Watermark PDF: DRAFT, Confidential, and Custom Stamps
A free PDF watermarking tool that runs entirely in your browser. Six one-click presets (DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE, COPY, INTERNAL USE ONLY, DO NOT DISTRIBUTE) plus custom text up to 80 characters. Full control over font, color, opacity (5-100%), rotation (-90 to +90), nine-position grid, and tile mode for full-page coverage. The PDF never leaves your device. No daily task cap like Smallpdf, no 50 MB limit like Sejda, no signup, no Pro upsell.
Drop your PDF here, or click to choose
Watermarking happens in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
🔒 The PDF is watermarked in your browser. Confirm zero uploads in Developer Tools → Network.
Six reasons people choose Gizmoop's watermarker
What separates a browser-side watermarker from competitors that upload your draft.
Six one-click presets
DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE, COPY, INTERNAL USE ONLY, DO NOT DISTRIBUTE. Most tools make you type these; we ship them ready.
Full control: font, color, opacity, rotation
Three pro fonts, full color picker, 5-100% opacity, -90 to +90 rotation. Build any watermark look from minimalist to dominant.
Nine-position grid plus tile mode
Top, middle, bottom rows; left, center, right columns. Tile mode repeats across the whole page for security-paper effect. Single-position or full coverage.
100% browser-based
pdf-lib runs locally. Confidential drafts stay on your device. iLovePDF, Smallpdf, PDF24, and Sejda all upload server-side.
No daily, file size, or page limit
Smallpdf caps free use at 2 tasks/day. Sejda caps at 50 MB and 3 tasks per hour. Gizmoop has no caps.
Preserves text and form fields
The watermark is drawn into the page content but the original text remains selectable and form fields remain functional. The original content is not rasterised.
When you should watermark a PDF
Real workflows where a stamp prevents misuse or signals document status.
Marking documents as DRAFT
Send a contract to a client or reviewer with a clear DRAFT stamp so the version status is unmistakable. Removing the watermark is a deliberate step; the draft status is impossible to miss.
CONFIDENTIAL on internal reports
Mark internal financial reports, M&A drafts, or HR documents with a CONFIDENTIAL stamp before circulating. Combined with the no-upload privacy story, sensitive marking stays on-device.
Sample work and portfolio pieces
Designers, writers, and consultants send sample work for review. A SAMPLE watermark prevents the work from being used without payment.
Photographer and artist proofs
Proof PDFs for client review benefit from a low-opacity diagonal watermark. The client can review but cannot crop and use the proof in finished work.
Marking copies and revisions
When circulating multiple versions of a document, COPY or REV 2 watermarks help recipients distinguish without manually checking metadata or filenames.
Internal use only and distribution control
Documents shared with vendors or contractors benefit from clear "INTERNAL" or "DO NOT DISTRIBUTE" stamps so recipients know the intended scope.
About watermarking PDFs
What watermarks do, what they do not do, and how Gizmoop differs from the alternatives.
What is a PDF watermark?
A watermark is a text or image overlay drawn onto every page of a PDF. The most common use is to signal document status: DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE, COPY. Watermarks are visual reminders for readers; they are not encryption or DRM. A reader can still see all the content (which is usually the point); the watermark just makes it clear that the document is not the final, not for distribution, or carries some other condition.
Watermarks come in a few common variations: diagonal across the page center (the classic look), tiled (repeated across the entire page like security paper), or anchored to a corner. We support all three modes from a single interface.
Quick presets vs. custom text
Six common watermark texts ship as one-click presets: DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE, COPY, INTERNAL USE ONLY, DO NOT DISTRIBUTE. Click any of them to fill the text field. You can still edit before applying (e.g. "DRAFT - REV 3"). For anything beyond the presets, type your own text up to 80 characters. The character limit prevents accidentally-huge text that breaks the visual layout; for most use cases 80 characters is plenty.
Opacity and visibility
The Opacity slider controls how see-through the watermark is. 5-15% is barely visible (useful for soft branding under content). 20-30% is the classic "draft" watermark visibility, clearly visible but not obscuring text. 40-60% is firmly visible without being dominant. 80-100% is dominant and used when you want the watermark to be the first thing the reader notices. Default is 20% which works for most cases.
Rotation and the diagonal stamp look
Most watermarks rotate -30° or -45° for the classic diagonal stamp appearance. Horizontal (0°) is used for header/footer-style watermarks at top or bottom. +90° (vertical, reading up) is used for narrow side watermarks. The slider covers -90 to +90 in 5° increments.
Position and tile mode
Nine standard positions cover almost every layout: top-left, top-center, top-right, middle-left, middle-center, middle-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right. Tile mode overrides the position and repeats the watermark in a grid across the entire page. Tile is useful for security-paper effect where you want the watermark to survive any reasonable cropping.
Why browser-side matters for drafts
Drafts and confidential documents are exactly the files that should not be uploaded to a third-party server. The whole point of marking a document "DRAFT" or "CONFIDENTIAL" is that the version is sensitive. Uploading that sensitive version to a server to add a watermark is somewhat self-defeating. Gizmoop's watermarker runs in your browser, so drafts stay on your device. Open Developer Tools and confirm: no requests carry your file during watermarking.
Can watermarks be removed?
Text watermarks are drawn into the PDF content stream as additional content. A determined user with a PDF editor can extract or paint over them. This is true of every watermark tool, including Adobe Acrobat. For deterrent purposes (reminding the reader that the document is a draft, or that distribution is restricted) watermarks work well. For DRM-level protection, watermarks are not sufficient; combine with password protection (our Protect PDF tool) and limited distribution.
