Add Watermark to PDF

Add a watermark to a PDF: preview it on the page, then save a new file

A PDF watermark is a faint line of text or a logo laid over every page, or just the pages you pick, to say what a document is or where it came from, such as CONFIDENTIAL or COPY. Open a PDF here and the first page appears in a preview. Each time you change the text, position, repeat, opacity or angle, the watermark updates on top of it. When it looks right, press [Save PDF] to download the file as "original-name-watermark.pdf".

For example, put the CONFIDENTIAL preset on the sample PDF (3 pages, 160 KB) and the saved file is 216 KB, with the body text still selectable and searchable. Save the "For verification" preset with Hard to remove on, which merges the pages into images, and it comes to 1.2 MB. The PDF and any logo you pick are processed inside this browser and are never sent to a server.

When a watermark helps

• Documents that shouldn't leave the company: a large CONFIDENTIAL across an internal report or plan keeps the document's status attached even if someone photographs the screen or prints it.
• Copies of ID or bank documents you hand over: repeating "For verification only" plus the date across the whole page shows where the copy was meant to go if it turns up somewhere else.
• Drafts that can still change: DRAFT on a quote, mockup or contract draft keeps the recipient from mistaking it for the final version.
• Crediting the source: a small logo in the corner of a company profile or portfolio shows who made it, however far the file travels.
• Printed handouts: the watermark is part of the page, so it prints exactly as it looks on screen. Putting the receiving team's name on meeting packets makes them easy to tell apart when they come back.

How to use it

1. Drop a PDF on the box or press [Choose PDF]. If it's your first time, [Open sample PDF] lets you try it first.
2. Click a preset (Confidential, Copy, For verification, Draft or Logo) to set the text, layout and opacity in one step.
3. Edit the text box, add a date line with [Today's date], or for a logo choose a PNG, JPG or WebP file under [Image].
4. Adjust layout (single or repeat), position or spacing, size, opacity, angle and color while you watch the preview. Holding [Show original] hides the watermark so you can see the page underneath.
5. To mark only some pages, choose [Selected pages] and type something like 1-3, 5, or use the check buttons on the page strip below the preview. Then press [Save PDF].

The five presets and their settings

Presets are starting points with the common looks already set. You can still change every value after clicking one. Size is the width of the mark as a percentage of the page width.

Only the "For verification" preset starts with Hard to remove on (merging the page and mark into one image). A copy is a file the recipient can open in an editor, so the watermark is only useful if it can't be picked off easily.

Single mark or repeated pattern

Single places one mark in one of nine cells, from top left to bottom right. Large and tilted in the center, it works as a status stamp like CONFIDENTIAL. Small and in a corner, it works as a logo or a page-corner label. If a tilted mark would run past the page, it is shrunk to fit inside a margin of 4% of the page's shorter side, and a note under the preview says so.

Repeat lays the mark out as a checkerboard along the angle, with every row shifted half a cell. With the Copy preset on the first page of the sample PDF, 47 marks cover the whole page. The benefit is that cropping any part of the page still leaves a mark behind. The cost is that it covers a little more of the text.

The opacity ranges are what these presets use. They are not set by any standard. Gray or blue text looks lighter than red at the same opacity, so for a document you'll print, print one page first and check that it is still easy to read.

Laid on top, or merged into images

A normal save leaves the original page content alone and lays one watermark graphic over it. Pages of the same size share a single mark, so the file barely grows however many pages there are. The watermark is tagged as an artifact (page decoration, not body content), so a screen reader can skip it instead of reading it aloud. ISO 32000-1, section 14.8.2.2.2, classifies a draft or other identifying watermark as a pagination artifact.

The catch is that a separate graphic can be lifted off with a PDF editor or a short script. Turn on [Hard to remove] and each page is redrawn as a 200 dpi image with the watermark baked in, so the mark can't be picked off on its own. The body text becomes part of the image too, so it can no longer be selected or searched.

Either way, the watermark text goes in as a drawing, so a word like CONFIDENTIAL never turns up when you search or copy the body text.

Copies of ID and bank documents

• Name the recipient and the purpose. "For Example Bank account opening" is harder to reuse elsewhere than a generic phrase. Put the date on the second line with [Today's date].
• Use Repeat at 25–30% opacity. The mark then crosses the photo, name and numbers while the content stays readable.
• Save with [Hard to remove] on, so someone who opens the file in an editor can't delete just the watermark.
• This tool doesn't hide any text. Numbers the recipient doesn't need, such as most of a Social Security number, should be covered on paper before scanning or removed when you make the copy.

A watermark only shows where a reused copy came from. It doesn't lock the file or prevent copying. To keep other people from opening the file at all, add an open password with Password Protect PDF as well.

Fonts

System sans is drawn with a font already on your device. The others are free fonts that download only when you pick them. Fonts are drawn into the watermark image, so it looks identical for a recipient who doesn't have the same font installed.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a watermark alone is protection: a default save lays a separate graphic that an editor can lift off. If it has to resist that, turn on [Hard to remove].
• Deleting the original: this tool creates a new file and never changes the one you chose. Keep the unmarked original so you can make another version with different wording later.
• Marking a signed PDF: saving a digitally signed PDF again breaks signature validation. The tool warns you when you open one, so leave the signed original alone and mark a copy.
• Watermark not visible over form fields: input fields and comments (annotations) are drawn above the page content, so the watermark passes underneath them. To cover them too, merge with [Hard to remove].
• Mark looks bigger on landscape pages: size is a percentage of page width, so a landscape page gets a larger mark at the same setting. In a mixed document, page through the landscape pages and check the size.
• A white box around the logo: a JPG has no transparent background, so its white rectangle is overlaid too. Use a PNG with a transparent background.

Limits and cautions

• One PDF at a time, up to 100 MB and 1,000 pages. Hard to remove handles up to 200 pages and a result of up to 200 MB.
• PDFs with an open password or editing restrictions (a permissions password) aren't opened. First make a copy without them with Unlock PDF, then watermark that copy.
• Hard to remove draws each page at 200 dpi, but pages larger than A2 get a lower resolution so one page image stays under 24 megapixels.
• There is no way to remove a watermark that is already in a file.
• Text watermarks go in as drawings, so they can't be found by searching inside the PDF. If you'll need to find the wording later, put it in the file name too.
• Some PDFs can't be previewed. For those, laying the mark on top still works, but Hard to remove isn't available.
• This tool was tested in Chrome. Speed and result size in other browsers were not measured, and the size of a merged file can vary a little with the browser's JPEG compression.

As of the standard, help-page sources and sample figures were checked on 2026-10-21.

Sources

• 01ISO 32000-1:2008 Document management — Portable document format (Adobe public copy)14.8.2.2.2 artifacts: a draft or other identifying watermark is a pagination artifact, and readers may disregard artifacts. 12.5.6.22 watermark annotations
• 02Adobe Acrobat help — Add watermarks to PDFsA watermark can be text or an image, in front of or behind the content, with a page range and a size scaled relative to the target page (%). Acrobat removes one through Edit a PDF > Watermark > Remove
• 03pdf-lib API — PDFDocumentThe library that reads a PDF, places images and saves it again. This tool builds files with version 1.17.1 (MIT license)
• 04pdf.js 3.11.174 — src/display/api.jsThe engine behind the preview and Hard to remove (drawing each page as an image) (Apache-2.0 license)
• 05SIL Open Font License 1.1Terms for Anton, DM Serif Display and Kalam: free to use and bundle unless the font is sold on its own. This tool draws fonts into the watermark image, so no font file is embedded in the PDF

Frequently asked questions

Tools to use with it