Add a watermark to a PDF
Mark every page DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL or anything else, at an opacity that reads without hiding the text.
Free · No sign-up · Your file never leaves your computer
No file handy? — generated here, not downloaded.
How to use it
- 1
Add the PDF.
- 2
Pick a preset or type your own wording.
- 3
Set how strong it should be, and whether it runs across the diagonal.
- 4
Download. Every page is marked.
When you would use this
A watermark is a small piece of risk management. Drawings issued for comment get built from if nobody marks them; a fee proposal that leaks without CONFIDENTIAL on it is just a document; a copy of a certificate that is not marked COPY can be presented as the original. The mark is what stops a reasonable person making a wrong assumption.
Not for construction is the one worth having a preset for. In design and engineering it is the difference between a drawing that is information and a drawing that is an instruction, and its absence has consequences that a DRAFT label does not carry.
Opacity is the whole craft. Too faint and it is decoration nobody registers; too strong and people cannot read what is underneath, so they ask for a clean copy and the marked one gets discarded. Around fifteen percent reads clearly on screen and survives photocopying without swallowing body text. Push it up for something that must not be mistaken, down for a document people have to work in.
The text goes on top of your content rather than behind it. That is deliberate and it is the opposite of what the letterhead tool does. A mark sitting behind the text can be hidden by any solid block on the page, and the point of a watermark is that it travels with what it marks — including into a screenshot.
It is worth being clear about what this is not. A watermark is a signal, not a security control: anyone determined can remove it, and it does not stop copying, printing or editing. If a document must not be altered, protect it with a password as well and keep the unmarked original somewhere you control.
Questions
- Will it cover my text?
- Not at the default strength. It is drawn at low opacity so body text stays readable underneath — turn it up only when being unmissable matters more than being readable.
- Can I put it on just one page?
- Not here — this marks every page, which is almost always what you want for a draft or a confidential document. To mark one page, split it out first, watermark it, then merge it back.
- Does it stop someone editing or copying the document?
- No. It is a visible signal, not a security control, and it can be removed by anyone with the right software. Use a password as well if the content genuinely needs protecting.
- Can I use my own wording?
- Yes. The presets are only shortcuts — type anything, including a date or a recipient's name, which is a common way of tracking who a copy went to.
- Is my document uploaded?
- No. It is watermarked inside your browser and never sent anywhere, which matters rather a lot for the kind of document you would mark CONFIDENTIAL.
Related tools
Marking drafts by hand, one file at a time
Ofivio knows whether a drawing is issued for comment or for construction, and stamps it accordingly — because the status lives on the record, not in whoever remembered to add it.
See Ofivio