Add a watermark to a PDF
Stamp a diagonal line of text across every page of a PDF — like CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT or your company name. The watermark is applied inside your browser, so the file is never sent to a server.
Drag your files here
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How to watermark a PDF in 3 steps
Add the PDF
Drag the file onto the upload area or click to pick it. The document is read only in your device's memory.
Type the text
Enter the watermark text (for example, CONFIDENTIAL). It is drawn diagonally across the center of every page.
Download the result
Click apply and download the watermarked PDF. No copy of the file is kept anywhere.
What a watermark is for
A watermark instantly signals the status or origin of a document without anyone having to read the content. Stamping DRAFT keeps a preliminary version from being mistaken for the final one; CONFIDENTIAL makes clear that the material should not circulate; and a company name or logo reinforces the authorship of proposals and reports.
It also helps discourage misuse. A document with a visible diagonal mark is harder to repurpose as someone else's own, which protects contracts, quotes and original material when they have to be shared.
How the mark is drawn
The text runs diagonally at 45°, centred on every page, in grey at 30% opacity — visible enough to mark the document, transparent enough not to hinder reading.
The size is proportional to the page, not fixed: the font follows the sheet’s smaller dimension, with a guaranteed minimum. That keeps the mark coherent on an A4 and on a small page alike, without overflowing the width.
Colour, angle and opacity are not configurable in this tool. If you need a mark with its own visual identity, a full PDF editor is the way.
Which characters the text accepts
The mark uses Helvetica embedded in the PDF itself, which keeps the file light and guarantees it opens the same in any reader. The trade-off is the character repertoire: Portuguese and Spanish accents work normally, but non-Latin alphabets (Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Chinese) and emoji are not supported and make the operation fail.
If you need one of those, use a word without such characters — CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, your company name — which is the typical use anyway.
The document is not uploaded
The mark is drawn inside the browser, over the PDF held in your device’s memory. Nothing goes to the internet.
The mark does not protect the document
It signals intent — CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, your company name — and discourages absent-minded forwarding. But it does not prevent copying, printing or editing, and someone with a PDF editor can remove it.
If the document needs real access control, the route is a password or a document management platform. A watermark exists to keep the status visible on every page, including when someone prints a single section and it circulates on its own.
Use cases
- Mark a version as DRAFT before final approval
- Flag a document as CONFIDENTIAL before sharing it
- Add a company name to proposals and quotes
- Protect original material sent to clients
- Identify circulating copies of a contract
Frequently asked questions
Can I choose the watermark text?
Yes. You type any text you want (such as CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT or your company name), and it is applied to every page.
Does the mark make the document hard to read?
No. The text is semi-transparent and sits in the background, diagonally, so the content stays readable.
Does the mark appear on every page?
Yes. The text is centered and applied to each page of the document, with the size adjusted to the page.
Does the PDF quality change?
No. The mark is drawn over the pages without recreating them. The original text and images stay intact.
General questions about the site
- Is it free?
- Yes — no sign-up, no usage limit and no watermark.
- Does it work on mobile?
- Yes, straight from your Android or iPhone browser.
- Do I need to install anything?
- No. No software, no extensions.
- Is my file sent to a server?
- On tools marked as local, no — the file never leaves your device. Only three tools use a server, and each says so on its own page.
How this works inside, and what the site does not do, is on the About page.