About the Add Watermark tool
A watermark is a quick way to mark a document as a draft, mark it confidential, or simply stamp it with your name or company before it goes out into the world. The Add Watermark tool overlays custom text across every page of a PDF, with control over size, color, opacity, and placement.
A watermark works best when it's noticeable enough to do its job — signaling draft status, ownership, or confidentiality at a glance — without fighting with the actual content underneath for the reader's attention. That balance is why this tool exposes opacity and size as separate controls rather than a single fixed style: a pale, large diagonal stamp reads clearly as a background marking, while a smaller, darker one can double as something closer to a visible signature or stamp of authenticity.
How to add a watermark
- Upload the PDF you want to watermark.
- Type the watermark text you want, such as DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, or your company name.
- Adjust the size, color, and opacity so the watermark is visible but doesn't obscure the content underneath.
- Choose whether to place it once in the center of each page or tiled repeatedly across the page, then click Add Watermark.
Tips for best results
- Start around 20-30% opacity for a background-style watermark — high enough to read clearly, low enough that the underlying text stays comfortable to read through it.
- Tiled placement is more effective than a single centered stamp if your real concern is unauthorized copying, since a single watermark can sometimes be cropped out of a photo or screenshot of the page.
- Pick a watermark color that has good contrast against a white page but isn't pure black — a mid-tone red or gray reads clearly as a stamp without being mistaken for the document's own body text.
- If you're marking a document as a draft, keep the exact wording consistent across versions (always "DRAFT", not sometimes "Draft copy") so anyone comparing versions can search for it reliably.
Common ways people use this
- Marking early drafts of a proposal so reviewers don't mistake them for the final version.
- Stamping CONFIDENTIAL across an internal document before sharing it outside the team.
- Adding a photographer's or designer's name across proofs before final delivery.
- Branding a downloadable resource with a company name or website.
- Marking a sample or preview chapter of a document as not for redistribution before sharing it publicly.
Good to know
The watermark is text only; there's no option to use an uploaded logo or image as the watermark graphic. It's also drawn directly into the page content, so once applied it becomes a permanent part of that PDF — always keep your unwatermarked original on hand.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my logo instead of text?
This tool currently supports text watermarks. For an image-based watermark, treat your logo file as the top layer and combine it using the Merge PDF or Image to PDF tools as a workaround, or ask us to add image watermarks.
Will the watermark cover important content?
You control opacity and size, so you can keep it subtle. Lower the opacity or reduce the text size if it feels too prominent.
Can I remove a watermark added by this tool later?
Once a watermark is drawn onto the page, it becomes part of the page content, similar to how it would work in any other watermarking tool. Keep your unwatermarked original if you'll need it again.
Does the watermark appear on every page, including the cover?
Yes, it's applied uniformly across every page in the document.
Can I angle the watermark text differently, or make it horizontal?
The watermark is currently applied at a fixed diagonal angle, which is the traditional look for both draft and confidential stamps and reads clearly in both the centered and tiled placements.
Will the watermark still be visible if the PDF is printed in black and white?
Yes, as long as the opacity and color you chose provide enough contrast against the page in grayscale; very light or pale colors can fade more in a black-and-white print than they appear on a color screen, so err on the side of slightly darker if the document is likely to be printed that way.