Add a watermark to a PDF
Stamp a word across every page — DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, a client's name. Drawn into the document as real text, so it prints and travels with the file.
Any language your device can display.
How to watermark a PDF
- Choose your PDF and type the words you want stamped on it.
- Pick the placement, colour and strength. Faint sits behind the content; Solid is hard to miss.
- Press Add the watermark and save the stamped copy. Your original is untouched.
What a watermark can and cannot do
A watermark is a statement, not a lock. Stamping DRAFT across a contract tells whoever opens it not to treat it as final, and stamping a client's name across a proof makes a leaked copy traceable. That is real value, and it is the value this tool delivers.
What it does not do is protect the document. Anyone determined can remove it, because it is part of the page like any other content. Tools that claim a watermark secures a file are selling you a feeling. If you need the document to be unreadable without a password, a watermark is the wrong instrument entirely.
The mark is drawn as real text in a standard PDF font, so it prints exactly as it appears on screen, stays sharp at any zoom, and survives the file being emailed, merged or re-saved. It is placed in each page's visual frame, so a page that was scanned sideways gets a watermark that reads the right way up rather than one lying on its side.
Strength is opacity. Faint is the one you want under body text, where the words should be legible without fighting the content. Solid is for a proof you want nobody to mistake for the finished thing.
Questions about watermarking
Can the watermark be removed?
Yes, by anyone who wants to. It is page content, not protection. A watermark says how a document should be treated; it does not enforce it. Nobody can honestly offer you more than that in a PDF.
Will it print?
Yes. It is real text drawn into the page, not a screen-only annotation, so it prints exactly as you see it and stays sharp at any size.
Can I use my own language?
If it is written in Latin letters, yes — including accented ones. The standard PDF font has no glyphs for Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek or CJK, so those cannot be drawn. The tool tells you rather than producing scrambled characters.
Does it cover up my text?
At Faint it sits lightly behind the content and stays readable. If it is competing with your text, drop the strength or move it to the bottom of the page rather than across the middle.
Is my document uploaded?
No. The watermark is drawn by your browser and the stamped copy is written to your downloads. Given that the documents people watermark are usually the confidential ones, that is the point.