While the PDF can be a reliable tool in regenerating your information faithfully, there is just no way you can ascertain the proper use of your PDF documents. Within information management processes that work with vital information, it can sometimes be difficult to ensure that the PDF files you create and pass around don’t get distorted.

Just as there are different levels of security for important documents such as passports, pieces of identity, and monetary objects, the content within a PDF is also treated with the same importance. The major concerns for the PDF, however, is security against alteration and misuse.

PDF Security and the Watermark: Some Things to Consider

As the PDF format is widely used at high levels of authority, it can contain material that is classified as confidential. Yet, the PDF is also used at a much more general and commercial level to the point where the format is used for on-line viewing and public access.

Thus, PDF security measures exist in a wide range of options. Some users may set maximum security settings while others may only prohibit copying and pasting.

Yet, what about the actual viewing of the PDF contents? How do you distinguish for the user one highly sensitive document from another that isn’t?

Your PDF documents may be secured with viewing restrictions and printing, but what about visually? Those security settings aren’t physically seen at first unless the user checks the security settings.

More importantly, how do you retain that distinction within hard copies? Once those documents get printed, you need some way of classifying the security and distinction which that document contains.

In all cases, adding a watermark to the PDF document can resolve the issue.

Branding a PDF with a Watermark

The benefits of branding your PDFs with a watermark can act as good control measure for categorization. Watermark printed reports, leave forms and manifests for departmental identification or the level of confidentiality when it comes time for those forms to be submitted.

If you think about it, watermarks also provide a good first step in protecting your intellectual property. Of course, you can set your PDF settings to restrict things such as printing and altering, but watermarking will help prevent the electronic abuse of your documents as well.

For on-line e-commerce purposes, the watermark can signify a number of things on a document: the kind of copy, whether a reprint or an original; the company authorizing the form; or the nature of the document such as a receipt or invoice. Watermarks can play an ideal role in controlling forms printed up directly from a website.

Most notably, a watermark is hard to miss once it’s stamped onto the actual page, whether printed or not, it leaves the classification of your entire file visibly taken care of.

Creating a Watermark for your PDF Using the Sonic Way!

Because a watermark is particular to the document, purpose and function of your PDF, our Sonic PDF Creator v.1.2 has the capabilities of meeting those specifications with options for branding your PDF.

With Sonic PDF Creator v.1.2, you can add the various characteristics you need. Watermarks can be made as headers, footers and page numbers where you can create the textual information you want visibly seen on the document.

Customize the colour, font, angle, size and position of the watermark so that it appears on the document page with a professional look. You can also determine the translucency or opacity of the watermark in order to control its specific appearance for either printing or viewing purposes, adding a bold or subtle effect.

As an added bonus for those with numerous and different PDFs to create, instead of having to create the same watermark for each individual PDF, the first watermark created will apply to all other subsequent PDFs created unless you change the settings. It’s a quicker way to brand all your PDFs with a uniform look and it’s also easy to do.

Depending on the creation method you use, just before you save or open your document in Sonic PDF Creator v.1.2, select the Watermark tab in the Options dialogue box. You can then start customizing away by clicking on Advanced. . .

With the ability to either brand a secure or regular PDF, Sonic PDF Creator v.1.2 enables you to customize just about everything concerning your PDF document!