Why does my PDF show the URL at the top?

Chrome and other browsers automatically add the page URL to the header area of every printed PDF. This is a default browser behavior designed for document tracking, but it looks unprofessional in most contexts. You can disable it by unchecking 'Headers and footers' in the Chrome print dialog under More settings, or use Pretty PDF which never adds browser headers or footers.

How do I remove the date from a Chrome PDF?

The date stamp that appears in the footer of Chrome PDFs is part of the browser's default header and footer system. To remove it, press Ctrl+P, expand 'More settings,' and uncheck 'Headers and footers.' Note that this also removes the URL and page title. The setting does not persist between sessions in most Chrome versions, so you'll need to uncheck it every time you print.

Can I add my own header to a PDF?

Yes. Pretty PDF Pro lets you add custom headers and footers to your PDFs. You can place content in six positions: top-left, top-center, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, and bottom-right. Content types include custom text, your company logo, the current date, page numbers, and the source URL. This is available on the Pro plan ($5/month).

Does Pretty PDF add any headers by default?

No. Pretty PDF generates completely clean PDFs with no headers, footers, URLs, dates, or page titles added by default. The margins are clean and empty. If you want headers or footers, you can add them manually using the custom header/footer feature on the Pro plan.

Can I add page numbers to my PDF?

Yes. Pretty PDF Pro includes a custom header and footer feature that supports automatic page numbering. You can place page numbers in any of the six margin positions (top-left, top-center, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right) and combine them with other content like your logo or custom text.

How to Save a Webpage as PDF Without Headers and Footers

The problem

Chrome adds headers and footers you didn't ask for

Every browser-generated PDF comes with unwanted text in the margins. Here is exactly what Chrome inserts and why it matters.

Open any webpage in Chrome, press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on Mac), and save as PDF. Open the resulting file, and you will find text you never asked for. In the top-left corner, Chrome prints the page title. In the top-right, it prints the full URL of the page. In the bottom-left, it prints the date and time the PDF was generated. In the bottom-right, it prints the page number.

These browser-inserted headers and footers cause three real problems:

Looks unprofessional

A long URL like https://docs.example.com/team/project/page?v=3&ref=nav stamped across the top of every page screams "quick printout," not "professional document." Sharing these PDFs with clients, colleagues, or professors undermines your credibility.

Reveals the source URL

Sometimes you do not want the recipient to know where the content came from. Internal wiki URLs, staging environments, competitor research pages, or private documents all have URLs you might prefer to keep private. Chrome exposes them automatically.

Wastes margin space

The header and footer text consumes vertical space on every page. On shorter documents, this can push content onto an extra page unnecessarily. On longer documents, it adds visual noise to every single page that distracts from the content.

The worst part? The setting to disable headers and footers is buried in a submenu of the print dialog, and in most versions of Chrome it does not persist between sessions. Every time you print, you have to remember to turn it off again.

Method 1

Disable headers and footers in the Chrome print dialog

Chrome does have a built-in toggle, but it is buried and imperfect. Here is how to find it.

1

Open the print dialog

Navigate to the webpage you want to save. Press Ctrl+P on Windows or Linux, or Cmd+P on Mac. The Chrome print dialog will appear.

2

Change destination to "Save as PDF"

In the Destination dropdown, select Save as PDF. This tells Chrome to generate a PDF file instead of sending the page to a physical printer.

3

Expand "More settings"

Click the More settings link at the bottom of the dialog. This reveals additional options including margins, scale, and the headers and footers toggle.

4

Uncheck "Headers and footers"

Find the Headers and footers checkbox and uncheck it. This removes the URL, date, page title, and page number from the margins of the generated PDF.

5

Save your PDF

Click Save and choose a file location. Your PDF will now have clean margins with no browser-inserted text.

Limitations of this method

Disabling headers and footers in the print dialog removes the URL, date, and page title from the margins. But it does not fix the other problems with browser-generated PDFs:

Ads, navigation bars, and sidebars are still included in the PDF. The print dialog only controls margin text, not page content.
Cookie banners and popups often render in the PDF, covering content or appearing as floating boxes.
Broken layouts remain. Browser print still uses the page's print stylesheet (or lack thereof), resulting in cut-off tables, missing images, and collapsed layouts.
The setting does not persist. In most Chrome versions, the "Headers and footers" checkbox resets to checked every time you open the print dialog. You have to uncheck it every single time.
You cannot add your own headers. The toggle is all or nothing. You cannot replace the browser text with your own logo, custom page numbers, or branded footer.

If you just need a quick one-off PDF with clean margins, this method works. For anything more than that, read on.

Method 2 (recommended)

Use Pretty PDF for clean PDFs every time

Pretty PDF generates PDFs on the server side with WeasyPrint. No browser print dialog, no browser headers and footers, no clutter. Ever.

