How to add a watermark to a PDF
You are about to send a quote that might still change, or a copy of a document that should not circulate. A watermark makes clear at a glance what that paper is, before anyone reads it through.
3 minute read
How to add it
Open the watermark tool and drag your PDF in.
Choose whether to stamp a text or an image.
If it is text, type it. The shorter it is, the bigger it looks: CONFIDENTIAL reads far better than a whole sentence. If it is an image, upload it and set its size.
Set how visible it should be. Between 20% and 30% the mark reads without getting in the way of the document.
Choose where it goes: the usual diagonal, repeated across the page, or at a specific spot on the sheet.
Pick the colour.
Press Add the watermark and download.
What to write
- DRAFT or PROPOSAL: when the document can still change and you do not want anyone treating it as final.
- CONFIDENTIAL: to put on record that the contents should not be forwarded.
- COPY: when the paper original is the one that counts.
- The recipient’s name: if you are sending the same document to several people, putting each name on it discourages forwarding, because a leak would carry their name.
Where to put it
You can pick between eleven different placements, and each one is good for something different:
- Diagonal through the middle. The classic. Impossible to miss and the least disruptive to read around, because it crosses the text rather than covering it.
- Repeated across the page. Many small marks in a grid. The hardest to crop out, but also the one that clutters the document most.
- Top or bottom. It behaves like a header or a footer: straight, discreet and out of the way. The right call when the document still has to read comfortably.
- In a corner. The most discreet of all. It puts the mark on record without drawing attention.
In the tool you will see a grid shaped like a sheet of paper: click the area where you want it and that is where it gets stamped. Grid placements come out straight rather than tilted, because a crooked header looks wrong.
Watermarking with an image
Instead of text you can stamp an image: your company logo, a stamp, a scanned signature. That is what turns an ordinary quote or invoice into a document that looks like yours.
- Use a PNG with a transparent background whenever you can. A JPG always carries a rectangular background, and that rectangle will cover the document text underneath.
- Set the size with the slider: it is measured as a percentage of the page width, so 25% is a discreet stamp and 80% covers most of the sheet.
- Put it where it makes sense: a company logo usually sits better at the top or in a corner, while a COPY or PAID stamp works across the middle.
What a watermark protects against, and what it does not
Worth being clear: a watermark is a sign, not a lock. It puts on visible record what the document is and discourages casual forwarding, which is what it is for 99% of the time.
What it does not do is stop anyone copying the text, printing the file or forwarding it. Someone with time and motivation can remove it. If you need a document that cannot be read without permission, what you need is a password or not to send it.