How do I stamp a PDF with page numbers or a watermark?

You can “stamp” a PDF with page numbers or a watermark in a few common ways, depending on the tool you’re using.

1) Adobe Acrobat Pro

Add page numbers

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
2. Go to Tools → Edit PDF.
3. Choose Header & Footer → Add.
4. Click Page Number and Date Format or insert page-number fields in the header/footer areas.
5. Set font, alignment, and page range.
6. Click OK.

Add a watermark

1. Go to Tools → Edit PDF.
2. Choose Watermark → Add.
3. Enter text or choose an image.
4. Adjust rotation, opacity, position, and page range.
5. Click OK.

2) Using command-line tools

If you want to automate this, command-line tools are handy.

With pdftk (stamp/underlay)

You can create a stamp PDF first, then apply it to each page:

pdftk input.pdf stamp watermark.pdf output output.pdf

Or:

pdftk input.pdf background watermark.pdf output output.pdf

With qpdf + a stamp PDF

You generally create a PDF containing the watermark or page number layout, then overlay it on the target PDF.

With Python

Using libraries like:

• reportlab to generate a stamp PDF
• pypdf (or PyPDF2) to merge it onto each page

Example idea:

1. Generate a one-page watermark PDF with reportlab.
2. Overlay it onto every page with pypdf.

3) In Word/LibreOffice before exporting to PDF

If you’re creating the PDF yourself:

• Add page numbers in the document footer/header.
• Add a watermark through the document editor.
• Export as PDF afterward.

4) Online PDF editors

Many web tools let you:

• upload a PDF,
• add page numbers in the header/footer,
• add text/image watermarks,
• download the stamped PDF.

Be careful with sensitive documents if you use online services.

---

If you want, I can give you:

• a step-by-step guide for a specific app,
• a Python script to stamp every page,
• or a command-line solution for Windows/macOS/Linux.