If you are reading this post, you probably use PDFs to read and edit documents. But, did you know for a variety of reasons it is always advisable to add a watermark? In this post, we’ll broadly touch upon two things –
(i) Why is it important to watermark your PDF documents and (ii) How to add watermark to your PDF files? So, first thing first –
What is a Watermark?
A watermark is a text, image, or pattern which helps you make your PDF identifiable and prevents it from unauthorized use.
Why Is It Important To Watermark PDFs?
- Great for copyrighting documents: A watermark on your PDF enforces that you are the PDF owner and no one will be able to steal it from you.
- Big visibility: Not saying that you have to put a watermark that hides your main content, but even a transparent watermark is still visible. For instance, you can put a watermark like “For legal purposes only, should not be used otherwise”.
- Branding/ Exclusivity: If you frequently send PDFs that include content pieces like newsletters, worksheets/ test papers, forms, etc, you can put your organization’s name as a watermark. This way your brand can get exposure.
- Authenticity of information: Let’s assume you are working at a bank or legal firm or any other organization where the status of documents matters a lot. Here a watermark can reinstate the status of a document – e.g. work in progress, for internal use only, approved, needs rechecking, etc.
How To Add Watermark To PDF?
You can either use an online platform (mostly free) or use third-party software to add watermarks to your PDFs. The latter option is advisable if you intend to add watermarks to several batches of PDFs on a regular basis, especially for commercial purposes.
1. Use an Online Platform To Add a Watermark to your PDF
There are several online platforms that let you watermark your PDF files. iLovePDF is one such platform. Here we have enlisted the steps using which you can watermark your PDF using this online platform –
- Visit iLovePDF
- Click on the Select PDF file button to add PDF files located on your computer. You can also add PDF files from Google Drive and Dropbox as well. You can even choose to drag and drop PDF files as well.
- On the next screen, on the right-hand side, you can see several options for adding a watermark. You can add text and images, change their position on the PDF and change the transparency level as well. Not just that, you can choose the page range on which you want the watermark to appear.
- Once you have selected all such options, click on the Add Watermark button.
2. Use A Third-Party PDF Editor Software To Add Watermark
As we said before if you are someone who regularly has to watermark PDFs for commercial purposes, you can invest in PDF editor software. Let’s take Wondershare PDFelement for example. Here is how you can watermark your PDFs using this tool –
- Download, install and run PDFelement.
- Click on the Open PDF button to add the PDF on which you want to add the watermark.
- Click on the Edit tab and then click on the Watermark.
- Again you can tweak the transparency settings, add an image as a watermark, change the rotation (in degrees), and many other such settings.
- Finally, click on the Save icon to save the file.
How To Add Watermark To A Batch of PDFs
- Click on Batch Process on the home screen.
- Click on the Watermark button.
- Select the files by either clicking on the Add Files button or dragging and dropping the files on which you want to add a watermark.
- Click on the Add Watermark button and then click on the template button.
- Once you have applied the settings you desire, click on the Apply button.
What Is Advanced PDF Manager?
Additional Tip
Let’s assume that after having watermarked your PDFs you intend to perform the following tasks –
- Add/ remove pages
- Reorder pages
- Change their orientation
- Further protect your PDFs using a password
If such tasks are on your mind, a PDF management tool Advanced PDF Manager will best suit your needs. By merely looking at the interface, you can ascertain how easy it is to manage PDFs using this tool.
It is a simple PDF management tool that can let you merge, split, protect, rotate and do other PDF management tasks. We have covered a comprehensive review of this tool where we have touched upon its features, pricing, and several other aspects in greater detail.
Found This Post Helpful?
If we have been able to help you with watermarking your PDFs and even managing them, do let us know in the comments section below. We’d also urge you to share this post with someone who might be searching for ways to watermark PDFs. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Flipboard, and Pinterest.
