Remove headers and footers from a PDF by masking
Masking headers and footers means painting opaque white bands over the top and bottom of a PDF's pages, hiding letterheads, fax transmission lines, dates, and old page numbers on screen and in print. This page draws those bands for you: pick a top band height, a bottom band height, and the pages to apply them to, and it writes the rectangles into the file in your browser. Important: masking hides content, it does not delete it — the original text is still stored in the file underneath. For true removal of sensitive content, use a redaction tool instead.
How it works
Every PDF page has a content stream — an ordered program of drawing operators that the viewer executes from first to last, painting each object over whatever came before. Masking exploits that painter's model: this tool appends new instructions to the end of each selected page's stream that fill two rectangles with opaque white — one spanning the full page width at the top, at the height you chose, and one at the bottom. Because they are drawn last, they sit above everything already on the page, exactly like white correction tape over a photocopy.
The geometry is expressed in the PDF's own coordinate system, which measures in points (1 point = 1/72 inch) from the bottom-left corner. A 20 mm top band on an A4 page (842 points tall) becomes a rectangle from y = 785 to y = 842; the tool converts your millimeter or point input per page, so mixed-size documents get bands of consistent physical height. Pages you did not select are copied through byte-for-byte untouched, and the body of masked pages keeps its real text layer — only the bands are painted, nothing is rasterized.
Understand what this is and is not. The original header text, logo, and page numbers are still present in the content stream underneath the white rectangles: select-all-and-copy can pick up the hidden text, and a tool that removes the rectangle brings everything back. That makes masking the right tool for cosmetic cleanup — freeing a document of a previous owner's branding, blanking fax headers before refiling, clearing old numbering — and the wrong tool for anything confidential. For genuine removal that takes the content out of the file, use Redact PDF.
The classic workflow this tool anchors: mask the footer band across a merged document to blank out three different old numbering schemes, then stamp one clean, consecutive sequence with Add page numbers. Since the new numbers are drawn after the white bands, they print on clean white rather than colliding with the old digits.
Illustrative example: rebranding a 45-page proposal template
Illustrative scenario, not a recorded benchmark. File sizes, timings and results depend on the input and device. Try the reproducible samples.
An agency inherits a 45-page proposal PDF (2.2 MB) from a partner firm: every page carries the partner's letterhead in the top 22 mm and a footer line — "Prepared by Meridian Consulting · Page 12 of 45" — in the bottom 14 mm. The agency needs a neutral version to build on. In the tool they set a 24 mm top band and a 16 mm bottom band (2 mm of margin over the measured content), apply it to pages 2–45, and leave page 1 unmasked because the cover will be replaced separately.
Processing the 44 pages takes about 2 seconds — no rendering is involved, just appended drawing instructions — and the output is 2.2 MB, essentially unchanged in size because two white rectangles per page cost only a few dozen bytes each. The body text is still fully selectable and searchable. The team then runs the masked file through the page-numbering tool to stamp "Page 1 of 45" onward in the now-blank footer band. One caveat surfaces in review: searching the file for "Meridian" still finds 44 hits under the white bands — expected, since this is masking — which is acceptable for a formatting template but is exactly why the confidential pricing appendix goes through true redaction instead.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove the header and footer from a PDF?
The quick way is masking: paint opaque white rectangles over the top and bottom bands of each page, which hides letterheads, fax lines, and page numbers on screen and in print. This page does that in your browser — you choose the band heights and the pages, and it draws the white bands into the file.
Is the masked header actually deleted from the file?
No — masking paints over content, it does not remove it, so the original text is still stored in the file underneath the white rectangle and can be recovered by copy-paste or by a tool that lifts the band. Never use masking to hide confidential information; use a true redaction tool for that.
Can I mask only some pages, like everything except the cover?
Yes — you select which pages receive the bands, so you can skip a cover page, mask only odd pages, or limit the change to a page range. Pages you leave out are copied through completely untouched.
How tall should the mask band be to cover a typical header?
Most headers and footers live within the top or bottom 15 to 25 millimeters of the page, which is roughly 43 to 71 points on a standard page. Start around 20 millimeters, check the preview, and adjust — a slightly generous band is safer than one that clips the top of a logo.
Can I add new page numbers after masking the old ones?
Yes, and that is one of the classic uses: mask the footer band to blank out the old numbering, then run the file through a page-numbering tool to stamp a fresh, consecutive sequence on the clean bands. Do it in that order so the new numbers are printed on top of white, not next to the old ones.
Does the masked PDF keep selectable text in the middle of the page?
Yes — masking only draws rectangles on top of the existing pages, so the body text keeps its text layer and stays selectable and searchable. Note that hidden header text also remains searchable, which is another reminder that masking is cosmetic rather than a removal.