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How do I cover a whole PDF page with a repeating diagonal watermark like stock photo sites?

Choose Tiled repeat as the placement, keep the angle at 45, and set the distance between copies in millimetres. The tool lays the mark out in rows and columns in a brick pattern, with every other row shifted by half a step, so the page is covered without regular gaps. How many copies you get depends on the text size and the gap, and the result line tells you after the run.

Published · 3 min read

Why repeat instead of one mark

A single mark in the middle leaves the edges clean, and anyone who wants to reuse the page can crop the empty part or screenshot a corner. A diagonal repeat spreads the mark over the whole page so no large area is left unmarked. That is why stock photo sites use it on previews, and it suits a wholesale price catalog or design proofs you send a client before sign-off just as well.

The settings

  1. Open PDF watermark and choose the file.
  2. Choose Text and type a short word, such as CONFIDENTIAL, SAMPLE or your store name.
  3. Pick Tiled repeat from the placement list. The margin field disappears and Distance between copies (mm) appears.
  4. Keep the angle at 45 for the usual diagonal look, or type a negative number such as -45 to slant the other way.
  5. Lower the opacity to between 15% and 25%, because many copies make the page darker than one mark at the same opacity.
  6. Press Add watermark and check the preview.

How many marks will the page get?

This is what the tool calculated for CONFIDENTIAL in bold on a portrait A4 page at 45 degrees:

  • At 40 points the word is about 291 points wide. With a 10 mm gap: 14 copies. With 20 mm: 8. With 30 mm, the default: 7.
  • At 60 points, the default size, it is about 437 points wide. With 20 mm: 7 copies. With 30 mm: only 5.
  • A shorter word such as SAMPLE at 60 points with a 30 mm gap: 10 copies, since a short word leaves room for more.

So the rule is: for denser coverage, shrink the font or the gap, or pick a shorter word. The result line reports the actual count every time as Marks drawn, which is the total across all selected pages.

What to expect at the edges

Copies near the page edges are drawn even when part of them runs off the page; only copies that fall entirely outside are skipped. That is why you see clipped words at the edges, and it is deliberate so the margins are not left bare. On landscape pages the pattern is worked out on the page's visible size, so they are covered the same way.

Common questions

Can I repeat a logo instead of text?

Yes. Choose Image, upload the logo, then pick Tiled repeat. Each copy's size comes from the image width as a percentage of the page width.

Does tiling make the mark impossible to remove?

No. It only makes removal more tedious; PDF editing software can still delete every copy. A watermark is not protection.