Backgrounds & Foregrounds
from ironpdf import *

# Instantiate Renderer
renderer = ChromePdfRenderer()

# Render a PDF from a URL
pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.nuget.org/packages/IronPdf")

# Add a PDF as background
pdf.AddBackgroundPdf("MyBackground.pdf")

# Add a PDF as foreground overlay to the first page
pdf.AddForegroundOverlayPdfToPage(0, "MyForeground.pdf", 0)

# Save the merged PDF
pdf.SaveAs("Complete.pdf")
pip install ironpdf
Backgrounds & Foregrounds

Backgrounds & Foregrounds

IronPDF for Python can layer PDF documents by adding one PDF as a background behind the content of another, or as a foreground overlay on top of it - useful for applying letterhead, watermarks, or design templates to generated documents.

Getting Started

Load or render a base PdfDocument, then call AddBackgroundPdf or AddForegroundOverlayPdfToPage to apply another PDF file as a layer. Save the result with SaveAs.

Understanding the Code

  • AddBackgroundPdf(path): Applies the specified PDF file as a background on every page of the current document. The background appears behind the existing page content.
  • AddForegroundOverlayPdfToPage(targetPageIndex, path, sourcePageIndex): Overlays a single page from the specified PDF onto a specific page of the current document. The overlay appears on top of the existing content.
    • targetPageIndex: The zero-based page index in the current document where the overlay should be applied.
    • sourcePageIndex: The zero-based page index within the overlay PDF to use as the source.
  • SaveAs("Complete.pdf"): Saves the layered document to disk.

Use Cases

  • Letterhead: Apply a company letterhead PDF as a background to every page of a generated report.
  • Stamp templates: Overlay a signature block or approval stamp onto a specific page.
  • Design layers: Separate content from design by maintaining a layout template PDF and combining it with dynamically generated content.

Ready to Get Started?

Version:2026.11just released

Free pip Install