A document that will be printed, filed or circulated needs to say what it is on every page. Which report is this? Which page am I holding? When was it produced? A running head and foot answer all three, and they are exactly what a PDF exported from another application usually lacks. This tool stamps both onto an existing document without re-rendering it — the pages keep their text, fonts and artwork, and gain a line at the top and bottom. A small set of tokens fills in the page number, the total, the document's own title, the file name and today's date, and a cover page can be left clean.
Features
Independent header and footer text, each aligned left, centre or right
Tokens for page number, total pages, title, file name and date
Live preview of what the first stamped page will say
Skip the first page so a cover stays clean
Start numbering at any value, for documents that continue from another
Text size and distance from the page edge both adjustable
Stamps onto the existing pages — text and fonts are untouched
How to use the PDF Header and Footer
Drop the PDF onto the page
Write the header and footer, using tokens where values should change
Set the alignment, text size and distance from the edge
Choose whether to skip the cover, then stamp and download
Example
Input
Header: {title} Footer: Page {page} of {pages}
Output
Q3 review Page 4 of 18
The title token reads the document's own stored title, falling back to the file name.
Common errors & troubleshooting
The stamp overlaps existing content. — The document has no margin left for a running head. Increase the distance from the edge, or add margins first by resizing the pages.
A token printed literally as {page}. — Only page, pages, title, filename and date are recognised. Anything else is left alone deliberately, so braces in your own text survive.
Page numbers are one higher than expected. — Skipping the cover shifts the count so the first stamped page is page one. Turn the skip off, or lower the start number, depending on which convention you want.
The stamp is missing from some pages. — Check the skip-first setting and the start value. Every other page is stamped, so a gap in the middle usually means the document was already a merge of stamped and unstamped files.
Frequently asked questions
Does stamping a header re-render the whole PDF?
No. The text is drawn onto the existing pages, so everything already there — selectable text, embedded fonts, vector artwork — is left exactly as it was.
Can the header be different on odd and even pages?
Not here; one header and one footer apply throughout. For mirrored spreads, stamp the odd and even pages separately and interleave the results.
Which date does the {date} token use?
Today's date on your device, in ISO form. It is fixed at the moment you stamp, so the document does not change later.
Is my document uploaded to be stamped?
No. The PDF is opened, drawn on and saved in this tab, so board papers and case files stay on your machine.
Can I add an image or a logo to the header?
This tool stamps text. For a logo, add a watermark image, or build the document with the logo already in place.
Related tools
Add Page Numbers — Stamp page numbers onto a PDF (position, format, start).
Watermark PDF — Add a diagonal text watermark to every page.
Merge PDFs — Combine multiple PDFs into one, with reordering.
Resize PDF — Rescale every PDF page to A4, Letter or another standard size, content centred.
Flatten PDF — Lock filled form fields into the page so a PDF looks the same everywhere.
Crop PDF — Trim margins from every page via the crop box.
Text to PDF — Turn typed or pasted text into a paginated, downloadable PDF.