How to add a CONFIDENTIAL or DRAFT watermark to a PDF

Open Add watermark to PDF, drop in the file, and a red diagonal CONFIDENTIAL watermark appears on the preview straight away. Change the words, placement, size, opacity or pages until the preview looks right, then download. The preview is the real result.

Steps

1. Open Add watermark to PDF and drop the PDF on the box, or click to choose it. The first page appears with a sample watermark.
2. Under Watermark, tap one of the quick words (CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, COPY, SAMPLE, DO NOT COPY, PAID) or type your own. To use an image instead, switch to Logo and choose a PNG or JPG.
3. Under Placement, pick Diagonal, Centre, Corner or Tiled.
4. Set Size and Opacity, and for text, the font and colour. Rotation appears for every placement except Diagonal, which follows the page's own angle.
5. Under Pages, keep All, choose Odd or Even, type a Range such as 1-3, 7, or click pages on the grid.
6. Step through pages with the previous and next buttons to check a few, then press Download PDF.

Settings for common jobs

The default is a bold red CONFIDENTIAL in a sans font, diagonal, at 70% size and 30% opacity, over the content on every page. 20 to 30% opacity keeps the text underneath readable.

Placement in more detail

• Diagonal runs corner to corner at the angle of each page, so it fits portrait and landscape pages alike. Size here is a share of the page's diagonal.
• Centre puts it in the middle, at the rotation you set.
• Corner lets you place it at any of nine points, from Top left to Bottom right.
• Tiled repeats it across the page. Space between marks sets how far apart the repeats sit.

The mark is placed as each page is shown, so it sits the same way up on turned and odd-sized pages too.

Over or behind the content

Under Layer, Over content puts the mark on top of everything, so it always shows. Behind content tucks it under the text, which looks cleaner on a typed document. On a scanned page, though, the whole page is one picture, and a mark behind it is hidden. Keep Over content for scans.

Text, other scripts and logos

Latin text is written into the PDF as real text in a standard font, so it can be selected and searched. Text in other scripts, such as Chinese or Arabic, is added as a sharp picture of the words, drawn with your device's fonts.

A PNG logo keeps its transparent background; a JPG works too. The image is stored once and reused on every page, so a 200-page file does not grow 200 times over.

What a watermark does not do

Anyone with a PDF editor can remove an added watermark, as with any mark on a page. It shows who a copy is for or that it is a draft; it does not stop editing or copying. To control who can open the file, add a password afterwards with Protect PDF.

The rest of the PDF is left as it was: form fields stay fillable, links still work and bookmarks stay.

Questions

Can I watermark only some pages?

Yes. Choose Odd or Even, type a range such as 1-3, 7, or click pages on the grid.

How do I make the watermark lighter?

Lower Opacity. 20 to 30% is typical.

Can I watermark a password-protected PDF?

Yes, if you know its password. It is checked on your device, and the file you download has no password.

Is a confidential PDF uploaded to be watermarked?

No. The watermark is added in your browser and the file stays on your device.