Watermark PDF

• Status labeling. DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, FOR REVIEW ONLY, NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION — visible status at a glance prevents the wrong file from being treated as final.
• Branding. A logo on every page of a delivered report.
• Light copy protection. Your name and "©" across every page makes casual re-use harder. It won't stop a determined copier, but it deters convenience theft.
• Document tracking. Distribute a unique recipient name on each copy — if a leak surfaces, you know which copy it came from.
• Version marking. "v2 — 2026-06-25" stamped on every page.
• Approval-state visibility. APPROVED, REJECTED, NEEDS REVISION across each page.

1. Open Watermark PDF.
2. Drop your PDF.
3. Pick text or image. For text: type your watermark, pick a font and color. For image: upload a PNG (transparency supported) or JPG.
4. Set position (center, top-right, bottom-left, etc.), opacity (10–100%), and rotation (0°, 45°, etc.).
5. Pick which pages to watermark (all, first only, last only, or specific ranges).
6. Click Save and download the watermarked PDF.

• Text — smallest file size, sharpest at every zoom, easiest to update. Best for DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, names, dates.
• Image — for logos, branded stamps, decorative marks. Use a PNG with transparency so the page background shows through.

For text watermarks, 45° rotation with low opacity (15–30%) across the page is the classic look. For logos, top-right or top-center at low opacity (20–40%) works without distracting from content.

• Watermark — semi-transparent, applied to the page background, usually large and rotated. Visual status indicator.
• Stamp — opaque, placed in a specific spot (corner), usually small. Like a physical rubber stamp.
• Header/footer — text at the top or bottom of each page. Use Number Pages for page numbers, or Edit PDF for custom headers.

SwissArmyPDF's Watermark tool can simulate a stamp by setting opacity to 100% and positioning in a corner.

The watermark becomes part of the page content. A casual recipient can't toggle it off. A determined editor with Adobe Acrobat could potentially remove it by editing the page content stream, but it's not a one-click operation.

For maximum tamper-resistance, run the watermarked PDF through Flatten PDF after — that removes the form field/annotation layer entirely. For absolute non-removability, render the PDF to images and rebuild (this also kills text searchability) — use Compress PDF at Strong to achieve this side-effect.

Important: a watermark is not redaction. If the watermark is meant to obscure underlying content, it isn't — the original text is still in the file. For actual content hiding, use Redact PDF.

• Watermark is invisible / too faint. Bump opacity. 15% is the lower end for visibility.
• Watermark overlaps important content. Move to a corner, or use a smaller font. Or reduce opacity so content underneath stays readable.
• Logo looks pixelated. Upload a higher-resolution PNG. Watermarks render at the size you specify, regardless of the source resolution.
• Watermark didn't apply to all pages. Check the page-range selector — default is "all pages" but it can be overridden to "first only," etc.
• I want one watermark per recipient (1000 PDFs). The current version is one PDF at a time. For batch personalization, use a CLI tool like qpdf or pdfcpu.

You watermark documents you're about to distribute — meaning the un-watermarked source is the more-final version. Uploading it to a web tool means the unmarked version briefly lives on a remote server. SwissArmyPDF watermarks in your browser via pdf-lib — the source file never leaves your device.

• Flatten PDF — lock the watermark as permanent page content.
• Compress PDF — shrink before sending.
• Merge PDF — combine watermarked files into a final delivery.
• Number Pages — add page numbers alongside the watermark.