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How to watermark a PDF (free)

Stamp "DRAFT", "CONFIDENTIAL", or any text across every page — with full control over size, angle, colour, and opacity. All in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

1. Open the PDF

Open your file in the editor, or start from the Watermark PDF page, which opens the watermark dialog as soon as you pick a file.

2. Open the Watermark dialog

Choose Pages → Watermark… (or the Watermark button in the sidebar). The dialog starts with a classic preset — red DRAFT at 45° — ready to adapt:

Text — whatever you want stamped: DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE, a company name…
Font size — 8 to 288 pt (72 pt by default).
Opacity — from a faint 5% up to fully opaque; the 20% default sits readably behind the content.
Angle — −90° to 90°, with 45° as the classic diagonal.
Colour — any colour from the picker.

3. Apply and save

Click Apply — the watermark is stamped across every page of the document. If it isn't quite right, undo and try again with different settings, then click Save to download the watermarked PDF.

Note: a watermark labels a document; it doesn't protect it. The text becomes part of the page content, but a determined editor can still remove it. To actually restrict access, add a password with Protect PDF — and to remove sensitive content outright, see How to redact a PDF.

Watermark a PDF now →

More guides: Add page numbers · Edit a PDF · Redact a PDF