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Watermark PDF

Add a text or image watermark to a PDF: diagonal, tiled or in a corner, in any colour and opacity, on all pages or some. Nothing is uploaded.

  • Runs in your browser
  • Nothing is uploaded
  • Free, no sign-up

or drop it here. Up to 100 MB. Nothing is uploaded.

How it works

Choose a PDF, then type the watermark text, like CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT or a name, or choose an image such as a logo. Set its size, colour and opacity, turn it diagonally, upright or to any angle, and put it in one of nine places on the page or repeat it over the whole page. It can go over the page or behind the text and pictures.

The preview is the page itself, watermarked and drawn the same way the download will be. Pages turned sideways are handled, so the watermark shows the way you set it on every page. The watermark is drawn once and reused on each page, so even a long PDF grows only a little, and the rest of each page isn't drawn again: text stays sharp and searchable, and links, bookmarks and form fields keep working. Text is real text in a standard PDF font, marked as a watermark the way the PDF standard describes, so tools that read tagged PDFs aloud can pass over it.

To protect the watermarked PDF with a password, use Protect PDF. To add your signature, use Sign PDF.

Questions

How do I add a watermark to a PDF for free?

Choose the PDF, type the watermark text (or choose an image, such as your logo), and set its size, colour, opacity, angle and place on the page. The preview shows the page as it will look. Press Add watermark and download the PDF. There is no account, and the PDF is never uploaded.

How do I put a diagonal watermark across every page?

Diagonal is the default: the text runs from the lower left corner of each page to the upper right, at whatever angle that is for the page's shape. Choose Repeat it over the whole page to cover each page with copies instead of one, or Any angle to type your own.

Can I watermark only some pages?

Yes. Under Pages to watermark, choose odd, even, portrait or landscape pages, or type the pages, like 1-3, 5, or 8- for page 8 to the end. The other pages are left exactly as they were.

Can a watermark be removed from the PDF?

A watermark added here, as in Adobe Acrobat and other PDF tools, is a drawing on top of the page, so someone with a PDF editor and some effort can take it off. To make that much harder, turn the watermarked PDF into images with PDF to JPG and back into a PDF with JPG to PDF; the text then stops being selectable.

Limits

Opens one PDF of up to 100 MB at a time. Text uses Helvetica, Times or Courier, which every PDF reader has; letters those fonts lack, such as Greek, Cyrillic or Chinese, are added as a picture of the text instead. A tiled watermark has at most 300 copies a page, spread further apart when small text would need more. Scanned pages hide a watermark put behind them.

A watermark makes copying less tempting and shows where a copy came from, but it isn't protection: anyone with a PDF editor can remove it with some effort. The PDF is written out again, so its size can change a little. A PDF with a password opens only with that password, and restrictions on printing or copying set in the original are not carried over: the watermarked PDF has no password. A PDF that is digitally signed shows the signature as no longer valid after any change, a watermark included; the page warns you when it finds one.

Privacy

This tool runs entirely in your browser. The files you open and what you type are never sent to a server, and nothing is stored after you close the page. See the privacy page.

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