Watermark Your ID Before You Send a Copy of It
Gizke Team · Published · Reading time: 1 minute
Open the watermark tool, drop in the scan or photo of your ID, type who the copy is for and why, choose the tiled position and download. A copy that reads "For Lakeside Lettings, rental application, 19 Oct 2026" across the whole page is useless for opening a bank account somewhere else.
Why bother
Copies of IDs get emailed, printed, stored in shared folders and forgotten. When a company's files leak, a clean copy of your passport is exactly what a fraudster wants: it's enough to pass many online identity checks or to open accounts in your name.
A watermark doesn't stop someone reading the document. It ties the copy to one recipient and one purpose, which makes reuse obvious and much harder. It's common enough that France's government runs its own free tool for it, FiligraneFacile.
What to write
Good watermark text answers three questions:
- Who gets it: the company or person.
- What for: "rental application", "hotel check-in", "job onboarding".
- When: the date you send it.
Example: "Copy for Hotel Arcadia check-in only - 19.10.2026". Short enough to repeat a few times across the page.
Settings that work
- Tiled, not a single corner mark. A corner can be cropped off in seconds.
- Opacity 30-40%. Strong enough to survive a screenshot, light enough that the details stay readable.
- A slight rotation, around 30 degrees, so the text crosses the photo and the important lines rather than sitting between them.
- Grey or a dark blue on a light document. Pure black hides details; white disappears on pale backgrounds.
The tool handles a photo or a whole PDF, and applies the same watermark to every page.
Two extra checks
If you took the photo with your phone, it may also carry your location. Run it through the metadata cleaner before you watermark it. And if the recipient doesn't need a field, such as your signature or a personal number, cover it with Redact PDF so the text underneath is removed, not just hidden.