Stamp Headers and Page Numbers
Stamps a running header and one continuous page sequence across a finished package, from its second page to its last, so a document assembled from many separate forms reads as one paginated report.
Overview
A merged package has a pagination problem the moment it exists. Every form that went into it was numbered by whoever published it — "Page 1 of 4" on the main report, "Page 1 of 2" on the addendum, nothing at all on the scanned letter. Concatenate six of those and you get a forty-page document whose numbering restarts six times and skips the parts that were never numbered at all.
That matters because people navigate long documents by page number. A reviewer emails back "the value on page 23 doesn't match page 9." An underwriter's checklist says which exhibit should appear where. A clerk who prints the package and drops it needs to be able to put it back in order. None of that works if the document has six page 1s — and a loose printed page with no header on it is an orphan.
This step applies the missing layer: one running header repeated on every page after the first, and a single sequence of page numbers running from the second page of the package to the last. The header carries the subject property address, so any page pulled out of the stack still says what it belongs to. A package built from unrelated source files ends up behaving like a single report that was authored as one document.
What It Does
| Capability | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Continuous pagination | One sequence across the package, starting on the second page — not per-form numbering that restarts at every section |
| Running header | One identifying line — the subject property address — repeated on every page after the first |
| Applied after assembly | Numbers are stamped once the package is in its final order, so they match what the recipient actually receives |
| Fixed corner placement | Drawn at a fixed offset from the top-right corner of the page rather than over the middle of the form |
| Mixed sources handled uniformly | Scanned pages, generated forms and vector exhibits all get the same header and number treatment |
| Real text, not an image | The stamped text stays selectable and searchable in the output PDF |
| Geometry aware | Portrait, landscape and non-letter pages are each stamped relative to their own width rather than a letter-size assumption |
When This Runs
This runs late — after the package is merged, and after any source pages have been inserted into the middle of it. That ordering isn't cosmetic. Stamp before the final assembly and the numbers describe a document that no longer exists.
Nothing chooses it. It is the last step of assembly, applied unconditionally to whatever the earlier steps produced. What varies is whether it has anything to work with: a header is only stamped when the package's subject property address is already known, which happens in the appraisal workflow — see Set Subject Property Facts.
Inputs and Outputs
Takes: the assembled package and the subject property address to put in the header.
Returns: the same document with the header layer applied, plus how many pages were stamped.
Nothing else about the document changes. Existing content is not moved or resized — the stamp is drawn into the page, and the pages underneath are the pages that went in.
Example
An appraisal package finishes assembly at 38 pages: a main report form, a certification page, two photo addenda, a sketch, a location map and a scanned engagement letter. Six of those parts carry their own publisher pagination, in three different styles.
Pages 2 through 38 are each stamped in the top-right corner with the subject property address —
1420 Oakmont Drive — and that page's number in the package sequence. The landscape sketch page gets the
same treatment, positioned relative to its own wider geometry rather than a letter-size assumption. The
first page is left exactly as it came out of assembly.
The clerk who prints it and drops the stack can put it back together from the stamped numbers. And when the client asks a question three months later about a single page someone photocopied, the subject address is printed on it.
Limits
- The first page is never stamped. It carries no header and no number, and the sequence starts at 1 on the second page — so a stamped number is one lower than the page's physical position in the file, and no total is printed next to it.
- The form's own page numbers stay. Stamping adds a sequence; it does not find and suppress the "Page 2 of 5" pre-printed on the source form. Both will appear on the page. That is normally fine — the stamped number sits in the corner with the header and reads as the package's number — but it is the single most common surprise.
- Placement is fixed. The stamp lands at the same offset from the top-right corner of every page, and nothing inspects what is already printed there. A form with edge-to-edge content and no usable margin can end up with the header sitting on top of existing text.
- One header for the whole document. Sections do not each get their own header.
- Long header text does not wrap. An unusually long address has to be shortened rather than flowed onto a second line.
- A crooked scan gets a straight stamp. The header is drawn square to the page, so a page that was scanned at an angle carries a header that does not line up with what is printed on it.
- It is not reversible in place. Once stamped and delivered, removing the header means re-assembling from the parts. A stamp drawn into the page content is not an overlay you can strip later — see Remove Watermarks for why that distinction matters.
- Only appraisal packages get headers. The header needs the package's subject property address, and nothing in the pre-bid or coating QA workflows can establish one. Packages from those workflows are assembled and delivered with no header and no page sequence.
- A missing address produces no headers, silently. If the subject address was never established, or the stamping pass fails partway, the package is delivered exactly as assembled — unheaded and unnumbered — and the run still reports success. Nothing in the deliverable distinguishes that from a package that was never meant to carry a header.
FAQ
Will the stamped page numbers conflict with the numbers already printed on the forms?
Both appear. The tool adds a package-level sequence in the top-right corner of the page; it does not remove the publisher's own "Page 1 of 4" printed inside the form. In practice reviewers read the corner number as the package number, but if a recipient is strict about a single visible sequence you would need source forms without their own pagination.
Can the header show the property address or file number?
The subject property address, yes — that is what the header carries, repeated on every page after the first, taken from the subject property facts established earlier in the run. A separate file, claim or client reference is not stamped. Any page that gets separated from the package still identifies itself by address.
Does stamping happen before or after the package is merged?
After. Numbering a document that is about to have pages inserted into the middle of it produces a sequence that no longer matches the delivered file, so the package is merged, anything that belongs inside is inserted, and the header is stamped last.
Will the stamp cover up content on the form?
It lands in the top-right corner, which on most published forms is empty. Nothing checks first: the position is the same on every page regardless of what is printed underneath, so a form whose content runs to the edge of the paper can end up with the header sitting on top of it.
Is the stamped text searchable, or is it an image?
It is real text drawn into the page, so it stays selectable and searchable in the output PDF. Searching a delivered package for the subject address will find it on every page after the first.
Can different sections of the package have different headers?
No. One header applies across the whole assembled document, and there is no per-section variant.