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Watermark PDFs

Stamp a watermark onto every page of a PDF with the watermark directive — as text or an image.

Text watermark

watermark "report.pdf" "CONFIDENTIAL" > "report-wm.pdf"

The text is drawn in light gray, rotated ~45° across each page and rendered semi-transparently so the page content stays readable.

Image watermark

Add the image keyword before the path to stamp a logo/picture instead:

watermark "report.pdf" image "logo.png" > "report-wm.pdf"

The image is centered, scaled to about 40% of the page width (aspect ratio preserved) and drawn semi-transparently. PNG and JPEG are supported.

Multiple watermarks

You can declare more than one watermark line; each runs independently:

watermark "a.pdf" "DRAFT"        > "a-wm.pdf"
watermark "b.pdf" image "seal.png" > "b-wm.pdf"

When it runs

watermark runs after downloads and the other PDF steps (merge, split, rotate), so a freshly produced PDF can be stamped:

path "downloads/"

downloads {
    https://arxiv.org/pdf/2203.08877 as "paper.pdf"
}

watermark "downloads/paper.pdf" "PREPRINT" > "downloads/paper-wm.pdf"

Notes

  • Paths are resolved relative to the directory you run Scimon from.
  • The watermark is applied to every page.
  • The source PDF is left untouched; the result is written to the output path.
  • Text uses the built-in Helvetica font (no embedding needed).
  • An unreadable input or image reports an error, and the rest of the list keeps going.