All guides · Privacy & security
How to watermark a copy of your ID before you send it
Short answer
- Writing the recipient, the purpose and the date across a copy makes it harder to reuse elsewhere if it leaks, and shows where it came from.
- For a photo of your ID, Watermark Image merges the text into the photo’s pixels. Turn it into a PDF afterwards if needed.
- Do not cover the name, number or face completely or the recipient may reject it. Keep the opacity low, around 20–40%; in FileLivo a lower opacity is fainter.
Why watermark a copy?
Once you send a copy of your passport or a bank statement, you cannot take it back. It may sit in someone’s inbox or shared drive for years, and if it leaks it can be used to open accounts or impersonate you. A line such as “For ABC Lettings tenancy check only” makes that copy much harder to pass off somewhere else. A watermark does not stop a leak, but it is a simple way to lower the copy’s value for reuse and record where it was sent.
What to write
| Include | Example | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient | ABC Lettings / XYZ Ltd HR | Shows exactly who received this copy |
| Purpose | Tenancy check / Employment onboarding | Any other use stands out |
| Date | 2026-10-15 | Makes an old copy obviously out of date |
| Restriction | Not valid for any other use | Tells the recipient the limits |
For example: “ABC Lettings tenancy check 2026-10-15, not valid for other use”. Keep it to one line; a long phrase has to shrink until it is hard to read.
Photo or PDF?
- Photo (Watermark Image): the text is drawn into the image and saved as a new picture, not kept as a separate layer. If you photographed your ID with a phone, start here.
- PDF (Watermark PDF): text or an image is added on top of the existing pages. You can choose which pages get it, but because it sits as a separate layer, PDF editing software may be able to remove it.
- If you have to send a photo copy as a PDF, watermark the photo first and then make the PDF with Image to PDF. That is the hardest version to clean up.
Watermarking a photo of your ID
- If needed, use Crop Image to cut away the desk and keep only the document.
- Open the photo in Watermark Image. The Text field starts with “FileLivo”, so delete it and type your own wording.
- Adjust the position, font size, opacity and rotation. To cover the whole copy, tick Repeat pattern and set an angle such as -30.
- Check in the preview that the name, number and photo are still readable, then click Process files and download. The same settings apply to every selected image, so you can do the front and back together.
Watermarking a copy that is already a PDF
In Watermark PDF, choose Text and enter your wording (up to 100 characters), then set the font size (8–160), colour, opacity, rotation and position. Repeat pattern places the watermark 3×4 across each page, and Specific pages lets you limit it to pages such as 1-3,5. Check the actual placement preview before you download.
Things to watch
- Some organisations require an unmarked original or will compare your copy with the original. If you are worried about rejection, ask first.
- Hiding part of a number is a different task from watermarking, and FileLivo has no redaction tool. If the recipient allows it, cover that part with paper when you take the photo.
- Watermarking a digitally signed PDF can invalidate the signature. Send issued electronic documents as they are.
- Photos can carry the location where they were taken. See how to remove photo location data, and consider a PDF password if you are sending the file by email.