How to add a header and footer to a PDF

The Header & footer tool stamps a line of text across the top and/or bottom of every page in a PDF — a document title, "CONFIDENTIAL", a draft notice, a date. It runs 100% in your browser: the PDF never leaves your device, and the text is drawn as crisp vector type, not a flattened image.

Before you start

• You need a regular, unencrypted PDF. If the file is password-protected, remove the password first with the Unlock tool — the stamper can't open an encrypted file.
• Files up to 100 MB are accepted. For anything larger, split the file with the Pages tool first.
• The tool adds the same text to every page. If you want automatic page numbering or Bates stamps, use the dedicated Page numbers tool instead.
• The tool is free — there's no tier gate, and your file is processed locally either way.

Steps

1. Open the Header & footer tool at /app/header-footer (it's also in the Tools menu under Edit & organize).
2. Drop your PDF onto the drop zone, or click it to pick a file. Nothing uploads — the PDF never leaves your device.
3. Type your header into Header (top of every page) — for example Acme Corp — Confidential. Up to 200 characters.
4. Optionally type a footer into Footer (bottom of every page) — for example Draft — not for distribution. You can fill either field or both, but at least one is required: the Add header & footer button stays disabled until one field has text.
5. Click Add header & footer. Processing happens locally and usually takes a moment; you'll see a confirmation like Added to 12 pages.
6. Click Download PDF. The stamped copy downloads as yourfile-headerfooter.pdf — your original file is untouched. A small prompt also offers Fill it → if you want to take the stamped PDF straight into the fill & sign flow.
7. Not quite right? Click Edit the text to change the wording and re-run on the same file, or Do another to start over with a new PDF.

Formatting

The layout is deliberately simple and fixed — there are no styling options to configure:

Characters outside that font coverage (for example CJK scripts or emoji) are replaced with ? rather than breaking the file — see the troubleshooting guide for details.

Result

Every page of the downloaded PDF carries your header and/or footer as real vector text, so it stays sharp at any zoom and in print. Rotated pages are handled correctly — the text appears upright at the visual top and bottom of each page as you see it. The stamp also works on scanned PDFs, since it's drawn on top of the page rather than relying on a text layer.

The text is baked into the page content, so it's permanent in the downloaded copy. Your original file is untouched on disk — keep it if you might want a clean version later.

Related

• Page numbers — automatic page numbering and Bates stamps
• Watermark — a larger stamp across the body of the page
• Unlock — remove a password so the file can be stamped