front-matter)
- [Chapter](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary/chapter)
- [Turn a PDF Into a Printed Book](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/tools/pdf-to-printed-book)
- [Turn a Word Document Into a Printed Book](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/tools/word-document-to-printed-book)
- [Book Publishing Glossary — 59 Terms Defined](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/glossary)
- [Bindery — the Claude-powered book studio](https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/bindery)

---

More from Infinite Library, as one map for AI agents: https://www.infinitelibrary.ai/llms.txt