What survives watermarking
The original text remains selectable and searchable. Images stay embedded. Form fields remain interactive. Annotations and bookmarks are preserved. Internal and external hyperlinks continue to work. The watermark is drawn on top as additional content; nothing existing is destroyed or rasterised. Digital signatures invalidate because any modification to a signed PDF breaks the signature (a property of PDF signing, not our tool).
Color and contrast considerations
The color picker accepts any hex color. Red (#dc2626) is the classic CONFIDENTIAL/DRAFT color. Gray (#9ca3af) is more subtle and used for backgrounds. Black or dark gray works well for documents to be printed in B&W. Avoid colors close to the document content color for visibility; avoid colors that disappear in dark-mode readers if recipients use them.
What about image watermarks (logos)?
The current version supports text watermarks only. Image watermarks (logos, signatures) are planned for a future release. As a workaround, you can use creative typography (large fonts in your brand color positioned strategically) or convert a small logo to a Unicode glyph that approximates it.
What about per-page-range watermarks?
The current version watermarks every page with the same watermark. For per-page-range watermarks (e.g. DRAFT only on the body, CONFIDENTIAL only on the appendix), use Split PDF to separate the sections, watermark each section independently, and Merge PDF to recombine. A future version may add native per-range support.
Comparison with iLovePDF, Smallpdf, PDF24, Sejda
iLovePDF /watermark_pdf: text + image watermarks, position, transparency, rotation, mosaic mode, page range. Server upload, 100 MB cap. Smallpdf /add-watermark-to-pdf: similar feature set; capped at 2 tasks/day on free. PDF24 /watermark-pdf: text + image, opacity, rotation, layer over/under, position grid. Server upload, no quota but still uploads. Sejda: text + image, opacity, rotation; capped at 50 MB / 200 pages / 3 tasks per hour. Gizmoop: text watermarks (image on roadmap), all the standard controls, no upload, no caps, six presets ready, free.
Print considerations
Watermarks at 20% opacity print fine on most laser and inkjet printers but can disappear in poor-quality printing (toner-low, draft mode). For documents intended to be printed and photocopied, use 40-60% opacity to ensure the watermark survives the print-scan-reprint chain. For documents intended for screen viewing only, 15-25% is the better aesthetic.
Combining with other tools
Common watermark workflows include other steps. Watermark first, then add page numbers (our Add Page Numbers tool). Watermark first, then compress for email (our Compress PDF tool; but compression rasterises, so combine carefully). Watermark first, then password-protect (our Protect PDF tool) to limit distribution. Every step runs in your browser without uploading.
Frequently asked questions
If you don't find your question here, ask us directly.
Drop your PDF, pick a quick preset (DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE) or type custom text, choose font/size/color/opacity/rotation, pick a position (or tile mode), and click Add watermark. Download the watermarked PDF. Everything runs in your browser.
Six common watermark texts: DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE, COPY, INTERNAL USE ONLY, DO NOT DISTRIBUTE. Click any preset and the text fills in. You can still edit it before applying. Most tools make you type these; we ship them as one-click presets.
Yes. Use the Opacity slider to set anywhere from 5% to 100%. 15-25% gives a soft visible watermark that does not obscure text. 40-60% is firmly visible. 80-100% is dominant.
Yes. The rotation slider covers -90° to +90°. Common choices: -30° or -45° for a classic diagonal stamp, 0° for horizontal text, +90° for vertical. The preview text in your browser updates when you apply.
Tile mode repeats the watermark across the entire page in a grid pattern. Useful for stronger document marking where a single watermark could be missed or cropped out of a screenshot. Combined with low opacity and small font, it creates a security-paper effect.
Text watermarks are drawn on top of the page content. A determined user with a PDF editor can extract or paint over them; this is true of every watermark tool. For weak deterrent purposes (signaling "draft" or "confidential"), watermarks work well. For DRM-level protection, watermarks are not sufficient; combine with password protection and limited distribution.
Yes. The watermark is drawn into the PDF content stream, so it prints exactly as it appears on screen. For documents intended to be photocopied or printed and re-scanned, opaque watermarks at lower rotation often survive better than diagonal ones.
No. Watermarking uses pdf-lib running in your browser. Confidential drafts stay on your device. iLovePDF, Smallpdf, PDF24, and Sejda all upload to their servers.
The current version watermarks every page. For per-page-range watermarks (e.g. only the cover page, or only the body), run the tool multiple times on different sections, or use Split PDF to separate the parts, watermark them individually, and Merge PDF to recombine. A future version may add native per-page-range support.
The current version supports text watermarks only. Image watermarks (logos, signatures) are on the roadmap. For now, if you have a logo, render it as text using a creative font or convert the logo to text characters that approximate it.
No. Smallpdf caps free use at 2 tasks/day. Sejda caps at 50 MB and 3 tasks per hour. Gizmoop has no caps because the file never leaves your browser.
The tool cannot modify encrypted PDFs directly. Use our Unlock PDF tool first (you must know the password) to remove encryption locally, then watermark, then optionally re-protect with our Protect PDF tool.
Over content draws the watermark on top of the page; it is always visible. Under content draws it beneath, so darker page content (text, images) covers it. Under is sometimes used for soft branding visible only in white areas. Our current implementation defaults to over-content; use low opacity for an "under-looking" effect.
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