How to Add a Watermark to a PDF for Free

A watermark marks a document as a draft, flags it confidential, or ties a copy to a specific recipient. Here's how to add one to a PDF for free, with full control over how it looks — and without uploading your file.

Common watermark uses

Typical stamps are 'DRAFT' on work in progress, 'CONFIDENTIAL' on sensitive documents, 'COPY' or 'SAMPLE' on duplicates, or your own name/email diagonally across pages you're sharing so they can't be passed off as blank originals.

Add your watermark in 3 steps

1. 1Open the Watermark PDF tool and add your PDF.
2. 2Type your watermark text, then adjust the opacity, angle, size and colour — the preview updates live as you change them.
3. 3Drag the watermark to the exact position you want on the page, then download the watermarked PDF.

Free and on-device

The watermark is applied in your browser, so your document is never uploaded. It's completely free with no watermark-on-your-watermark and no signup.