Add and edit headers and footers

A header and footer present consistent information in the page margins throughout a PDF. For example, the information could be a date, automatic page numbering, the title of the overall document, or author’s name.

You can vary the headers and footers within a PDF. For example, you can add a header that displays the page number on the right side of odd-numbered pages, and another header that displays the page number on the left side of even-numbered pages. Each of these headers must be added individually.

You can define and save your headers and footers to reuse them later, or you can simply apply a header and footer and forget it. After applying a header and footer, you can edit, replace, or delete it in the PDF. You can also preview headers and footers before applying them and adjust the header and footer margins so that they don’t overlap other page content.

A header appears at the top of the page. A footer appears at the bottom of a page.

Define and apply headers and footers

You can add one or more sets of headers and footers to a PDF and apply them either globally or selectively to its pages. Each set of headers and footers must be applied in a separate session in the Add Header And Footer dialog box. Headers and footers can include automatically generated information and formatting, such as page numbering and the current date.

If you use the same types of headers and footers frequently, you can save header and footer definitions so that you can quickly apply them to other PDFs.

Choose Document > Header & Footer > Add. If a message appears, click Add New.
Select your preferences for the font, type size, text color, and text underlining of the header and footer.

Note: The text properties apply to all header and footer entries that are part of this setting definition. You cannot apply different settings to individual header or footer text boxes within the same session in the Add Header And Footer dialog box.
Using the three header text boxes and three footer text boxes, type the text that you want to appear in any of these locations, and then do any of the following:
- To add the date of creation, click inside one of the header or footer text boxes, and click the Insert Date button.
- To add automatic page numbering, click inside one of the header or footer text boxes, and click the Insert Page Number button.
- To select formatting for automatic entries, click the Page Number And Date Format button, and choose the Date Format, Page Number Format, and Start Page Numbers At settings that you want to use.
  
  Note: You can combine text with dates and page numbers. You can also add several lines of text to an entry. Text typed in the Left, Center, and Right boxes appears left-aligned, centered, and right-aligned, respectively.
  Limiting header and footer to a range of pages
If you want to limit the pages on which the header and footer appear, click the Page Range Options button, and do the following:
- To limit the header and footer to a specific range of pages, select Pages From, and enter the beginning and ending page numbers.
- To limit the header and footer to one side or the other of a document with facing pages, choose an option on the Subset menu: Even Pages Only or Odd Pages Only. Otherwise, leave the default setting: All Pages In Range.
As needed, change the values in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right options to adjust the margins within the header and footer, using the Preview area to evaluate the results.

To prevent any overlapping, you can click the Appearance Options button and select Shrink Document To Avoid Overwriting The Document’s Text And Graphics. To prevent resizing or repositioning when printing the PDF in large format, select Keep Position And Size Of Header/Footer Text Constant When Printing On Different Page Sizes.
Examine the results in the Preview area, using the Preview Page option to see different pages of the PDF.
(Optional) At the top of the dialog box, click Save Settings, type a descriptive name for the header and footer settings, and click OK. Then click OK again to apply the header and footer to the PDF.

If you want to add additional headers or footers, simply repeat this procedure.

Update the headers and footers

Updating applies to the most recently added header and footer set.

Choose Document > Header & Footer > Update.
Make the changes you want.

Add another header and footer

Choose Document > Header & Footer > Add, and then click Add New in the message that appears.
The preview shows any existing headers and footers.
Type text in the header and footer text boxes to add more headers and footers, noticing that the preview updates the appearance of the complete headers and footers on the page.
Select new formatting options, as preferred, again noticing the updating in the preview.

Replace all headers and footers

Choose Document > Header & Footer > Add, and then click Replace Existing in the message that appears.
Type text in the header and footer text boxes.
Select formatting options, as needed.

Note: This process applies only to headers and footers added in either Acrobat 7 or Acrobat 8.

Remove all headers and footers

Do one of the following:

To remove all headers and footers, choose Document > Header & Footer > Remove, and then click Yes in the confirmation message that appears.
To remove one header and footer immediately after adding it, choose Edit > Undo Headers/Footers.