PDF Watermark
Stamp text across every page — CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, or your own. Runs in your browser — the file is never uploaded.
Watermarking happens locally — nothing is uploaded
Leave blank to mark every page
Preview — page 1
Live preview, redrawn as you change the settings. The saved PDF uses the same geometry.
Working…
How to Add a Watermark to a PDF
- Drop your PDF in, or click to choose one.
- Type the watermark text, or pick a preset like CONFIDENTIAL.
- Set the opacity, angle, size, colour and position.
- Check the live preview of the page.
- Click Apply Watermark and download the result.
Your PDF is never uploaded to a server. Everything happens locally.
A watermark marks a document, it does not protect it
Worth saying plainly, because tools in this category rarely do. A PDF watermark is drawn content sitting on top of the page — it is not encryption, not a permission, and not a lock. Anyone with the right software can remove it, and that is true of every PDF watermark, not just this one.
What it does do is real: it labels a copy so nobody mistakes a draft for the final, it makes casual reuse obvious, and it records intent — a document stamped DO NOT COPY that turns up somewhere is unambiguous. If the requirement is that a file genuinely cannot be altered or redistributed, no watermark tool will deliver that.
Settings that tend to work
| Goal | Settings | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Mark a draft, keep it readable | 15% · 45° · 60pt · centre | The default. Visible at a glance, and you can still read the page under it. |
| Deter screenshots and reuse | 25% · 45° · 45pt · tiled | Repeating the mark means a crop of any part of the page still carries it. |
| Label without intruding | 30% · 0° · 14pt · bottom-centre | Small, straight, out of the way — a footer mark rather than a stamp. |
| Unmistakable on every copy | 35% · 45° · 90pt · centre | Hard to ignore and hard to crop out. Starts to fight the text, which is the point. |
Specifications
- Accepts
- PDF — .pdf
- Gives you
- <name>-watermarked.pdf
- Where it runs
- Your browser — the file is never uploaded
- Sign-up
- None
- Cost
- Free, with no usage limits
FAQ
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The watermark is drawn with pdf-lib inside your browser and the new file is handed straight to your downloads. Nothing is uploaded — which matters here, because the documents people watermark are usually the ones they least want on someone else's server.
Can the watermark be removed?
Yes, by anyone determined. A PDF watermark is drawn content, not protection: it can be edited out with the right software. It marks a document and deters casual reuse. If you need a copy that genuinely cannot be altered, a watermark is the wrong tool.
Will it cover up the text underneath?
Not at a sensible opacity. The default 15% is readable as a mark while leaving the page legible. Above about 40% it starts to fight the content, which the live preview will show you before you commit.
Can I watermark only some pages?
Yes. Leave the page range blank for every page, or enter something like 1-3, 7 to mark only those. First and last pages are the common cases — a cover sheet or a signature page.
Does it work on a scanned PDF?
Yes. The watermark is drawn on top of whatever the page contains, so scans and text documents both work. On a scan it sits over the image, exactly as it would over text.
Does the text stay selectable?
Yes. Nothing is re-rendered — the watermark is added as drawn text on top of the existing page, so everything underneath keeps working as before, including selectable text and working links.