Add Header and Footer
Add Header and Footer puts running text in the top and bottom margins of every page — left, centre and right — with page numbers, the date, the title and the file name filled in for you. It runs in your browser, and nothing is uploaded.
- Input
- One PDF
- Output
- One PDF with text in the margins
- Runs
- In your browser. The file never leaves your device.
- Cost
- Free. No sign-up, no watermark.
Choose a PDF file
or drop it here
How to add a header and footer to a PDF
Choose a PDF
Select the document. It stays on your device.
Type the text
Fill in any of the six places. Use {page} and {pages} for the page number and count, and {file}, {title} and {date} for the file name, title and today's date.
Download the result
Choose a font, size and colour, start on a later page to skip a cover, and save the stamped file.
Running text in the margins, placed the way the page looks
Six places
Header and footer, each with a left, centre and right slot, so a document can carry a case name, a title and a page number at once.
Fields filled per page
{page}, {pages}, {file}, {title} and {date} become the right words on each page. Start numbering on page 2 and from any number.
Right way up on any page
A scan saved on its side, or a page with an offset crop box, still gets its text in the corner you see, reading upright.
Double-sided printing
Alternate sides swaps left and right on even pages, so text sits by the outer edge of facing pages.
Frequently asked questions
Can I skip the cover page?
Yes. Set "Start on page" to 2 and the first page is left as it is. Use "First page number" if the count should begin somewhere other than 1.
What can the text say?
Latin letters (including accents and Vietnamese), Greek and Cyrillic, numbers and common punctuation, plus {page}, {pages}, {file}, {title} and {date}. Text that needs more than the standard fonts embeds a small Unicode font into the file. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew and Indic scripts cannot be written yet, and the tool says so instead of writing garbage.
What if my text is too long?
Each place gets about a third of the line. Text that would run into its neighbour is cut short with an ellipsis, and the result counts how many were shortened.
Is this the same as adding page numbers?
Page numbers is the quick version, with number styles such as roman numerals. Use Add Page Numbers for that, and this tool when you want several pieces of text. For a unique running identifier on every page, use Bates Numbering.
Can I put a diagonal mark behind the text instead?
Use Add Watermark for a diagonal or repeated mark. To remove a header that is already in the file, edit it in Edit PDF.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. Add Header and Footer runs entirely in your browser: the file is opened and processed on your own device and is never sent to our server. More in the privacy policy.
Is Add Header and Footer free to use?
Yes. Add Header and Footer is free, with no account to create and no software to install — open the page in a modern browser and start.