Add Header & Footer

Quick Answer: Add Header & Footer puts the same short text at the top or bottom of every page in a PDF. A header is the text at the top of a page. A footer is the text at the bottom. You use them so every page shows the document title, the date, or a page note, even if a page gets separated from the rest.

Use Add Header & Footer →

What it does, in plain words

Think of a school report with 12 pages. If page 7 falls out, or someone prints only page 7, no one can tell which report it belongs to. A header fixes that. It can say, for example, Annual Report 2026, at the top of every page. A footer can say the date, or Page 7 of 12, at the bottom. Now every single page can stand on its own.

This tool adds text on top of pages that already exist. It does not rewrite your document. It does not change your paragraphs, tables or pictures. It only adds a short line at the top, at the bottom, or both. That is why the text you choose must be short. A long sentence at the top of every page will look crowded and will cover your content.

How to use Add Header & Footer — step by step

Open the Add Header & Footer tool on PDFOnlineEditor.
Choose the PDF you want to label.
Type your header text, for example the document title. Keep it short.
Type your footer text, for example the date, or a page note. Leave a field blank if you do not need it.
Click the process button, download the result, and open it. Check the first page, a middle page, and the last page. The header and footer should appear on all three, and they should not cover your text.

A worked example

Mr. Khan has a 12-page school report. He wants to add page header with document title to every pdf page, and add footer with document date to every pdf page. He types Annual Report 2026 as the header, and 26 October 2026 as the footer. He downloads the result and opens page 1, page 6 and page 12. The title sits at the top of each page. The date sits at the bottom. Nothing is covered. Now, even if a teacher prints only page 6, the page still shows which report it is from and when it was made.

A good header answers three questions: which document is this, whose is it, and when was it made? You do not need all three on every page. Title plus date is enough for most reports.

What to check before you send it

The first, middle and last pages. Does the header and footer appear on all of them?
Overlap. Does the header cover your first line of text? Does the footer cover your last line? If it does, shorten the text or use a shorter title.
Spelling. A mistake in a header repeats on every page. Read it once, slowly, before you send the file.
Page numbers. If you use a page note, check that the numbers run in order, and that the last page shows the correct total.

3 common mistakes

Writing a long header. A header is a label, not a paragraph. Keep it under about eight words.
Putting private details in a header. Do not put a phone number, address or password in text that will appear on every page you share.
Sending without checking a middle page. The first page can look fine while a later page, with a different layout, is covered.

Honest limits — please read this

Live check, 27 October 2026: this tool was tested on the live site with a 3-page file, including a rotated page. The header and footer appeared on every page, and the original text was kept. Still, do not trust any output blindly. Open the downloaded file and check every page type in it, including a rotated page, which is a page turned sideways. A password-protected file will not work until you unlock your own copy first. A scanned file will still be pictures, and the header will sit on top of the picture, not inside its text.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a header and a footer?

A header is text at the top of every page, like a document title. A footer is text at the bottom of every page, like a date or a page note.

Can I add only a header, without a footer?

Yes. Leave the footer field blank if you do not need it. The same works the other way round.

Will the header cover my text?

It should not, if your text is short and your pages have normal margins, which are the blank edges around a page. If it does cover text, shorten the header and try again.

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Original Add Header & Footer tool • PDF Guides • Support: support@pdfonlineeditor.com