1

Install the Chrome extension

Add Pretty PDF Printer to Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. It is free and takes about ten seconds. No account is required to start generating PDFs.

2

Visit the page and click the icon

Navigate to any webpage. Click the Pretty PDF icon in your browser toolbar. Select a template (Clean, Minimal, Corporate, Academic, or Dark Mode) and your preferred capture mode.

3

Download your clean PDF

Click Generate PDF. In seconds, you get a professionally formatted PDF with no browser headers, no footers, no ads, no navigation, and no clutter. Clean margins on every page.

Why Pretty PDF never has unwanted headers or footers

Pretty PDF does not use Chrome's print engine at all. When you click Generate, the extension captures the page HTML and sends it to the Pretty PDF server. The server extracts only the main content, applies your chosen template's CSS, and renders the PDF using WeasyPrint, a professional-grade PDF rendering engine.

Because the PDF is generated server-side, the browser's header/footer injection never happens. There is no URL in the top corner, no date stamp at the bottom, no page title text. The margins of every page are completely clean by default.

And unlike the Chrome print dialog method, Pretty PDF also removes ads, navigation menus, sidebars, cookie banners, and comment sections. You get just the content, professionally styled.

Pro feature

Custom headers and footers with Pretty PDF Pro

Pretty PDF removes browser headers and footers by default. But what if you want headers and footers? On the Pro plan, you can add your own.

Pretty PDF Pro gives you complete control over six margin positions on every page of your PDF. Each position can hold a different type of content, and you can mix and match to create exactly the layout you need.

The six margin box positions are:

Top-left — commonly used for a company logo or document title
Top-center — commonly used for a document title or section heading
Top-right — commonly used for the date or a confidentiality notice
Bottom-left — commonly used for copyright text or a company name
Bottom-center — commonly used for page numbers
Bottom-right — commonly used for the source URL or custom text

Each position supports these content types: custom text (any string you choose), date (the generation date, formatted automatically), url (the source page URL, included only when you want it), page_number (automatic page numbering), and logo (your uploaded company logo image).

Logo placement

Upload your company logo and place it in any margin position. It appears on every page of the PDF, sized appropriately for the margin space. Perfect for branded client deliverables and internal reports.

Page numbers

Add automatic page numbering in any margin position. Useful for multi-page documents where readers need to reference specific pages. Pairs well with a table of contents for longer articles and reports.

Custom text

Add any text to any margin position: confidentiality notices, department names, project identifiers, version numbers, or disclaimers. Configure once in a print profile and reuse across all your PDFs.

Comparison

What appears in your PDF headers and footers

A side-by-side look at what each method puts in the margins of your PDF.

Margin element	Browser PDF	Pretty PDF Free	Pretty PDF Pro
Page URL in header	Added automatically	Not added	Optional (your choice)
Page title in header	Added automatically	Not added	Optional (your choice)
Date stamp in footer	Added automatically	Not added	Optional (your choice)
Page numbers	Added automatically	Not added	Optional (your choice)
Custom logo	Not supported	Not supported	Supported
Custom text	Not supported	Not supported	Supported
Ads & navigation in body	Included	Removed	Removed
Setting persists	Resets each session	Always clean	Saved in print profiles

Frequently asked questions

Chrome and other browsers automatically insert the page URL into the header area of every PDF generated through the print dialog. This is a default browser behavior designed for document tracking, but it makes PDFs look unprofessional. You can disable it by unchecking "Headers and footers" in the Chrome print dialog under More settings, but the setting resets between sessions. Pretty PDF avoids this entirely because it generates PDFs server-side without using the browser's print engine.

The date stamp in the footer of Chrome PDFs is part of the browser's default header and footer system. To remove it, press Ctrl+P, expand "More settings," and uncheck "Headers and footers." This removes the date, but it also removes the URL, page title, and page numbers at the same time. You cannot selectively remove just the date. The setting also does not persist between browser sessions, so you need to uncheck it every time.

Chrome's built-in PDF feature does not support custom headers or footers. You can only toggle the default ones on or off. Pretty PDF Pro, however, gives you full control over six margin positions (top-left, top-center, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right) where you can place custom text, your company logo, the date, page numbers, or the source URL. Set it up once in a print profile and reuse it across all your PDFs.

No. Pretty PDF generates completely clean PDFs with no headers, footers, URLs, dates, or page titles added by default. Every page has clean, empty margins. This applies to both the free and paid tiers. If you want headers or footers, you need to explicitly configure them using the custom header/footer feature available on the Pro plan.

Yes. Pretty PDF Pro includes automatic page numbering as one of the custom header/footer content types. You can place page numbers in any of the six margin positions and combine them with other elements like your logo or a confidentiality notice. This feature is available on the Pro plan starting at $5/month.