Watermark every page with who's reading it

How dynamic watermarking works

1. Upload your PDF (or a Word, PowerPoint or Excel file, which becomes a PDF).
2. In its settings, turn on Add a watermark with each viewer's details and choose the text, for example {email} · {date} or {name} · {company}.
3. Send each person their own link, or turn on the email gate so visitors give their email before it opens.

When someone opens the link, Linkjar stamps a copy of the PDF for that person on our server and sends only that copy to their browser. The original file is never sent to viewers while the watermark is on, and one person's link can't load another person's copy.

What you can put in the watermark

• {email} and {name}: who the link is for, or who passed the email gate
• {company}: the domain of their email, such as acme.com
• {date} and {time}: when they opened it
• {ip}: their network, partly hidden (203.0.113.x)

Choose light or stronger text. A small "Shared with…" line also goes at the foot of each page.

When to use a watermark

• Fundraising decks. Investors forward decks to partners. A watermark makes it clear whose copy is going round, and the link still shows you each new reader.
• Pricing sheets and proposals. Discourage a prospect from passing your pricing to a competitor.
• Data rooms. Put financials, the cap table and contracts in a room behind the email gate, with every page stamped.
• Board decks and internal reports that should stay with the people they were sent to.

What a watermark can and can't do

A watermark deters casual leaks and makes the ones that happen traceable. It is drawn into each page rather than floating on top, so it survives printing and downloading and is far harder to remove than an overlay. It can't stop someone photographing a screen or retyping a page. For the most sensitive material, combine it with the email gate, company-only access, an expiry date, and downloads turned off.

Questions

What is a dynamic watermark?

A watermark that changes for each reader. Instead of the same "Confidential" stamp on every copy, each person sees their own email (or name, company, date and time) across every page, so a screenshot or forwarded file shows who it came from.

How does Linkjar know who is reading?

From the link. Send each person their own link, or turn on the email gate so visitors give their email before the document opens. Without either, the watermark says "Confidential" with the date.

Is the watermark in the downloaded and printed copy too?

Yes. The PDF is stamped on our server before it reaches the browser, so the viewer, printouts and downloads all carry the same watermark. The original file is never sent to viewers while the watermark is on.

Can someone remove the watermark?

It is drawn into each page rather than floating on top, which makes it much harder to strip than an overlay. No watermark stops a determined person from retyping a document or photographing a screen, but it makes leaks traceable and discourages casual forwarding.

Do links and form fields still work?

Yes. Links, fillable fields and signatures keep working on a watermarked PDF.

Which plan includes watermarks?

Dynamic watermarks are on the Pro plan, alongside the email gate and page-by-page analytics.

Related: document tracking, password-protected PDF links and sending a link instead of an attachment.