How to add a watermark to a PDF
Try it now: Add Watermark — free, no upload.
Open Add WatermarkA watermark marks a document as confidential, a draft, a sample or yours. Here's how to add one and make it look professional.
Steps
- Open Add watermark and select your PDF.
- Type your text — CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, your name or company — or switch to Image / logo and choose your logo.
- Pick Centre for one large stamp or Tiled for a repeating pattern, and choose diagonal or straight.
- Set transparency around 25–35% so the content stays readable.
- Click Add watermark and download.
Making it hard to remove
A normal watermark is a separate object on the page, and some PDF editors can delete it. Tick Make it hard to remove (flatten) before saving: each page is turned into an image with the watermark baked in. The trade-off is that text in the document can no longer be selected.
Good watermark choices
- CONFIDENTIAL in red, diagonal — see Confidential watermark.
- DRAFT in grey, so an unfinished version isn't mistaken for the final one.
- Your logo, light and centred, for quotations and portfolios — see Add logo to PDF.
- Tiled name or email on documents you share with one person, so leaks can be traced.
Want stronger protection?
Add a password with Protect PDF so only people you trust can open the file.