How to add headers and footers to a PDF

To add a PDF header or footer, open the file in a PDF editor, choose a header or footer tool, type your text, pick where it sits on the page and save a new copy. Most tools also let you drop in page numbers or the date automatically. The real skill is choosing short, useful text and checking it does not sit on top of anything important.

What is a PDF header and footer?

A header is a line of text printed at the top of every page, and a footer is the same at the bottom. In a PDF they are usually stamped onto each page as part of the content, so they show up in every viewer and on paper.

People use them for different jobs:

a document title or client name at the top, so loose printed pages stay identifiable;
"Draft" or "Confidential" in a corner, as a quieter alternative to a full watermark;
page numbers such as "Page 4 of 12" in the footer;
a date, a version label like "v2", or a reference number;
a company name or a short contact line.

How to add a PDF header and footer, step by step

Make a copy of the original file first, or make sure your tool saves the result as a new file.
Open the PDF in a tool that offers headers and footers.
Choose the position. Many tools split the top and bottom into left, centre and right slots, so you can put a title top left and a page number bottom right.
Type the text for each slot you want to use. Leave the others empty.
Add automatic fields if you need them, such as the page number or today's date.
Set a small font size. For most documents, a size a little smaller than the body text looks tidy.
Preview a few pages, including the first and the last, then save.

Where should each piece of information go?

There is no single rule, but readers are used to a few patterns. Keep the title or document name in the header, because that is where the eye goes first. Put page numbers in the footer, either centred or on the outer corner. Dates and version labels are easy to miss in a footer corner, which is fine: they are there for people who look for them.

If the document will be printed and bound on the left, avoid the inside edge. Text placed close to the binding can disappear into the fold.

How do you stop a header covering the page content?

This is the most common problem. A PDF page has no "header area" reserved for you, so a stamped header simply lands wherever you place it. If the original page was designed with very small margins, your new text may sit on top of a heading, a logo or a table.

A few ways to avoid it:

Check the busiest page. Scroll to a page with a full-width table or image and look at the top and bottom edges.
Use the corners. Short text in a corner is less likely to overlap than a long centred line.
Make room first. If every page is crowded, resizing the pages to a standard size can add a little breathing space around the content. Our guide to resizing PDF pages to A4 or Letter explains how that works.
Trim scanner borders. Scanned pages often have dark edges that make a footer hard to read. Cropping the margins first gives you a cleaner edge to work with.

Headers and footers, page numbers or a watermark?

These three tools overlap, so it helps to pick the right one.

Page numbers only: if all you need is numbering, a dedicated page-number tool is quicker. See how to add page numbers to a PDF.
A word or two that must be impossible to miss: a watermark stamps large diagonal text across the page. Use it for "Copy" or "Sample", where you want the label to be obvious. Our post on adding a watermark to a PDF covers that.
Several small pieces of information: that is what headers and footers are for. You can combine a title, a date and page numbers in one pass.

Things to check before you send it

Spelling. A typo in a header is repeated on every single page.
The page count. If you add "Page X of Y", make sure you have already merged, deleted or reordered pages. Doing it afterwards leaves the numbers wrong.
Dates. An automatic date usually means the day you stamped it, not the date the document was written. Type a fixed date if that matters.
Signed files. Adding anything to a digitally signed PDF changes it, which can make the signature show as invalid. Add headers before signing, not after.

Can a header be removed later?

Usually yes, by anyone with an editor, because it is just text on the page. If you want headers, stamps and other additions locked into the page so they are harder to move, flattening the file helps. Flattening is worth doing when a file will be passed around a lot. Flattening does not make text impossible to edit, so for legal documents, keep the original file as your record.

Adding headers and footers with PDF Burrow

PDF Burrow has a Header & Footer tool that adds custom text, page numbers and the date to any corner of the page. It runs on your phone, so the document is not uploaded anywhere while you work on it. If you only need numbers, the separate Page Numbers tool does that in one step.

Frequently asked questions

Can I put a different header on the first page?

That depends on the tool. If yours applies one header to every page, a simple workaround is to split off the cover page, add the header to the rest, then merge the two files back together.

Will a header show up when the PDF is printed?

Yes. A stamped header is part of the page content, so it prints like any other text. Check that your printer is not set to shrink or crop the page, which can cut off text near the edge.

Something smaller than the body text, so it reads as supporting information. Go too small and it becomes hard to read on paper, so preview it before you save.

Does adding a header change the original file?

Good tools save the result as a new file and leave the original untouched. If yours overwrites the file, make a copy first.