How to Add a Watermark to PDF Online Free

Need to mark a document as draft, confidential, or add your company branding? Papr lets you add text or image watermarks to any PDF — all processing happens locally in your browser for complete privacy.

Why Add Watermarks with Papr?

Watermarks help protect your documents, indicate their status, and add branding. Unlike other tools that require uploads to external servers, Papr processes everything on your device — ideal for sensitive documents that need watermarking.

Complete Privacy: Confidential documents stay on your device
Flexible Options: Text or image watermarks
Full Customization: Control size, position, opacity, and rotation
No Cost: Free to use on most documents; very large files depend on browser limits

Step-by-Step: Adding a Watermark

Step 1: Open Your PDF

Launch the Papr editor and load your PDF by clicking the "Open file" button in the top toolbar or dragging the file onto the page.

Papr editor toolbar with the Open file button highlighted

Step 2: Open the Watermark Editor

In the top toolbar, open the Pages dropdown and select Organize Pages. Then open the Page Marks tab and choose Watermark.

Pages dropdown showing Organize Pages option highlighted

Page Marks tab with Watermark option selected

Step 3: Choose or Create Your Watermark

You have several options:

Text watermark: Enter your own text with custom size, opacity, and rotation
Image watermark: Upload a logo or custom graphic

Watermark panel showing text and image watermark options

Step 4: Position and Style

Use the placement options in the Watermark tab to position your watermark. Adjust the position, size, rotation, and opacity settings. For a classic watermark effect, use diagonal text at low opacity across the center of the page.

Step 5: Apply to Multiple Pages (Optional)

Click Apply Watermark in the watermark panel to apply it. For a single page, you can also use a Stamp instead of a full-page watermark (Insert > Stamp).

Apply Watermark button highlighted in the watermark panel

Step 6: Save Your Watermarked PDF

Click Apply in the Organize Pages modal, then use Export in the top toolbar to save your watermarked document. The watermark becomes embedded in the PDF.

Apply button in Organize Pages modal highlighted

Tips for Effective Watermarks

Use appropriate opacity: 10-30% opacity for watermarks that shouldn't distract from content; higher opacity for stamps meant to be noticed.
Consider placement: Center diagonal watermarks are hardest to remove; corner stamps are less intrusive but also easier to crop out.
Match your purpose: Use red for warnings (CONFIDENTIAL), gray for status (DRAFT), or brand colors for logos.
Test readability: Make sure the underlying document is still clearly readable after adding the watermark.

Types of Watermarks

Different watermarks serve different purposes:

Status indicators: DRAFT, PENDING, APPROVED, FINAL
Security labels: CONFIDENTIAL, INTERNAL ONLY, DO NOT COPY
Ownership marks: Company logos, copyright notices
Version control: Dates, version numbers, review copy indicators

Common Use Cases

Marking draft documents to prevent premature distribution
Adding confidentiality notices to sensitive materials
Branding PDFs with your company logo
Protecting photos and creative work with copyright watermarks
Indicating document approval status in workflows
Adding "SAMPLE" or "SPECIMEN" to example documents

Ready to Add a Watermark?

Try adding watermarks now with Papr. It's free and your files stay private.

Open Papr Editor