Adding headers and footers to a PDF and downloading the edited file is a three-step browser task: pick a local PDF no larger than 25 MiB, type a header line, a footer line, or both (optionally using {page} and {pages} placeholders for numbering), set a font size between 6 and 36 points and an edge margin between 0 and 200 points, then select the action button to create a new file named with a -header-footer.pdf suffix. Header Footer PDF runs entirely in your browser using the pdf-lib PDFPage drawText method with the embedded StandardFonts.Helvetica font, so the source document and the edited copy are never uploaded. Every structural page of the source receives the same centered header and footer drawn inside the existing page box at the chosen margin, and the original page order, page count, and visible body content stay in place. The downloaded file is a brand-new PDF, not a viewer overlay or annotation layer, so it prints and opens like any other PDF.
What Header Footer PDF Does to Your File
This is a centered header and footer tool that draws additional content (a header line, a footer line, or both) on every page of a single PDF and produces a new file you can download. The drawing happens in the browser using pdf-lib, so the operation is private and the file is never sent to a server. The tool is designed for simple, predictable edits: one optional header line and one optional footer line per page, horizontally centered, applied to every page uniformly.
The header sits below the top edge of the page by the margin you select, scaled by the requested font size. The footer sits above the bottom edge by the same margin. Both lines are horizontally centered using the real measured width of the embedded Helvetica font, so the alignment is precise rather than estimated. If you only want a header or only want a footer, leave the other field empty and only the populated line will be drawn.
The download keeps the source filename base and appends -header-footer.pdf, so report.pdf becomes report-header-footer.pdf. Page boxes, page order, visible body content, and the original page count all remain in place. Only the new header and footer text are drawn on top of the existing pages, so the result is a normal PDF file rather than a special overlay.
File Requirements and Value Limits Before You Download
Before you select a file, it helps to know the exact limits the tool enforces. The source must be a non-empty PDF no larger than 25 MiB. Encrypted, damaged, oversized, or incorrectly labeled files produce a visible error and are not bypassed, so you will not get a half-edited PDF or a silent failure.
The two text fields are each trimmed and capped at 120 Unicode characters. Font size accepts whole values from 6 to 36 points; non-integer inputs are not accepted. Edge margin accepts whole values from 0 to 200 points. The two supported placeholders are the lowercase tokens {page} and {pages}; other brace text is left untouched. Standard Helvetica supports a practical Latin character set. If your text contains characters the embedded font cannot encode, file creation fails visibly rather than substituting missing glyphs.
| Setting | Accepted values |
|---|---|
| File format | Non-empty PDF |
| Maximum file size | 25 MiB |
| Header text length | 120 Unicode characters, trimmed |
| Footer text length | 120 Unicode characters, trimmed |
| Font size | Whole numbers, 6 to 36 points |
| Edge margin | Whole numbers, 0 to 200 points |
| Supported placeholders | {page}, {pages} |
| Output filename | Original base + -header-footer.pdf |
| Embedded font | Standard Helvetica (Latin) |
How to Add Headers and Footers and Download the PDF
Here is the full workflow from file selection to download, using the Header Footer PDF tool:
- Open the Header Footer PDF tool page in your browser and click the file picker to choose a local PDF. Make sure the file is a non-empty PDF under 25 MiB.
- In the header field, type the text you want on every page above the body, for example a document title, company name, or revision label. If you only want a footer, leave this field empty.
- In the footer field, type the text you want on every page below the body. To add page numbers, include {page} for the current page and {pages} for the total, for example Page {page} of {pages}.
- Set the font size as a whole number between 6 and 36 points, and the edge margin as a whole number between 0 and 200 points. Larger margins push the line further into the page; a margin of 0 places it right at the edge.
- Click the action button to create the new file. The browser draws the header and footer on each page using pdf-lib's drawText method, embeds StandardFonts.Helvetica once, and serializes a new PDF.
- Download the resulting file. It uses the original filename base with -header-footer.pdf appended, so report.pdf becomes report-header-footer.pdf. Open it locally to confirm the text fits and the alignment looks right before distributing or printing.
Page Number Tokens and How They Appear in the Downloaded File
The two supported placeholders make simple numbering predictable. {page} becomes the current one-based page number, and {pages} becomes the total structural page count from the source document. So a footer that reads Page {page} of {pages} renders as Page 2 of 5 on the second page of a five-page document, Page 3 of 5 on the third page, and so on. Numbering always begins at one and the total always reflects the source document before any text is added. There is no starting-number offset, Roman-numeral mode, or section-specific counter.
Replacement is deterministic and applies everywhere the exact lowercase token appears. If you write Confidential — {page} in the header and Page {page} of {pages} in the footer of a four-page document, the second page will print Confidential — 2 above the body and Page 2 of 4 below it. Other brace text, such as a literal {draft} placeholder, is left unchanged, which makes it easy to mark tokens visually during editing without confusing the tool.
What Stays the Same in the Downloaded PDF
The new text is drawn as additional PDF content rather than as a viewer-only overlay. That means headers and footers travel with the file when you email it, print it, or upload it elsewhere, but it also means existing content near an edge can overlap the chosen line. The tool does not create white space, detect a safe margin, move body content, read the document language, or avoid logos and crop marks.
| Element | Status in the downloaded file |
|---|---|
| Header line | Added on every page when provided |
| Footer line | Added on every page when provided |
| Page count | Same as source |
| Page order | Same as source |
| Page boxes | Same as source |
| Visible body content | Same as source |
| Original filename | Base kept, -header-footer.pdf appended |
| New content type | Drawn into the page box, not an annotation |
| Stale URLs from earlier edits | Revoked when settings change |
Common Download Issues and How the Tool Handles Them
A few edge cases are worth knowing before you rely on the output. If the text you enter is longer than the usable page width, the tool reduces the font size one point at a time down to a 6-point floor rather than wrapping, stretching, or silently dropping characters. Very narrow pages combined with large margins can still leave little usable space, so the line may end up tiny or partially off-page. It pays to open the downloaded file and inspect it before distributing or printing.
If your text contains characters the embedded Helvetica font cannot encode, file creation fails visibly instead of producing a file with missing glyphs. This boundary avoids silent substitution. For multilingual branding, custom fonts, or precise typography, a desktop publishing tool that can embed the required licensed font would be the right choice.
Changing any setting (text, font size, margin, or the source file) revokes the previous download link so a stale file cannot be mistaken for the current configuration. A finished asynchronous job from an older edit cannot replace a newer file or text choice. If your file is encrypted, damaged, oversized, or not a real PDF, you will see a visible error and the tool will not produce a partial download.