Watermark PDF
Stamp a diagonal text watermark (like DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL) across every page of a PDF.
Only the first file is used. Remove it to use a different one.
Use commas between pages and a dash for a range.
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Watermark PDF writes a line of text diagonally across every page of a PDF in faint grey, the familiar DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL stamp. Type your text into the Watermark text box, press Add watermark and download the stamped copy. It is a quick way to mark drafts, label sample documents or restrict how a copy of your ID may be used.
How the watermark is drawn
- Angle: 45°, rising from the lower left of the page towards the upper right.
- Look: bold Helvetica in mid-grey at 22% opacity, laid over the page so the content underneath stays readable.
- Size: one-seventh of the page's shorter side, never below 24 points. On A4 that is about 85 points, so capital letters stand a little over 2 cm tall.
- Coverage: the same text on every page, in the same place.
Colour, size, angle and position are fixed; there are no settings to change them.
How much text fits on the page
Because the size is fixed by the page, long text runs off the edge. On a portrait A4 page, about a dozen capital letters fit comfortably:
| Text | Portrait A4 | Landscape A4 |
|---|---|---|
| DRAFT, COPY, SPECIMEN | Fits | Fits |
| CONFIDENTIAL, FOR KYC ONLY | Fits | Top edge clips |
| Property of Sharma Traders | Runs off | Runs off |
On landscape pages the text starts nearer the top, so choose a short word for documents such as wide spreadsheets.
Characters it cannot print
The watermark uses one of the standard fonts built into PDF, which covers the Western European character set. English letters, digits, accented letters like é and the © sign all work. Hindi and other Indian scripts, emoji and the ₹ symbol do not; the tool shows an error naming the character it cannot encode. Write "Rs" instead of ₹, and use English wording for the stamp.
Watermarking ID copies
When you share a copy of an Aadhaar card, PAN card or passport, a common precaution is to stamp its purpose on it, so the copy is harder to reuse elsewhere. Short wording such as FOR KYC ONLY fits a portrait page. Watermark after assembling everything, so one pass covers all pages: join the documents with Merge PDF first.
What a watermark does not do
The stamp is ordinary text added to each page. It labels and discourages misuse, but anyone with a PDF editor can find and delete it, and it does not stop copying, printing or opening. For real restrictions you need password protection from a desktop PDF program. If you want the stamp to be harder to remove, turn the watermarked pages into images with PDF to JPG and rebuild the file with Image to PDF; the page text will no longer be selectable either. Keep an unstamped original for yourself. The stamping happens in your browser, so the document is never uploaded.