How to Use Headers and Footers in PDFs.

A PDF header and footer will add that professional touch — whatever the nature of your content. Adding headers and footers can greatly enhance the organization, structure, and readability of documents. These elements are essential for making documents easier to follow and understand.

Headers and footers in PDFs have a lot of uses and can be created and customised to suit your needs. Read on to learn more about how to use headers and footers in Adobe Acrobat PDFs.

What you’ll learn

• The purpose of headers and footers in documents
• When to use headers and footers in PDFs
• How to add headers and footers to PDFs
• Tips for creating headers and footers

The purpose of document headers and footers.

Headers and footers have several important functions in documents of various types. Some of the purposes of headers and footers include —

• Clear document identification
  Headers and footers often include identifying document information. This might include the author(s) name, a company name or logo, document title, chapter or section titles, and date. Including this information helps your readers quickly recognize the content and context of your document.
• Easy page navigation
  A primary function of headers and footers is to display page numbers consistently throughout the document. This helps readers navigate and keep track of where they are in the document. Including chapter or section names in headers and footers also help readers quickly jump to different parts of the document.

• Reminder of a brand identity
  Headers and footers often incorporate branding elements, such as company logos, colour schemes, or font styles. Including branding in headers and footers helps to maintain a consistent visual reinforcement of your brand and identity.
• Highlight document use and protection
  Headers or footers might include legal disclaimers, copyright notices, confidentiality statements, or other relevant legal information. This wording can be used to help protect your document against unauthorised use and distribution.
• Show document status and contact details
  Headers and footers can also be used to include additional information such as version numbers, revision dates, document statuses, and contact details.
• Provide visual cues and aid readability
  Visually, headers and footers mark the start and end of each page and enhance the overall appearance of a document for your readers. Headers and footers with page numbers also make it easier for readers to identify each page when printed in hardcopy.

When to use headers and footers in documents.

Headers and footers are used in a variety of documents and environments. Some situations when you should consider using headers and footers in a document are —

• Long documents
  For lengthy documents, such as reports, research papers, proposals, manuals, contracts, agreements or theses, headers and footers are essential. They are used to maintain consistency in page numbering, identify the document's title, and organise sections or chapters. Headers and footers may also include copyright information and version numbers.
  You can create different headers and footers for unique sections and pages within a long document. You can also split a PDF into smaller files if you wish.
• Corporate or business documents
  For business-related documents headers and footers also add that professional polish, especially when branding elements such as logos and colours are incorporated.
• Legal documents
  Lawyers and legal professionals use headers and footers in legal documents, contracts, agreements, and court filings. Legal headers and footers might contain case names, docket numbers, firm information, page numbers, confidentiality statements and legal disclaimers.
• Educational materials
  Educational resources, textbooks, lesson plans, worksheets and study guides benefit from headers and footers that include the subject, topic or lesson title, chapter names, section headings, and page numbers.
• Academic and research articles and student essays.
  Use headers and footers in academic papers, theses, dissertations, research reports and essays. Academic and essay headers and footers may include the paper title or section names, and author names. Student essays may include student names and/or identification numbers on each page.
• Manuals and guides
  Instruction manuals, user guides, or technical documentation benefit from headers and footers with section titles, copyright information, and version numbers.
• Presentations
  In slide presentations, headers and footers can display the presentation title, slide number, and contact information. This provides context and continuity to viewers as they look through your presentation. If you’ve already created a slide presentation, it’s simple and easy to convert PowerPoint to PDF.
• Marketing materials
  In marketing documents such as product catalogues, newsletters, and brochures, headers and footers may include elements of your branding, along with company name and contact information, and page numbers for easy reference.
• Professional personal documents
  Headers and footers are also used by individuals in personal documents such as CVs and resumes, personal statements, and cover letters. Professional personal documents, such as CVs and resumes, often include your name and contact information in the header and footer.
• Creative writing
  In documents containing creative writing such as novels, short stories, essays, and poetry collections, headers and footers often include the book or chapter title, author name, and page numbers.

Adding headers and footers to PDFs.

You can add and edit PDF headers and footers directly in Adobe Acrobat.

If you don’t already have a paid version of the app, check out a free trial of Adobe Acrobat.

• In Acrobat, simply go to Tools > Edit PDF and navigate to the toolbar with the Edit PDF toolset. Or go to the Edit menu on the top of the app, and then select from the Header and Footer options on the left-hand menu.
  You’ll find more detailed information on what you can do with headers and footers in PDFs in our Help Centre. You can edit a PDF header or footer, add new headers and footers, save headers and footers to use in other files, and remove PDF headers and footers.

You can also create headers and footers in documents Word, Excel and PowerPoint and then simply and easily convert documents to PDF.

Tips for creating PDF headers and footers.

It’s important to ensure headers and footers look neat, tidy, and professional in any type of document. Here are a few tips to get started with a PDF header and footer.

• Content — Keep the information in headers and footers brief and relevant so they are quick and easy to read.
• Fonts — Use fonts in your headers and footers that are consistent with any used elsewhere in your document and branding. The font size in headers and footers is however usually a point size or two smaller.
• Positioning — Check your margins and use the appearance options to ensure your headers and footers are positioned correctly and do not overlap with your main document
• Page numbering — Page numbering, particularly in long documents is usually positioned on the right-hand side so it is easy to see when flicking through a document. To place a page number on the bottom right, use the edit PDF footer options.
• Automatic entries — Use automatic entries, such as page number and date format
• Add links — Include a call to action, such as a link to your email address or website

Related content

Check out some of our other articles to learn more about how to use PDFs –

• PDF security: Protect your sensitive content and information
• PDF portfolios: Group your different file types easily
• How to cite a PDF