PDF power tools
Watermark or stamp a PDF
Stamp words like DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL across the pages you choose. Your document is processed locally and is never uploaded to Novus PDF Studio.
Stamp words like DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL across the pages you choose.
Drop PDF here
Files stay in this browser session. Maximum 200 MB each.
Loads a sample: 1 page: a short letter ending in a signature block.
Samples contain invented data only and are read from this site, not uploaded.
Your document preview will appear here.
Choose a PDF to begin.
About this tool
A watermark exists to change how a document is read before anybody reads a word of it. DRAFT across a contract stops somebody signing the wrong version. CONFIDENTIAL across a report tells whoever finds a printout what to do with it. A name across a sample tells a client this is a preview rather than the delivered file.
This one is drawn entirely in your browser. Choose the words, the angle, how faint the mark should be, and whether it sits in one corner or tiles diagonally across the whole page. Then choose which pages get it, because a cover sheet often wants a different mark from the pages behind it.
How to watermark step by step
- 1
Open your PDF
Drop the file onto the drop zone. Nothing is uploaded; the page thumbnails are rendered locally.
- 2
Type the words
DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, a client name, a date. Short phrases read better at an angle than long ones.
- 3
Set the look
Size, angle, colour and opacity. Around 15 to 25 percent opacity marks the page clearly while leaving the text underneath easy to read.
- 4
Choose the pages
Every page, odd or even, a typed range, or pages you click in the preview.
- 5
Add the watermark
Download the result and open it once to confirm the mark sits where you expected on every page you chose.
When to use it
- Circulating a version that must not be mistaken for the final one.
- Sending a sample or a preview that should not be used as the deliverable.
- Marking a printout as confidential before it leaves a desk.
- Labelling a copy with who received it, so a leak can be traced to a recipient.
Tips
- Tiled marks read best at 45 degrees with a short word. A long phrase tiled at an angle turns into noise.
- Stamp a copy, not your only copy. The mark is part of the page afterwards.
- If you are marking a document per recipient, put the recipient's name in the mark rather than a generic word.
Good to know
- Text only: images and logos are not supported in this tool.
- The mark is drawn over the page content and cannot be placed behind it.
- The stamped words are real page text, not a tagged artifact, so they appear in copy, search and screen readers.
- A watermark labels a document; it does not protect or lock it.
Watermark questions, answered
Can the watermark be removed by whoever receives it?
Yes, by somebody determined enough. The mark is drawn into the page content, so removing it cleanly means editing the page, which is work but not magic. A watermark is a label, not a lock. If the document must not be altered at all, flatten it and protect it with a password as well, and understand that even then you are raising the effort rather than making it impossible.
Will a screen reader read the watermark out?
It may, and that is worth knowing before you stamp something. The words are real text in the page rather than a decorative artifact, because the export writes no tagged structure tree. So the mark can be copied with the page, found by a text search, and read aloud in the middle of the document's own text. For a tiled watermark that means the word can be repeated many times.
Can I put the mark behind the existing content?
No, and rather than offer an option that does nothing, the tool says so. The library that writes the file appends to the page's content stream, so anything drawn lands on top. In practice this is what a watermark usually is: a semi-transparent mark over the page. If you need a true background, build the document with the mark already in place.
Can I use an image or a logo?
Not yet. This version stamps text only. For a logo on a document you are building yourself, the document builder can place an image on the page directly.
Privacy note: like every Novus PDF Studio tool, watermarkruns entirely in your browser. Files, passwords, and settings stay in this tab's memory and are discarded when you close it. There is no upload, no queue, and no server-side copy. Read more on the privacy page.