Add a header or a footer to every page of a PDF

How it works

1. Write the line. Header, footer, or both — at least one has to have something in it. Keep it short: nothing wraps, and a long line simply runs off the edge of the paper.
2. Drop in any tokens you need. Type {page} where the page number goes, {pages} for the total, {filename} for the document’s name without its extension, and {date} for today. They are replaced as each page is drawn.
3. Set the alignment, the size and the inset. Centre for a title, right for a reference on a left-bound document. Ten points at 12 mm from the edge suits most pages; check a page with a busy head or foot before you run the whole file.

What the options do

The form above lists the options this tool is running today, straight from the server. This is what they are for.

Header text

The line along the top. This is where a document title, a matter or case reference, a version marker or a client name belongs, because the head of a page is what shows when sheets are overlapped in a pile. Tokens work here as they do in the footer, so “Smith v Jones — {filename} — page {page} of {pages}” is one field. Leave it empty and nothing is drawn at the top at all.

Footer text

The line along the bottom, and the more common of the two. Both fields can be filled in the same run, and they take the same alignment, size and inset — there is no way to centre one and right-align the other in a single pass, though running the tool twice will do it. A footer is the usual home for {page} of {pages} and for a printed-on date.

Alignment

Left, centre or right, applied to both lines. Centre reads as a title and is the default. Right is the choice for a document that will be bound or stapled on the left, because a right-aligned reference stays visible when the sheets are fanned. Left is worth it when the same reference has to line up with body text that is itself left-aligned. There is no justification and no way to put text at both ends of one line.

Pages to write on

Which sheets get the lines. ‘2-’ leaves a title page clean, which is the common case; ‘odd’ and ‘even’ let you run the tool twice to get a different header on left- and right-hand pages, the way a printed book does it. Note that leaving pages out does not renumber anything: {page} is always the page’s real position in the file, so skipping page 1 still gives the second sheet “page 2”.

Text size (pt)

Four to 72 points, 10 by default. Eight or nine keeps a running header subordinate to the body text, which is what a header is meant to be. Because nothing shrinks to fit, size is also your main lever when a line is too long: dropping from 10 pt to 8 pt buys about a fifth more characters before it runs off the page.

Distance from the edge (mm)

The inset from the page’s visible edge, 12 mm by default and measured from the crop box, so a cropped page is written on relative to its new edge. Under about 5 mm you are inside the area most desktop printers cannot reach, and the line will be missing from the print even though it looks right on screen. Increase it when the pages already carry something near the edge — the header is drawn on top of the page, and nothing moves aside for it.

What this tool does not do

• The line does not wrap, shrink or get truncated. Text that is too long runs past the edge of the page and off the paper. Shorten it or drop the text size.
• One line at the top and one at the bottom, and that is all. There is no second line, no left–centre–right trio on the same line, and no different text for odd and even pages in a single run — though running it twice with ‘odd’ and ‘even’ gets you the last of those.
• {date} is today’s date on our server in ISO form — 2026-08-19 — and it is identical on every page. It is not the document’s own date, and there is no way to change the format or to type a different date into the token.
• {page} is the page’s real position in the file. There is no offset and no ‘start at’, so a document whose printed numbering should begin on the third sheet needs the page numbers tool instead.
• Helvetica, black, at your chosen size. Text with letters Helvetica does not carry is set in Open Sans instead and the result tells you so; anything neither font can draw is refused rather than quietly mangled.
• The lines become part of the page and cannot be edited or removed afterwards. Keep the original.

What happens to your file

The file is uploaded because Add header and footer to PDF runs on our server rather than in the browser tab. It is kept for at most 2 hours and the result you download for 24 hours, then a scheduled job deletes both — a job has to be able to read the file while it runs, and you have to be able to retry a failed conversion without re-uploading. Neither needs longer.

Nothing about the contents is logged, and no one reads your documents. The retention page lists the same numbers the code enforces, and the privacy policy says who can reach the storage they sit in.

Questions

What can I put in the text?

Any plain Latin text, plus four tokens that are filled in as each page is drawn: {page} for the page number, {pages} for the total number of pages in the file, {filename} for the document’s name with its extension removed, and {date} for today’s date. Everything else is printed exactly as typed.

Can I have a different header on left- and right-hand pages?

Yes, by running the tool twice: once with the pages set to ‘odd’ and once with ‘even’, changing the text and the alignment between the two runs. Feed the result of the first run into the second.

My header runs off the edge of the page.

Nothing wraps or scales here, so a line wider than the page simply overflows it. Shorten the text, drop the point size, or move some of it to the footer. Alignment does not help — a long centred line overflows both sides instead of one.

Can I add a header and a footer at the same time?

Yes, fill in both fields in one run. They share the alignment, the text size and the inset from the edge. If you need them styled differently, run the tool twice and fill in one field each time.

Should I use this for a disclosure bundle instead of Bates numbering?

No. Bates numbering exists because a production needs a fixed-width, zero-padded, never-repeated reference on every page, and it enforces that. A footer with {page} in it gives you an ordinary page number, which is a different thing and will not satisfy anyone expecting the other.

What date does {date} give me?

Today, on our server, written as 2026-08-19. The same value goes on every page of the run. It is not read from the document and it cannot be reformatted, so if you need a specific date in a specific style, type it into the text instead.