Put a CONFIDENTIAL watermark on a PDF, or a DRAFT one
Upload the PDF, choose CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, COPY or VOID, and every page comes back marked at the angle and strength you set.
Drop your PDF, Word or Excel file here
It is read in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to make.
Put a CONFIDENTIAL watermark on a PDF, or a DRAFT one templates, ready to edit
Open the stamp maker with any of these
Every preview on this page carries a faint Estamplab watermark. Your own download does not: the editor renders your stamp again, clean, as a transparent PNG, an SVG or a PDF. See the full template library.
These four words do most of the work in document control, and each one is a different instruction. CONFIDENTIAL says do not forward this. DRAFT says do not act on this. COPY says this is not the one on file. VOID says this one is dead. Sending a document without the right one is how a draft gets treated as final, and that mistake is expensive in a way the watermark never is.
What you get
- CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, COPY, VOID, SAMPLE and ORIGINAL ready to pick, or type your own.
- A client name or matter reference works as a watermark too, and is harder to strip from a leaked copy than a generic word.
- Every page marked in one action, because a draft with page one marked is a draft nobody trusts.
- Red for VOID and CONFIDENTIAL, grey for DRAFT, whichever your office already uses.
- The strength control keeps it readable without swallowing the page.
- Works on the PDF your system exported and on a scan, because it is drawn onto the page rather than into the text.
How to make it
- Open the tool and drop your PDF, Word or Excel file onto the page.
- Pick a stamp from your library, or design one in the pop-up designer.
- Click the page where the stamp goes, then drag it or resize it from the corner.
- Download the stamped copy. Your original file is never modified.
Questions
What is a paid and cancelled stamp?
A pair used together on settled invoices and on cheques: PAID records that the money moved, and CANCELLED records that the instrument itself is spent and must not be presented again. A paid and cancelled stamp example: an invoice marked PAID with the date beside it, and the cheque stub marked CANCELLED, which is what stops the same invoice being paid twice. Both are ordinary marks to make, and both are worth dating.
Which word should I use?
The word is the whole message, so it is worth picking deliberately. A DRAFT watermark says the content is not final. A COPY watermark says it is final but this is not the filed original. A VOID watermark stops anybody acting on the document at all, and belongs in red. A SAMPLE watermark is for something shown as an example rather than issued. An ORIGINAL watermark stamp marks the one authoritative copy in a set. A DO NOT COPY watermark is an instruction rather than a status, and works best alongside a recipient name. PAID and APPROVED are really stamps rather than watermarks: a PAID watermark stamp across every page of an invoice reads as decoration, while a PAID stamp beside the total reads as a record, and an APPROVED watermark has the same problem. Put a status across the page and an action beside the thing it acted on.
What is the difference between DRAFT and COPY?
DRAFT means the content is not final. COPY means the content is final but this is not the authoritative version, the original is filed somewhere. Marking a final document DRAFT stalls it; marking a draft COPY implies it can be relied on. They are not interchangeable.
Should VOID be red?
Almost always. VOID exists to stop somebody acting on a document, and it has to survive being glanced at, photocopied and faxed. Red at a steep angle across the page is the convention because it works under all three.
Can I watermark with a client name?
Yes, and for anything circulated to several parties it is worth more than CONFIDENTIAL. A generic word tells you a leak happened; a recipient name tells you which copy leaked.
Will it print?
Yes. It is part of the page rather than a screen overlay, so it prints, photocopies and scans with the document.
Does a CONFIDENTIAL watermark make a document legally confidential?
No. Confidentiality comes from the agreement or the duty between the parties, not from a word on the page. What the watermark does is remove the excuse: nobody who forwarded it can say they did not know.
How do I put a confidential watermark on a document?
Drop the file in, choose CONFIDENTIAL, set the angle and the strength, and every page comes back marked. It takes about fifteen seconds and it works the same on a PDF, a Word file and an Excel workbook, which matters because the document that most needs marking is rarely the one already in the right format.
Can a watermark be removed from a PDF?
With the right editor and enough determination, yes, and any tool telling you otherwise is selling something. A watermark is a marking rather than an encryption. What it reliably does is make an unmarked copy conspicuous and remove any argument that the recipient did not know the status of the document, which is the job it was actually hired for.
Should the watermark sit behind the text or over it?
Over it, at low strength. Watermark behind the text not over it is the more common instruction and it is the wrong one for a document that will be printed or scanned: behind the content it drops out of a dark scan and disappears in a photocopy. Over the content at 15 percent stays visible on a copy of a copy while the document still reads.
Estamplab is a design tool. This page describes common commercial practice rather than giving legal, tax or financial advice, and practice changes. Where a specific document matters, check the requirement with the body receiving it. Only produce a mark your own organisation or your own credentials are entitled to use.