How to add a watermark without hiding the document

What a watermark is for

A watermark labels a document — DRAFT, COPY, SAMPLE, or "For Company X only" — so nobody mistakes it for a final or original. It does not stop anyone opening, copying or editing the file. For that, add a password with Protect PDF.

Steps

1. Open Add Watermark and upload the PDF.
2. Type the watermark text.
3. Set opacity (0 is invisible, 1 is solid; 0.3 is the default), font size (60 by default) and colour.
4. Click Add Watermark and download.

Open Watermark PDF

Keep the document readable

• The text is placed diagonally across the centre of every page. Keep it short so it does not cover whole paragraphs.
• Opacity between 0.15 and 0.3 is usually visible without hiding text.
• Light grey works on white pages; check pages with photos or coloured backgrounds.
• Watermark text supports Latin characters; Arabic text is not supported yet.

Protecting as well as labelling

Add the watermark first, then protect the file with a password.

Open Protect PDF