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Add watermark

Stamp text such as CONFIDENTIAL or DRAFT, or your logo, across the pages of a PDF without uploading it.

How to add a watermark to a PDF

  1. Add your PDF. Drop it on the box, paste it with Ctrl+V, or press Select a PDF file.
  2. Choose Text or Image. For text, type the words, such as CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT or your company name. For an image, press Choose image and pick a PNG or JPG file, such as a logo.
  3. Set the look. Change the font, size and color for text, or the size for an image. Then set the opacity (how see-through it is) and the rotation.
  4. Choose the placement. One mark puts a single watermark at one of nine positions. Tiled repeats it across the whole page, which is harder to crop out.
  5. Check the preview and download. The preview shows your own pages. The new file keeps the original name with -watermarked at the end.

Settings that work well

  • For a "confidential" or "draft" stamp: bold text, gray, 25-35% opacity, rotated 45 degrees, one mark in the center. The page stays easy to read.
  • For proofs you send to clients: tiled text at 24-36 pt with low opacity. It covers the whole page, so a screenshot of one part still shows the mark.
  • For a logo: a PNG with a see-through background, 20-30% of the page width, in a corner, with opacity around 40%.

To watermark only part of the file, choose Only some pages and type the pages, for example 1-3, 8-.

What happens to your PDF

The watermark is drawn on top of each page as real PDF content, not as a picture of the page. Your text stays sharp and selectable, links keep working, and images keep their quality. A text watermark is real text too, so it stays crisp at any zoom. An image watermark is stored once in the file and reused on every page, so a 200-page document doesn't grow by 200 copies of your logo.

Positions follow the page as you see it. Wide pages and pages that are turned sideways get the watermark in the same visible spot as upright pages.

Text watermarks use the standard PDF fonts, which cover English and Western European letters, numbers and common symbols. Other alphabets and emoji can't be used in a text watermark yet. Save them as an image and use the Image option instead.

A watermark is a label, not a lock

A watermark tells people where a document came from or that it is not final. It doesn't stop anyone from copying or editing the file, and someone with a PDF editor can remove it. To stop people from opening the file, add a password with Protect PDF.

Private by design

Everything happens in your browser. Your device reads the PDF, adds the watermark and saves the result, and the file is never uploaded. Each PDF can be up to 200 MB.

Frequently asked questions

Can I put the watermark behind the text?

The watermark is placed on top of the page. With a low opacity, the text under it stays easy to read, and this also works on scanned pages, where a mark placed behind the picture would be hidden.

Why does my logo look blurry?

The image is used at its own resolution. Use a larger image, about twice the size it will appear on the page, or a PNG with sharp edges.

Can I add page numbers at the same time?

Add the watermark first and download the file, then use Add page numbers on the result.

This tool works in your browser: your files are processed on your device and are never uploaded. Check the result before you share it or delete the original.