Add a Watermark to PDF
Stamp text like CONFIDENTIAL or DRAFT across every page. Set the size, color, opacity and position.
Select a PDF fileor drop it anywhere on this page, or paste
Opens in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Add a Watermark to PDF, free and private
Watermark a PDF with text such as DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE or the name of the person you send it to, or with an image such as a logo. The mark then stays on the page when the file is forwarded or printed. Pick the size, angle, font, colour and opacity, and drag the mark into place on a live preview of your own pages.
The text is drawn onto each page in your browser. Your PDF is never uploaded, and no PDFToolz branding is added.
How to watermark a PDF
- 1
Add your PDF
Press Select PDF files or drop the document on the page. The tool watermarks one PDF at a time.
- 2
Type the text or choose an image
Enter your words in the Watermark text box. It starts as CONFIDENTIAL. Replace it with DRAFT, a date, a client name or any short label. To use a logo instead, switch to Image and press Choose image.
- 3
Pick font, colour, size and angle
Choose Sans, Serif or Mono and a colour. Then set the Size, the Angle (24° by default, 0° for flat text) and the Opacity with the sliders. The preview shows each change on your real pages.
- 4
Place it and choose the pages
Drag the watermark on the preview, or click a square in the Position grid. While dragging it snaps to the grid spots. Pick On top or Behind text, and apply it to all pages, odd or even pages, or a custom range. Use the arrows under the preview to check other pages.
- 5
Apply and download
Press Apply watermark. The mark goes on the pages you chose, and you can preview or download a file ending in -watermarked.pdf. Your original is not changed.
Why use PDFToolz for this
Every page in one pass
The same mark, size, colour, opacity and position go on all chosen pages. A 100-page report is labelled the same way as a one-page memo.
Lands where the preview shows
The preview and the PDF use the same layout, and the position follows each page as your viewer shows it, so rotated scans, landscape pages and cropped pages get the watermark in the spot you picked.
Accents and other alphabets
The bold font covers Latin letters with accents, such as Romanian ș and ț or Polish ł and ż, plus Greek and Cyrillic. Chinese, Japanese and Korean are not supported.
Original content kept
The watermark is drawn on top of each page or behind its text. Existing text, fonts and images are not re-rendered, so the document stays sharp and searchable. The file is never sent to a server.
How to watermark a PDF with the right size and strength
The text is bold and set at a slant of 24 degrees unless you change the angle. Its size is a share of each page's shorter side, 12.5% by default, which is about 74 pt on an A4 page. Long text shrinks so the slanted line still fits across the page. The grid places it near a corner, an edge or the centre, at 15%, 50% or 85% of the way across and down the page. An image watermark is sized as a share of the page width and keeps its proportions.
On top, the watermark covers the page content, so opacity matters. Between 20% and 35% keeps body text readable underneath. Behind text keeps the text crisp, but scanned pages are one large picture and hide anything behind them. Higher values suit a bold SAMPLE stamp on pages you don't want reused. Gray is the safest colour for reading. Red suits a DRAFT or VOID stamp.
Fixing common results
Most surprises come from long text or busy pages:
- Text looks small. Long phrases are shrunk to fit the page width. Use shorter text or a flatter angle.
- Body text is hard to read. Lower the opacity, make it smaller, pick gray, or put it behind the text.
- Boxes instead of letters. Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters and emoji are not in the font.
- Mixed page sizes. Each page gets a watermark sized to that page, so a landscape insert gets a stamp in proportion to its own shorter side.
- Files that block printing or copying work as they are. A file that needs a password to open must go through Unlock PDF first.
What a PDF watermark protects
A text watermark is a label, not a lock. It is real text on the page, so it stays searchable, and a full PDF editor could find and delete it. It discourages casual reuse and makes a leaked copy easy to trace, more so if each copy carries the recipient's name.
Protect PDF adds a password so only the people you share it with can open the file. Redact PDF removes content for good. Keep your unwatermarked original if you need a clean copy later.
Frequently asked questions
Add the PDF, type your text, pick the size, colour, opacity and position on the preview, and press Apply watermark. It is free, adds no branding of ours, and the file stays on your device.
Yes. Switch to Image and choose a PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF file. A PNG with a transparent background works best. Size, angle, opacity and position work the same as for text.
By default, yes, in one pass at the same position, size and opacity. You can also limit it to odd pages, even pages or a range such as 2-5.
Yes. Set the size and angle with sliders, pick Sans, Serif or Mono, and choose any colour.
It is drawn into the page content, so a normal PDF viewer cannot switch it off. A full PDF editor could remove it. Keep your original if you need a clean copy.
Last reviewed . See how we build and test our tools, or report an error.
