Watermark PDF

A watermark stamps text such as DRAFT or गोपनीय diagonally across every page of a PDF. It marks a document's status so that a printed or forwarded copy carries its context with it. Choose the text and how strong it should appear, and the stamp is sized automatically to fit the page diagonal, so a long phrase comes out smaller rather than running off the edge. Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam work as well as English — the right font is fetched and embedded only if your text needs it. It is a label rather than a lock: the words underneath stay exactly where they were and remain selectable, so a watermark is a way of telling an honest reader what they are holding. Everything happens in your browser, so the document is never uploaded.

How to use it

1. Add the PDF you want to mark.
2. Type the watermark text and pick how visible it should be.
3. Apply, then download the stamped file.
4. Keep the text short — up to 60 characters — and remember every page gets the same stamp.

Examples

• Stamp DRAFT across a proposal before circulating it for comments.
• Mark a scanned ID copy with the purpose it was issued for.
• Stamp गोपनीय or ਗੁਪਤ instead — Indian scripts are stamped the same way, and only the letters you actually used are stored in the file.
• A short word like DRAFT is drawn large; a long phrase is scaled down automatically so it still fits inside the page diagonal.
• A 12-page document comes back with all 12 pages stamped, and the result note confirms the count.

Frequently asked questions

Can the watermark be removed later?

Yes, by anyone who wants to badly enough. The text is drawn into the page content rather than added as a removable layer, so no reader offers a one-click remove — but it is still ordinary page content, and a PDF editor can take it out in about the time it took to put in. More to the point, the stamp sits on top and hides nothing: the original text underneath is untouched and still copies out cleanly, and a screenshot defeats it for anyone unwilling to open an editor. A watermark deters casual reuse and labels a document's status. It is not a security control, and no tool that draws one is.

Will the watermark cover my text?

It sits on top of the page, so choose Light for documents that must stay easy to read. Medium suits most review copies, and Strong is best when the marking matters more than perfect legibility.

Can I watermark only some pages?

Not yet — the stamp is applied to every page. To mark a subset, split those pages out first, watermark them, then merge the document back together. Per-page selection is on the roadmap.

Are my files uploaded?

No. The PDF is opened, stamped, and saved entirely inside your browser, which matters because the documents people watermark are usually the confidential ones.

Does a watermark stop someone copying or printing my PDF?

No. Nothing here changes what a reader may do with the file — copying, printing, editing and text extraction all work exactly as before, because the only change is some grey text drawn over each page. Restricting those actions needs a password and permission flags written into the document, which is a different job and one this tool does not do. Even then, permission flags are advisory: readers are expected to honour them, and not all of them do.

Can I use Hindi or another non-Latin script?

Yes, for ten languages. Devanagari (Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit), Gurmukhi (Punjabi), Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam are all stamped properly, with the letters joined the way the script requires — गोपनीय comes out as गोपनीय, not as loose letters. The font for your script is downloaded the first time you use it and only the characters you actually typed are stored inside the PDF, so a Hindi watermark adds about 4 KB to the file. English typed on the same line keeps the built-in font, so a mixed stamp comes out in two typefaces on one baseline. One difference to expect: Latin watermarks are drawn in a bold face and Indian scripts in a regular one, because we ship a single weight per script — the stamp reads a little lighter, so pick Strong if you want the same presence. Bengali, Assamese and Odia are not supported yet: the shaping engine that runs in the browser joins their letters wrongly, and a watermark that looks like words but reads as nonsense is worse than an error. Arabic, Urdu, Persian and Hebrew are refused because they run right to left and this tool draws left to right — it would reverse your words rather than fail. Chinese, Japanese and Korean are out because their fonts run to 5–20 MB. In every unsupported case the tool says which script it is and why, rather than blaming your file.

What should the watermark actually say?

Something that answers the question a stray copy raises. DRAFT and CONFIDENTIAL are the defaults, but on a document that will circulate, a stamp naming the purpose and the date is far more useful: 'For loan application only — August 2026' across a scanned ID tells whoever finds it later what it was for and that it is now stale. That is the honest use of a watermark. It does not prevent misuse; it makes misuse harder to pass off as innocent.