Watermark a PDF — free, in your browser
Stamp DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL across every page. Nothing is uploaded.
To watermark a PDF, drop it here, type the text, and choose diagonal, tiled or a footer line. The mark is drawn on top of the existing pages, so the text underneath stays selectable and nothing is re-compressed. Everything runs in your browser and the document is never uploaded.
- Nothing uploadedRuns on your device
- No limitsNo account, no watermark
- No upload waitStarts immediately
On this page
How it works
- 1
Add your PDF
Drop it onto the page, paste it, or click to browse. It is read from your device and not sent anywhere.
- 2
Type the text and pick a placement
DRAFT and CONFIDENTIAL cover most cases. Diagonal is the convention; tiled repeats across the page; a footer line is for quiet attribution.
- 3
Set the strength and download
Between 5% and 40%. Strong enough to be unmistakable, light enough to read the document through.
What each setting does
- Diagonal
- One large mark running corner to corner, sized to the page rather than set at a fixed point size — so it looks the same on a receipt as on a poster. It is the convention, and the hardest of the three to crop out of a screenshot.
- Tiled
- The text repeated across the whole page, running past the edges so there is no clean border to crop to. Use it when the worry is someone capturing a fragment rather than sharing the whole file.
- Footer line
- Small, upright, centred at the bottom. This is attribution rather than warning — a source line or a copy identifier that stays out of the way of the reading.
- Strength
- Capped at 40% deliberately. Past that the mark competes with the text it sits over and the document stops being readable, which is the usual mistake rather than a rare one. 15% is legible without being obtrusive.
Results you can expect
Measured on real files by our own test suite, not estimated.
| Property | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Page count | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Text selectable | Yes | Yes, underneath the mark |
| Image quality | Original | Untouched |
| File size | Original | Plus one embedded font |
What people use this for
Circulating a draft
A document marked DRAFT does not get quoted as final. It is the cheapest way to stop an early version being treated as the agreed one.
Read the guideSharing something confidential
A visible mark makes the expectation explicit. It will not stop a determined person, but it removes the excuse that nobody said it was private.
Read the guideIdentifying who received which copy
A recipient's name in the footer means a leaked copy points somewhere. Knowing that is often enough on its own.
Read the guideMarking a specimen or sample
Templates, sample reports and specimen certificates need to be unusable as the real thing while still readable as an example.
Read the guide
How this compares
| FileCrisp | Typical web tool | Acrobat Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uploads your file | No | Yes | No |
| Tiled option | Yes | Sometimes | Yes |
| Keeps text selectable | Yes | Usually | Yes |
| Free limit | None | Daily task cap | Subscription |
| Works offline | After first use | No | Yes |
Questions
Is a watermark the same as protecting a PDF?
No, and the difference matters. A watermark is a visible mark sitting in the page content — anyone with a PDF editor can take it out. It deters casual sharing and identifies a copy; it does not secure the document or stop it being read.
Can the watermark be removed?
By someone who wants to and knows how, yes. That is true of every visible watermark in every tool, including paid ones. What it buys you is friction and attribution, not security.
Will it cover up my text?
Not at a sensible strength. It is drawn semi-transparent over the page, capped at 40% so the document stays readable. 15% is unmistakable without getting in the way.
Does watermarking reduce quality?
No. The mark is drawn on top of the existing pages rather than the document being rebuilt, so text underneath stays selectable, images are untouched, and the file grows only by an embedded font.
Which placement should I choose?
Diagonal for a warning — it is the convention and the hardest to crop out. Tiled when someone might screenshot a fragment. A footer line when you want attribution rather than a warning.
Does the mark scale to different page sizes?
Yes. The diagonal mark is sized from each page's own dimensions, so a mixed document of A4 and larger pages gets a proportionally consistent mark rather than one that is lost on some pages and overflowing on others.
Can I watermark only some pages?
Not in this tool — every page is marked, which is what a warning needs to be worth anything. To mark a section only, split the document first, watermark that piece, then merge it back.
Are my documents uploaded?
No. The PDF is read from your device, drawn on in your browser's memory, and written back. You can confirm it in the Network tab, or by disconnecting after the page loads.
Can I watermark a password-protected PDF?
Not while it is encrypted. The file is rejected with a clear message rather than producing something broken. Remove the protection in the application that applied it first.
Is it really free?
Yes — no account, no daily cap, and no watermark of ours added to your document, which is a trick some free watermark tools genuinely pull.
If something looks wrong
- The watermark is too faint to see
- Raise the strength. On a dense page a mark at 5% can disappear into the text; 15% to 25% is usually the readable range.
- It makes the document hard to read
- Lower the strength, or switch from tiled to diagonal. Tiling puts far more ink on the page, so it needs a lighter setting than a single mark does.
- The text runs off the edge of the page
- Very long text is scaled to fit the page diagonal, so it becomes small rather than overflowing. If it has become too small to read, use fewer words — a watermark is a label, not a sentence.
- The file was rejected as encrypted
- A password-protected PDF cannot be modified until the protection is removed, and that has to be done in the application that applied it.