Adding a Watermark to a PDF: Draft, Confidential, and Branding
Use watermarks to signal document status, protect drafts, and reinforce brand without obscuring critical text.
Watermarks communicate state: draft, confidential, sample, or proprietary. They reduce casual misuse because recipients see the status on every page.
Effective watermarks balance visibility with readability. They should not hide numbers or clauses that readers must verify.
Text vs image watermarks
Text watermarks scale cleanly and stay lightweight. Image logos can reinforce brand but may pixelate if over-compressed.
Diagonal placement is common for drafts; header or footer bars work well for version labels like v2.3-review.
Legal and practical limits
Watermarks are not encryption. Someone with intent can still screenshot or attempt edits. Combine with access controls for truly sensitive material.
When documents later become final, produce a non-watermarked export from the source file rather than trying to erase watermarks from rasterized pages.