Add Watermark to PDF — Plus Bates Numbers, Headers & Footers

Add page numbers, Bates numbering, watermarks, headers/footers, and edit or strip metadata — entirely on-device.

PDF Stamp draws page numbers, Bates numbers, watermarks, and header or footer text using one shared eight-position anchor system, so bottom-right means the exact same corner whether you're placing a Bates stamp or a footer line. It also carries its own metadata editor, letting you rewrite or fully strip a document's Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords in the same pass as everything else you're stamping.

How to add a watermark to a PDF

  1. Drop the PDF onto the Load PDF zone; a live preview of the stamped pages appears and refreshes as you change settings.
  2. Untick Page numbers if you don't want them, since that panel starts switched on, then tick Enabled in the Watermark panel.
  3. Choose Text and type your wording (DRAFT is prefilled, with a font size from 8 to 200 pt), or choose Image and pick a PNG or JPEG logo.
  4. Set opacity between 5% and 100% and rotation between −90° and 90°, where 45° gives the classic diagonal, and tick Tiled to repeat the mark across the page.
  5. Click Export PDF and download the copy; the watermark is drawn on every page of the document.

How to add Bates numbers

  1. Load the PDF, tick Enabled in the Bates numbering panel, and untick Page numbers if the Bates label is the only mark you need.
  2. Type a prefix such as a matter or client code, set the start number, and choose a zero-pad width from 1 to 12 digits.
  3. Pick one of the eight positions — the four corners, the top or bottom centre, or the middle of the left or right edge.
  4. Check the example line under the fields (ACME000001 with the defaults), then export; a counter that outgrows its width gains a digit instead of being cut off.

What Bates numbering is and who uses it

Bates numbering gives every page in a set of documents its own sequential identifier, usually a short prefix followed by a padded counter, so a reviewer can cite page ACME000417 and everyone else lands on the same sheet. Law firms stamp discovery productions and trial exhibits this way, and medical-records teams, auditors and insurers use the same scheme to keep track of pages in large case files.

Those files are often privileged or confidential, which is why stamping them inside your own browser tab matters: no third-party service ends up holding a copy you'd later need to account for. Each export starts from the number you enter, so to continue a sequence into a second file, set its start number one past the last label of the first.

Eight anchors, four different stamp types

Every position you can pick — the four corners plus the midpoint of each edge — maps to the same underlying coordinate function, given a fixed 24-point margin from the page edge and the actual measured width and height of whatever text or image you're placing there. That shared math is why a page number anchored bottom-right and a Bates stamp anchored bottom-right land in exactly the same spot relative to the page, and why header text, always anchored to the top, and footer text, always anchored to the bottom, only ever need a left, center, or right choice rather than their own separate positioning system.

Page numbers and Bates numbering

A page-number format string accepts tokens for the current page and the total page count, replaced per page with that page's own number, offset by whatever starting number you set, and the document's total page count — so a format like page-of-total becomes an actual running count across the export. Bates numbering pairs a fixed prefix with a zero-padded sequential counter; if the counter ever grows past the digit width you configured, it widens rather than getting silently truncated, since a truncated Bates number would defeat the entire point of using one for document identification.

When page numbers are the only thing you need, the separate PDF Page Numbers tool drives this same engine with a page-range field and ready-made wordings, including Roman numerals.

Watermarks: centered once, or tiled to cover the page

A single watermark, text or an uploaded image, is centered on the page at whatever rotation angle and opacity you set, drawn in a standard PDF font when it's text. Turning on tiling repeats that same watermark in a grid that starts before the page's left and top edges and ends past its right and bottom edges, specifically so a rotated tile pattern never leaves a visible gap in a corner where the grid's edge would otherwise show through.

An image watermark is scaled so its longer side spans half of the page's shorter side, keeping a logo the same relative size on letter, A4 and landscape pages alike.

Editing metadata versus stripping it entirely

The same panel that edits Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords also offers a full strip mode, and that strip mode clears Creator as well — a wider wipe than PDF Compressor's own automatic metadata cleanup, which deliberately leaves Title and Author alone as user-meaningful. Use Stamp's strip mode specifically when you want every trace of who authored or edited a document gone, not just the bulky, auto-generated parts; for metadata work with nothing to stamp, including cleaning EXIF from JPEG photos, Metadata Editor is the dedicated tool.

Stamping is free for documents up to 300 pages long, and Pro stamps documents of any length.

Things stamping won't catch for you

Questions people ask about PDF Stamp

What is Bates numbering?
It's a page-identification convention from legal practice: every page receives a unique, ever-increasing label made of a prefix and a zero-padded counter, printed in the same spot throughout. Lawyers and reviewers use those labels to refer to one exact page among thousands without ambiguity.
Can I use an image or logo as a watermark?
Yes. Switch the watermark type to Image and choose a PNG or JPEG file. The logo is scaled relative to the page, placed in the centre or tiled across it, and accepts the same opacity and rotation settings as a text watermark.
Does a watermark stop people copying my PDF?
No. A watermark is a visible mark drawn onto the page, not a lock, so anyone can still open, print, copy text from or crop the file. It discourages reuse and shows where a copy came from; to require a password, use Protect PDF, and to make content unreadable, redact it.
Can I choose the starting Bates number and prefix?
Yes, both. The prefix is free text and the start number accepts any whole number from zero upward, so a second production can pick up where the first ended. The zero-pad width is adjustable too, anywhere from 1 to 12 digits.
How do I make sure my page number and header line up?
Anchor them both using the same shared position — bottom-center for a page number and, separately, choosing footer alignment for the header or footer text — and the fixed margin and measured text width behind both controls will place them at matching, predictable distances from the page edge.
What happens if my Bates number goes past the digits I set?
It widens instead of truncating. If you configured six digits starting at one and reach page one million, the counter simply becomes a seven-digit number rather than wrapping or cutting off — a truncated Bates number would break the exact document-identification purpose Bates numbering exists for.
Can I use my own custom font for a watermark?
No — text watermarks and other text stamps are drawn with a single built-in standard font, not a font you upload or one pulled from the underlying document, so the visual style of stamped text is fixed regardless of the document's own typography.
Does stripping metadata also remove visible content or annotations?
No. The metadata strip mode only clears document-level fields like Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, and Creator; it doesn't touch anything visible on the page itself, so redacting sensitive text or images shown in the document needs PII Redactor instead.

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Content reviewed 2026-09-27.