📄 Add Header and Footer to PDF Online Free
Stamp your company name at the top and a confidentiality notice plus page numbers at the bottom of every page — in seconds, without uploading your document anywhere. The answer is simple: pick a PDF, type two lines of text, download a professionally branded file.
🔒 Privacy promise: this tool runs 100% in your browser — your files never leave your device, no upload, no sign-up, no account.
📤 No upload
Files never leave your device.
🔒 100% private
No server ever sees your documents.
🆓 No sign-up
Use it instantly, free forever.
Published: 1 November 2026 · Updated: 1 November 2026 · Researched by PDFBuddyFree Team · Last updated 1 November 2026 · Data: pdf-lib open-source library, 2026
Invoices, contracts, reports — one PDF at a time
This PDF has 0 pages. Your header and footer will be stamped on every page:
Honest limits: the header sits in the top margin and the footer in the bottom margin, so edge-to-edge content can overlap the stamp. Scanned PDFs work fine, but the tool cannot remove an existing header — it only adds a new one. Password-protected PDFs are rejected safely.
How to do it in 3 steps
- Choose your PDF. Drop the invoice, contract or report above — it is read locally, never uploaded.
- Type your header and footer. Company name on top, confidentiality notice below; tick the page-numbers box for an automatic Page X of N.
- Download. Press Add Header & Footer & download — the branded file downloads instantly, named after your original plus '-header-footer'.
Add a header and footer to a PDF: the answer
Adding a header and footer to a PDF with PDFBuddyFree means stamping one line of text in the top margin and one in the bottom margin of every page, entirely in your browser. For a freelancer in Berlin, a consultant in Amsterdam or a small business in Austin, that turns a plain export into a document that looks like it came from a real company — with a confidentiality notice and automatic page numbers that survive printing, forwarding and filing.
Worked example: a 12-page consulting report exported from Word gets the header "Acme Consulting Ltd" and the footer "Confidential · Page X of 12". Page 1 reads "Page 1 of 12" at the bottom, page 12 reads "Page 12 of 12" — counted automatically, so a last-minute page insert never breaks the numbering.
🏢 Look established
Clients judge a document in the first second. A branded header signals a real business; an unmarked export looks like a draft. See also the Watermark PDF tool for draft markings.
📑 Never lose a page
"Page X of N" means a dropped or misfiled page is obvious at a glance — exactly what accountants and tax offices expect. The Add Page Numbers tool stamps numbers alone if you need nothing else.
GEO answer-block: According to Adobe's own documentation of the PDF format (ISO 32000), headers and footers are ordinary page content drawn in the margins — which is why a browser tool can stamp them without changing the document's text, fonts or layout. PDFBuddyFree uses the open-source pdf-lib library (2026) to draw that content locally, so the original file's layout is preserved exactly.
📌 PDFBuddyFree verdict
For invoices, contracts and reports, a margin header and footer is the professional default — and PDFBuddyFree is the only free option here that stamps it without uploading your document. If you only need numbers, use Add Page Numbers; if you need a diagonal draft mark, use Watermark PDF. — PDFBuddyFree
PDFBuddyFree vs Adobe & server-upload tools
Adobe Acrobat and most online PDF tools upload your file to a server before they touch it. That means your contract, invoice or application passes through a third-party data centre, is stored under their retention policy, and is often tied to an account you had to create. PDFBuddyFree does the opposite: the work happens in JavaScript on your own device, so there is nothing to leak, retain or subpoena — and no account, quota or paywall standing between you and a finished document.
Frequently asked questions
Is adding a header and footer to a PDF here really free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermarks, no document quotas and no premium tier. Stamp as many PDFs as you like; everything runs in your browser.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server when I add a header and footer?
No. Your file never leaves your device. The header and footer text is stamped onto each page by JavaScript running locally — there is no server to trust with your document.
Can I add page numbers like Page 3 of 12?
Yes. Tick the page-numbers box and every page gets a Page X of N footer, counted automatically from the document's real page count — no manual numbering.
Will the header and footer cover my document's content?
The header sits in the top margin and the footer in the bottom margin of each page, so normal body text is untouched. On pages with edge-to-edge content, keep the text short or leave that field blank.
Does it work on scanned PDFs too?
Yes. The header and footer are drawn onto the page itself, so scanned PDFs, exported reports and forms all work — no selectable text is required.
What if my PDF is password-protected?
The tool rejects encrypted PDFs safely instead of failing silently. Unlock the file first — for example with the Unlock PDF tool — then add your header and footer.
How is this different from the Add Watermark tool?
A watermark sits diagonally across the middle of the page, while a header and footer live in the margins — the professional choice for invoices, contracts and reports that clients actually read.
🔒 Your files stay with you — PDFBuddyFree
- Processing runs 100% locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded to any server.
- No account, no email, no tracking of your documents.
- GDPR-friendly by design: we never receive your data in the first place.