Two different jobs wearing the same name
| Insert as a page | Stamp onto a page | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A new page that is the image | The image floating over existing content |
| Typical reason | Adding a scan or a photo to a report | Signature, logo, redaction box |
| Difficulty | Easy, free, everywhere | Fiddly, depends on the tool |
| Needs an editor | No, just a merger | Yes, or a markup layer |
If what you want is the first one, the trick is that you do not need a PDF editor at all. Turn the image into a one page PDF, then merge the two PDFs. Both halves are free on every platform.
Inserting an image as a new page
The two step version that works everywhere:
- Convert the image to a one page PDF. The converter on this site does it in the browser without uploading anything.
- Merge that PDF into the original at the position you want.
For step two, Preview on a Mac, any free PDF reader on Windows, or the Files app on iPhone will do it. Details per platform below.
Stamping an image onto an existing page
This is the harder one because you are modifying page content, not the page list. The honest summary: Preview on a Mac does it properly, Edge on Windows does it adequately, and everything on mobile is a compromise.
On a Mac, with Preview
To insert a page:
- Open the PDF in Preview.
- Show the sidebar with View, then Thumbnails.
- Click the thumbnail after which the new page should go.
- Drag the image file from Finder into the sidebar at that point.
- File, then Export as PDF. Do not just close it.
To stamp onto a page:
- Open the image separately, select all, copy.
- In the PDF, show the markup toolbar with View, then Show Markup Toolbar.
- Click the page, then paste. The image lands as a resizable object.
- Drag a corner handle to scale it, holding shift to keep the proportions.
- Export as PDF.
That Export step matters. Preview's save behaviour on PDFs has caught people out for years, and exporting is the version that reliably produces a flat, portable file.
On Windows, free
To stamp: open the PDF in Microsoft Edge, which is the default PDF reader. The Draw tool lets you write and highlight, but it will not place an image. For that you need a reader with an image stamp tool: the free tier of most PDF readers has one, usually called Stamp or Add Image.
To insert a page, avoid all of that. Make a one page PDF from the image, then merge. Most free PDF readers merge, and if you have Office, printing both documents to Microsoft Print to PDF in sequence also works.
On a phone
iPhone. Open the PDF in Files, tap the markup pen, tap the plus, and choose Add Image. It works, but the image lands at an unhelpful size and the handles are small. For inserting a page, share the image to make a PDF, then long press both PDFs in Files and tap Create PDF to combine them.
Android. There is no built-in PDF editor. Google Drive views PDFs but does not edit them. Either use a desktop, or an app from the Play Store.
The signature case, specifically
Adding a signature is the most common reason people search for this, and importing a photo of your signature is the worst way to do it. You get a grey rectangle with a wobbly line in it, sitting over the document like a sticker.
On a Mac, use Preview's Signature tool instead. Markup toolbar, signature icon, Create Signature, then either sign on the trackpad or hold a signed piece of paper up to the camera. Preview extracts the strokes and drops the background entirely, so what lands on the page is dark ink on nothing.
On iPhone, Markup has the same feature: the plus button in the markup toolbar has Signature under it, with the same result.
If you genuinely have to import an image, make it a PNG with a real transparent background. A JPEG cannot store transparency at all, so a JPEG signature will always arrive with a white box around it.