A legal team merges six separate contract sections into a single 40-page PDF. The combined document has no consistent page numbering across sections and no document title in the header. Court submissions require both. A project manager assembles a quarterly report from three department PDFs and needs the company name in the header and sequential page numbers in the footer before distributing to stakeholders. An academic finishes a dissertation and needs a running chapter title across odd pages and a centered page number across even pages.
All three need the same operation: adding consistent, configurable header and footer text to every page of an existing PDF. Adobe Acrobat handles this well but requires a paid subscription. This browser-based tool does the same job with full control over text, font size, color, alignment, position, and page range. Type {page} and {total} as placeholders to auto-insert dynamic page numbers that update per page. Everything processes locally via PDF-Lib. Nothing is uploaded to any server.
How It Works
- Upload your PDF by dragging it onto the upload area or clicking to browse. The document renders in a live preview panel that updates as you configure your header and footer settings before applying them.
- Configure header and footer settings independently for each. Enable the Header toggle and type your header text, any content from a document title to a project reference. Enable the Footer toggle and type your footer text, commonly "Page {page} of {total}" for sequential numbering that renders as "Page 1 of 10", "Page 2 of 10", and so on across the document. Set font size in points and choose a custom text color for each independently. Adjust the Y position for header (measured in points from the top of the page) and footer (from the bottom) to fine-tune vertical placement. Set alignment to Center, Left, or Right. Under Apply To, choose All Pages, Odd Pages, Even Pages, or a custom page range using the From Page and To Page fields for section-specific headers or to skip a cover page.
- Save and download by clicking Save PDF with Header and Footer. PDF-Lib writes the header and footer text as vector text objects in the top and bottom margins of each targeted page at the specified coordinates. The placeholder values resolve per page before embedding: {page} becomes the actual page number and {total} becomes the full document count. Download the updated PDF immediately.
Compatibility & Support
Supported Input and Output
- Input: Any standard PDF (text-based, scanned, merged, single or multi-page)
- Output: PDF with header and footer text embedded as vector text in the page margins
- Dynamic placeholders: {page} for current page number, {total} for total document page count
- Alignment options: Center, Left, Right (applies to both header and footer)
- Page targeting: All Pages, Odd Pages, Even Pages, custom From Page to To Page range
What to Note
Header and footer text is added to the page margin area above and below the existing content. If the source PDF has minimal top or bottom margins, the header or footer text may overlap the existing content area. Adjust the Y position settings to pull the text further from the page edges if overlap occurs. The tool does not modify or replace any existing header or footer content already embedded in the original PDF.
File Size Limits
All processing runs in-browser via PDF-Lib with no server upload, so no external size cap applies. Header and footer text objects are lightweight vector text, adding minimal overhead to the output file regardless of document length. Very large PDFs render the preview slightly slower but process and download fully.
Who Should Use This Tool?
- Students: A student submitting a multi-chapter thesis PDF can add the document title or chapter name as a running header and centered page numbers as a footer, meeting institutional formatting requirements without re-exporting from Word or LaTeX.
- Freelancers & Designers: A freelance consultant who assembles client reports from several exported PDFs can apply a consistent company name header and "Page {page} of {total}" footer across the combined document before delivery, giving it a unified professional appearance without rebuilding it from scratch.
- Office Professionals: A legal assistant preparing court filings can add the case reference number as a centered header and page numbers as a right-aligned footer to a merged PDF, meeting court formatting requirements in a single operation after document assembly.
- Developers: A developer generating multi-page PDF reports from an application can use this tool to add headers and footers to test output, verifying correct positioning and placeholder rendering before implementing the same text insertion in the production PDF generation code.
Key Features
Here's what separates this tool from generic alternatives:
No Server Upload
PDF-Lib processes everything in your browser. Legal documents, confidential reports, financial summaries, and academic submissions never transfer to any external server during header and footer application.
Dynamic Page Number Placeholders
Use {page} for the current page and {total} for the total count. Combining them as "Page {page} of {total}" produces automatic sequential numbering across every page without manually entering numbers. No separate page numbering tool required.
Independent Header and Footer
Header and footer are enabled, configured, and styled independently. Set the header to a document title in dark navy at 10pt left-aligned while the footer runs a page count in gray at 9pt centered, without either affecting the other.
Y Position Control
Adjust the header's distance from the top of the page and the footer's distance from the bottom in PDF points. Precise vertical positioning prevents header text from colliding with existing content in documents with minimal margins.
Page Range Targeting
Apply headers and footers to all pages, odd pages only, even pages only, or a specific custom range. Skip cover pages by starting from page two, or apply different configurations to body content versus appendices by running the tool twice.
Independent Color and Font Size
Header and footer each have their own color picker and font size setting. A document title in a dark brand color at 11pt in the header alongside a subtle gray page number at 9pt in the footer produces a professional, layered typographic hierarchy.
Why This Tool Beats the Alternatives
- No account, email, or signup required at any point.
- No watermarks added to the output PDF.
- No server upload; sensitive legal and financial documents stay in the browser throughout.
- Dynamic {page} and {total} placeholders for auto-numbering in the same text field as custom content, avoiding the need for a separate page numbering step.
- Y position control for precise margin placement; most basic tools offer only fixed top or bottom placement without adjustment.
- Odd/even page targeting for professional two-sided print layouts.
Pro Tips
- To skip a cover page from the header and footer, use the From Page setting to start from page two rather than applying to All Pages. This keeps the cover clean while every subsequent content page carries the consistent header and footer. Run the tool a second time if you also need a different header on the cover page itself.
- For two-sided print layouts where headers alternate sides between left and right pages, run the tool twice: first enable only the header and set alignment to Left, applying to Odd Pages only, then reload the output and run again with the same header text aligned to Right, applying to Even Pages only. The result mirrors the standard book-style header convention across the full document.
- If the output document will also need page numbers added through the PDF Page Numbering tool, add the header and footer custom text first using this tool, then open the result in the PDF Page Numbering tool to add formatted page numbers as a separate overlay. Running them as two separate passes gives more control over placement and style than combining everything in one step.
Upload your PDF, configure the header and footer text with any placeholder values, preview the result, and download the updated document in seconds. If you need to merge multiple PDFs before adding consistent headers and footers, use the Merge PDF Files tool first to produce the combined document, then apply your header and footer to the single output file.