Add header and footer to PDF
Add a title, date or file name that repeats on every page.
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About Header & Footer
To add a header and footer to a PDF here, type one line of text, such as a title, a confidentiality notice or a client name, choose where on the page it goes, and it is repeated in the same spot on every page or on a range you choose. A numbering style can add the page number to the same line.
Reach for it when a document needs the same label wherever a reader opens it, without retyping it page by page. It adds one label at one position per run; a header and a footer with different text each take a separate pass. Nothing is filled in for you, so there is no automatic date or file name: type any date or name yourself.
How it works
- Add one or more PDFs.
- Type the text you want repeated on every page into Customize. It starts empty, and the run needs either text or a numbering style before it will start.
- Choose a Style. "No page number" stamps the text alone. "Page 1" and "Page 1 of N" put your text in front of the number. "1", "1 of N" and "1/N" show the number only and leave your text out.
- Choose Location on page, which starts on Header center. More options holds the font, the size, Document margins, "Apply only to pages" and the number to start counting from.
- Click Add header and footer and download the result.
What goes into the label
The label is a single line. The tool does not wrap it or shrink it to fit, so a long line at a large size can run past the edge of the page. Keep it short enough for the narrowest page in the file at the size you choose; sizes run from 6 to 28 points and start at 10.
The text is black and drawn in Times New Roman, Helvetica or Courier. None of the three is embedded in the file; the reader supplies them, and their coverage stops at the Western European alphabet. Characters outside that set, such as Chinese, Cyrillic, Arabic or emoji, are drawn as question marks, and the preview under Customize will not warn you because it shows the text as you typed it.
The same text goes on every selected page, so a date or file name is whatever you typed. To put a different value on each file, run the files one at a time. With a numbering style, "Apply only to pages" and "Start numbering from" work on the selected pages only, as they do in the Page Numbers tool.
One label per run, and a two-pass example
Each run places one label at one location. Say a 20-page draft report needs a notice at the top and a page number at the bottom. First run: type "Draft for client review" into Customize, leave Style on No page number, set Location on page to Header right, open More options, choose Helvetica at size 9, and click Add header and footer. Download it, add the downloaded file again, replace Customize with the word Page, choose Page 1 of N and Footer center, and run a second time. Leaving Customize empty for that second pass is allowed, but the footer then reads "1 of 20": the word in front of the number is whatever Customize holds.
For numbers alone, the Page Numbers tool is the shorter route. For a large mark across the middle of the page rather than a line at the edge, use Watermark.
What it leaves alone, and what tends to go wrong
- Your existing content stays where it is unless you choose Increase margins, which shrinks each stamped page's content to 92 percent and frees a band at the top for a header location or the bottom for a footer location. Page sizes do not change.
- Overlap. Half an inch in from your chosen edge is where the label goes, and nothing checks whether that spot is already occupied. A letterhead or a scanner's own footer can collide with it; try another Location on page, or Increase margins.
- Rotated pages. Placement is measured against the page as stored, ignoring the rotation setting it carries, so on a page a reader turns 90 degrees a header can end up running along a side edge.
- An empty run. With Customize empty and Style on No page number, the run stops with "Enter the text you want to add, or choose a numbering style." The preview line shows CONFIDENTIAL as an example while the field is empty, but nothing is stamped until you type your own text or pick a numbering style.
- Remembered settings. Your last-used text and options come back on your next visit to this browser, so clear the Customize field if an old label is still there.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, that is the default. Choose "No page number" to place the label alone, or pick a numbering style to combine it with a page number.
Not by default ("Leave unchanged"). Choose "Increase margins" to pull each stamped page's content in to 92 percent of its size and open a clear band at the edge where the label goes. The band is 8 percent of the page height, so on a short page it can be narrower than the half inch the label is inset and the two still meet.
Not in one pass: each run places one label at one Location on page. Run the tool a second time on the result, once for the header text and once for the footer numbering, to get both.
Yes. Use "Apply only to pages" with a range like 1-10, odd, even, or a comma-separated list.
Yes. Add multiple PDFs and the same text and settings are applied to each, returned in a ZIP. A page range has to fit every file, or the run stops with a message naming the missing page.
Real text. The label is written into the page's own content with one of the three built-in fonts, so a reader can select it, search it and copy it out. Nothing is pasted on as a picture.
Times New Roman, Helvetica or Courier, chosen under More options along with the size. All three are standard PDF fonts, so the file does not need to embed anything extra to show them.
No. The text is stamped exactly as typed and the tool has no date or file name fields. Type the date or name yourself, and run files one at a time if each needs a different value.
No. The label is always black. Font and size are the only styling choices.
The three fonts cover Western European letters only. Any character outside that set, such as Chinese, Cyrillic or Arabic, is replaced with a question mark in the stamped text, so keep the label to characters those fonts can draw.
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