Add a header or footer to a PDF

Stamping every page

Add text along the top, the bottom, or both, on every page or a selected range. The usual content is a document reference, a date, a company name, a case number, a version, or a classification like DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL.

It is an overlay, not a re-render

The text is drawn as a layer on top of the existing page. The document underneath is untouched — its text stays selectable, its links keep working, and the file barely grows.

Tools that flatten the page to add a header turn the document into a stack of images. You notice when you try to search it.

Watch the existing margin

The one thing to check. Documents already using their bottom margin — page numbers, footnotes, a printed footer — will have your text land on top of theirs. Increase the margin setting to push it further toward the edge, and check page one before running a hundred.

Most printers cannot print closer than about 10 mm from the paper edge, so a margin below roughly 28 points risks being cut off on paper even though it looks right on screen.

Header and footer together

Both fields can be filled at once, and each is optional. A classification at the top and a reference at the bottom is the common combination in legal and corporate documents.

Related

For sequential numbering rather than fixed text, add page numbers. For legal-style sequential stamps across several documents, Bates numbering. For text across the middle of the page, watermark.