About Watermark PDF
Watermark PDF stamps text or a logo across every page of a PDF. Mark drafts as DRAFT, label documents CONFIDENTIAL, put your company logo on proposals, or add "Copy for John Smith" to discourage people from forwarding a file.
You control the text, font size, color, angle and opacity, and you choose between one large mark in the center or a repeating tiled pattern. A live preview of the first page shows the result before you save.
Image watermarks accept PNG and JPG. A PNG logo with a transparent background looks best.
How to use Watermark PDF
- Open your PDF.
- Choose Text or Image.
- Type your text and set its size, color and angle, or upload a logo and set its size.
- Set the opacity and choose Center or Tiled.
- Click Add watermark and download the stamped PDF.
Text or logo
Use a word, a sentence or your brand's logo.
Full control
Adjust size, color, rotation and transparency to match your document.
Tiled mode
Repeat the mark across the page so cropping can't remove it.
Rotation aware
Pages that are turned in the PDF still get the watermark the right way up.
Making a watermark that works
A watermark has two jobs that pull in opposite directions: people should notice it, and it shouldn't stop them from reading the document. Opacity between 15 and 25 percent handles both for text marks. A 45-degree angle crosses the text lines diagonally, which makes the mark hard to miss while leaving each line readable.
Tiled marks repeat across the whole page. They make it much harder to crop the watermark out of a screenshot, which suits documents shared with many people, such as pre-release reports or exam papers. A single centered mark looks cleaner and suits drafts and internal labels.
The tool draws the watermark into each page's content. A casual reader can't select and delete it the way they would delete a comment or a stamp annotation. Someone with a professional PDF editor and time to spare can still remove page content, so treat watermarks as a deterrent and a label rather than as copy protection.
Personalized watermarks, with the recipient's name or email, are the most effective deterrent. A leaked file then points straight back to its source. Make one copy per recipient with a different text.
Tips for better results
- Use red or gray for DRAFT and CONFIDENTIAL. Both read as warnings without fighting the content.
- Keep text short. One or two words look better at large sizes than a full sentence.
- For logos, export a PNG with a transparent background and set opacity around 10 to 20 percent.
- Combine with Protect PDF and disallow editing to make removal harder still.
Questions and answers
Can people remove the watermark?
Not in a normal PDF reader. Advanced editing software can remove page content, so use watermarks as a deterrent, not as security.
Does the watermark cover the text?
It sits on top of the content, but at low opacity the text underneath stays readable.
Can I watermark only some pages?
The tool marks every page. Split the document, watermark the part you need, and merge it back.
Which characters can I use?
Latin letters, numbers, punctuation and accented characters. Emoji and non-Latin scripts print as question marks.
Is my document uploaded?
No. The watermark gets added in your browser.