Add Header and Footer to PDF

How to use the add header and footer to pdf

1. Choose your PDF.
2. Write the header and footer, using {n} and {total} for numbering.
3. Add them to every page and download.

About this tool

Adds a line of text at the top of every page, the bottom, or both. Page numbering uses two placeholders: <code>{n}</code> for the current page and <code>{total}</code> for the count, so "Page {n} of {total}" produces what you would expect.

The text is drawn as real text rather than flattened into the page as an image. That means it remains selectable, searchable and readable by a screen reader — and it keeps the file small, since a line of text costs a few dozen bytes while an image of that line costs thousands.

Text is centred horizontally and positioned by the margin you set, measured from the page edge. Where a document has no margin of its own, the header will overlap its content — nothing prevents that, because sometimes overlapping is what you want, so the preview is the check rather than a rule.

One limitation worth knowing before you start: the fonts built into the PDF format cover Latin-1 only, so characters outside it — emoji, Greek, Cyrillic, CJK — appear as question marks. Embedding a font that covers them would add megabytes to every document.

Everything runs on your device.

Common uses

• Numbering the pages of a document that lacks them.
• Marking a draft or a confidentiality notice on every page.
• Adding a reference number to a submitted document.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add page numbers?

Put {n} in the footer for the page number and {total} for the count. "Page {n} of {total}" is the usual form.

Will the text overlap my content?

It can, if the document has no margin. The text is placed at the margin you set, measured from the page edge, so increase it if there is a clash.

Is the added text selectable?

Yes. It is drawn as real text rather than as an image, so it stays selectable, searchable and accessible to a screen reader.