Date stamp a PDF free, right in your browser
Put a RECEIVED, APPROVED or PAID mark with a date on one page or every page of a PDF. Pick the date and how it's written, check the preview, and download. There's no account and no upload: the stamping happens on your device.
Paying for the signer already? Sign in there
Date stamp a PDF
Free, no account. Your PDF is opened, previewed and stamped by this page in your browser; it is not uploaded.
or drop it here. It stays on this device.
Next: sign the stamped PDF
Open the downloaded file in the SignDatePDF signer to add your signature and a dated signature line. Stamping here stays free; downloading a signed PDF from the signer needs a subscription.
Sign it in the SignDatePDF signerStamping takes about a minute
The stamp tool above works on its own. You only need the signer if the document also needs your signature.
1
Choose the PDF
Ordinary and scanned PDFs up to 100 MB open straight away. A password-protected file has to be unlocked with its password first.
2
Set date, label and corner
Today's date is filled in for you. Choose a format, a label such as RECEIVED, one of six positions and the pages to stamp.
3
Check, then download
The preview shows the stamp on the real page. The new file gets “-stamped” added to its name, and your original stays as it was.
Updated 28 September 2026 · Written by Joe Farwick, who runs this site
What people use a date stamp for
A received stamp answers one question later on: when did we get this? That matters for anything with a deadline, such as an objection letter, a tender, a claim form or a tenant's notice, and for invoices, where a RECEIVED date and later a PAID date keep the same bill from being paid twice.
Much of that paper now arrives as email attachments. Stamping the PDF on arrival keeps the date with the document, so it survives forwarding, printing and filing long after the email is gone. APPROVED with a date suits timesheets, purchase orders and expense claims; FILED marks the day a copy went into the records.
Stamp the date the event happened
Because you type or pick the date yourself, you can stamp the day a letter actually arrived rather than the day you got round to scanning it. If a notice came on Friday and you process it on Monday, a RECEIVED stamp should say Friday; the label describes an event, and the date should be the date of that event.
That cuts both ways. A stamp that claims something arrived or was approved on a day it didn't is a false record, and it can cause real trouble if the date ever matters to a deadline. If the date is uncertain, say so in a note rather than guessing.
A visible date stamp is not a trusted timestamp
Anything typed onto a page, whether by this tool, by Acrobat or with a rubber stamp and ink, is a record-keeping mark. It shows what the person stamping wrote; it doesn't prove when the file existed. Proof of that kind comes from a trusted timestamp: under RFC 3161, a time-stamping authority signs a token showing that particular data existed before a particular time, which is how certificate-based signatures can show they were made while the certificate was valid.
So use a date stamp for filing and workflow, and keep the evidence that actually proves timing alongside it: the original email with its headers, the courier's delivery record, or a portal's submission receipt.
How this compares with Acrobat's dynamic stamps
Acrobat can produce date stamps too, but you build them yourself: Adobe's instructions have you create a custom stamp in the Dynamic category, add a text field to the stamp file and give it a calculation script using util.printd and new Date, so the stamp shows the computer's current date and time when you place it.
This tool is for when you don't have Acrobat, stamp only now and then, or need a date other than today's. The trade-off: the stamp is written as page text, not a movable annotation, so it can't be dragged afterwards. Get the position right in the preview; if it's wrong, stamp the original again.
Choosing a spot that doesn't cover anything
Top right is the traditional place for a received stamp on letters, but letterheads often put a logo or reference number there. Bottom margins usually hold page numbers and footers. Look at the preview for each kind of page in the file: the first page of a letter often has a different layout from the pages after it, and you can stamp the first page with one position and run the file through again for the rest.
Small (9 pt) fits most margins; Large (15 pt) is easier to spot on a busy scan, and the frame helps a stamp stand out from body text. Red catches the eye on screen, but on a black-and-white printout or copy it turns grey, so choose black if the file will mostly be printed.
Files and characters that need care
Password-protected PDFs can't be changed without the password, so the tool asks you to save an unlocked copy first. A PDF with a certificate-based digital signature is a different case: signatures of the kind the EU's eIDAS rules call advanced are linked to the signed data so that any later change is detectable, and a stamp is a change. The tool warns you when it finds such a signature; keep the signed original untouched and file the stamped version next to it.
The stamp uses Helvetica, one of the standard PDF fonts that readers supply themselves, so nothing extra is embedded. It covers English and most Western European letters, including é, ü, ß and the euro sign. Letters outside that set are written as the nearest plain letter (ł as l, ő as o), and characters it can't show at all, such as emoji or Chinese characters, are left out and listed under the label box so nothing disappears silently.
Date stamp questions
Does the date stamp cost anything?+
No. Stamping and downloading the stamped PDF is free and needs no account. The only paid part of SignDatePDF is downloading a PDF you signed in the signer, at €2.99 a month or €24.99 a year; if you cancel, the plan simply isn't renewed and works until its current period is over.
Can I stamp a date in the past?+
Yes. Pick any date in the date field. Use the date of the event the label describes, such as the day the letter arrived, not a date that makes a deadline look met.
Can the stamp include the time?+
Not as a separate setting. If you need it, choose Custom text and write it into the label, for example RECEIVED 14:30; with Above the date, the date then appears underneath.
Does it work on a phone?+
Yes, in current versions of Safari, Chrome, Edge and Firefox. On an iPhone, Safari saves the stamped file to the Downloads folder in the Files app, and Safari's own Downloads button lists it too; on Android it goes to Downloads.
What the stamp can do
A label, or just the date
RECEIVED, SIGNED, APPROVED, PAID, FILED or your own wording of up to 40 characters, above the date or in front of it.
Six ways to write the date
27 September 2026, September 27, 2026, 09/27/2026, 27/09/2026, 27.09.2026 or 2026-09-27.
Exactly the pages you need
First page, last page, every page, or a list such as 1, 3-5 for a bundle of scanned letters.
Sideways pages come out right
If a scan was saved rotated or in landscape, the stamp still sits upright in the corner you picked.
Text, not a picture
The stamp is written into the page as text in Helvetica, so it prints sharply and shows up when you search the PDF.
Private by construction
The file is read, previewed and stamped by code running in this page. It isn't sent to a server or stored anywhere.
Stamp your PDF
The stamp tool is at the top of this page. It's free, and your file stays on your device.
Go to the date stamp