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PDF Watermark

Add a text or image watermark to every page of your PDF — control position, size, and opacity.

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Watermark Type

How to Use PDF Watermark

Upload your PDF, then choose between a text watermark (e.g. 'CONFIDENTIAL', 'DRAFT') or an image/logo watermark. Customise the colour, opacity, size, and rotation angle for text watermarks, or upload a PNG/JPEG logo for image watermarks. Click Add Watermark & Download to get the stamped PDF. Everything runs locally in your browser.

About PDF Watermark

PDF Watermark lets you stamp every page of a PDF with a text label or a logo image. This is useful for marking a draft document before sharing with reviewers, adding a CONFIDENTIAL designation before circulating internally, branding a white paper with your company logo before publishing, or adding a diagonal DO NOT COPY warning before sending a sensitive document. The tool supports two watermark types. Text watermarks let you type any message, choose a colour (via a colour picker), set the opacity from barely visible (0.1) to nearly opaque (0.9), pick a font size, and set a rotation angle — the classic diagonal watermark across the centre of each page is 45 degrees. Image watermarks let you upload a PNG or JPEG logo file, which is then tiled across each page at a configurable opacity. In both cases, the watermark is applied to every page of the PDF. The watermark pattern is tiled — repeated at regular intervals across each page — so it covers the full page area regardless of page size. The watermark content (text or image) is embedded directly into the PDF as part of the page content stream, meaning it cannot be easily removed by the recipient — unlike a transparent overlay that some tools add, which can be toggled off in a PDF reader. Because the operation modifies the page content, it is more resource-intensive than simple operations like page counting or rotation. For very large documents (hundreds of pages), the watermarking may take a moment. The tool shows a Processing indicator so you know it is working. All processing runs locally in your browser. Your PDF, your watermark image (if any), and the output file never leave your device.

Details & Tips

Watermarking is implemented by pdf-lib's drawText() and drawImage() page methods. Text watermarks use the embedded Helvetica standard font. The text is tiled across each page by iterating over a grid spanning from negative coordinates past the page boundaries to ensure full coverage. The rotation is applied as a per-draw rotation transform with the origin at the text position. Image watermarks are embedded via embedJpg() or embedPng() and tiled similarly. Both types respect the specified opacity value (0.0-1.0), which controls the alpha channel applied to all drawing operations. The watermark content is drawn directly into the page content stream, making it a permanent part of the page — not a separate annotation layer that can be toggled. The colour for text watermarks is specified in hex (#RRGGBB) format and converted to RGB components for pdf-lib's rgb() function. StandardFonts.Helvetica is used because it is one of the 14 standard PDF fonts guaranteed to render without embedding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my PDF uploaded to your server?
No. All processing — reading the PDF, embedding the watermark, and generating the output — happens locally in your browser. Your PDF and watermark image never leave your device.
Can the watermark be removed by the recipient?
The watermark is drawn directly into the page content stream, not as a separate annotation layer. It cannot be toggled off in a PDF reader. A determined user with PDF editing software could potentially remove it, but it is more difficult than toggling a layer.
Can I use my company logo as a watermark?
Yes. Select Image as the watermark type, then upload your logo in PNG or JPEG format. The logo is tiled across every page at the opacity you set. For best results, use a PNG with a transparent background.
How do I make the watermark diagonal?
Set the rotation angle to 45° (the default) for a classic diagonal watermark. You can use any angle between 0 and 360 degrees.
Can I adjust how visible the watermark is?
Yes. The opacity slider ranges from 0.1 (barely visible) to 0.9 (nearly opaque). For CONFIDENTIAL watermarks, 0.3 is typical — visible enough to label the document but light enough that the content is still readable.
Does the watermark affect the PDF file size?
Text watermarks add a negligible amount of data (a few kilobytes). Image/log watermarks add approximately the size of the embedded image, which is why text watermarks are recommended unless you specifically need a logo.
What happens if my watermark text is very long?
Long text is supported but may overlap itself in the tiling pattern. For best visual results, keep watermark text concise — a few words like "CONFIDENTIAL — DO NOT DISTRIBUTE" work well. Very long paragraphs are not suitable for tiled watermarks.
Does this work on password-protected PDFs?
No. Encrypted PDFs cannot be modified by browser-based tools. Remove the password first.
What is the maximum file size?
The site-wide maximum (default 50 MB) applies. Large PDFs with hundreds of pages may take longer to watermark.
Is the tool free?
Yes, completely free. No registration, no account, no usage limits.
Can I watermark only specific pages?
The tool watermarks all pages. To watermark only certain pages, use the PDF Splitter first to extract the pages you want watermarked, apply the watermark, then merge them back with the un-watermarked pages using the PDF Merger.

Also Available As

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