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Watermarking specific pages

How to limit a text or image watermark to certain pages with the pages selector, and the patterns that come up most.

By default a watermark lands on every page. The pages field narrows that to a precise subset (a cover page, an appendix, everything but the first page), so you can stamp exactly where you need to. Both Add text watermark and Add image watermark accept it, and it works the same way on every action that takes a pages field.

The pages selector

pages is a comma-separated list of 1-based page numbers and ranges. It is treated as a set: order and duplicates are ignored, and pages are always stamped in document order. Omitting it selects every page. See Selecting pages for the complete syntax.

Goal pages value
The cover page only 1
Every page but the first 2..
Every page but the last ..-2
The last page only -1
An appendix from page 8 onward 8..
A specific set of pages 1..3,5
The last three pages -3..-1

Stamp every page but the cover

A common request: a running confidentiality mark on the body of a document, but not over the title page. Select pages=2.., page 2 through the last page.

cURLbash
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F line_1='CONFIDENTIAL' \
  -F pages='2..' \
  -o watermarked.pdf
Pythonpython
# pip install requests
import requests

with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file:
    response = requests.post(
        'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark',
        headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'},
        files={'file': file},
        data={'line_1': 'CONFIDENTIAL', 'pages': '2..'},
    )

response.raise_for_status()
with open('watermarked.pdf', 'wb') as output:
    output.write(response.content)
Node.jsjavascript
// Node.js 18+
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const body = new FormData();
body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf');
body.set('line_1', 'CONFIDENTIAL');
body.set('pages', '2..');

const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' },
  body,
});

if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
await writeFile('watermarked.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));
PHPphp
<?php
$ch = curl_init('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['X-API-Key: your_api_key'],
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => [
        'file' => new CURLFile('input.pdf', 'application/pdf'),
        'line_1' => 'CONFIDENTIAL',
        'pages' => '2..',
    ],
]);

$pdf = curl_exec($ch);
if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) === 200) {
    file_put_contents('watermarked.pdf', $pdf);
}
Rubyruby
# gem install http
require 'http'

response = HTTP
  .headers('X-API-Key' => 'your_api_key')
  .post('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark', form: {
    file: HTTP::FormData::File.new('input.pdf'),
    line_1: 'CONFIDENTIAL',
    pages: '2..',
  })

File.write('watermarked.pdf', response.body) if response.status.success?
Gogo
package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"io"
	"mime/multipart"
	"net/http"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	var buf bytes.Buffer
	form := multipart.NewWriter(&buf)

	file, _ := os.Open("input.pdf")
	defer file.Close()
	part, _ := form.CreateFormFile("file", "input.pdf")
	io.Copy(part, file)

	form.WriteField("line_1", "CONFIDENTIAL")
	form.WriteField("pages", "2..")
	form.Close()

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST",
		"https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark", &buf)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", form.FormDataContentType())
	req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "your_api_key")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	defer res.Body.Close()

	out, _ := os.Create("watermarked.pdf")
	defer out.Close()
	io.Copy(out, res.Body)
}
C#csharp
using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("X-API-Key", "your_api_key");

using var form = new MultipartFormDataContent
{
    { new ByteArrayContent(File.ReadAllBytes("input.pdf")), "file", "input.pdf" },
    { new StringContent("CONFIDENTIAL"), "line_1" },
    { new StringContent("2.."), "pages" },
};

var response = await client.PostAsync(
    "https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark", form);
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync(
    "watermarked.pdf", await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync());

More targeting patterns

The only thing that changes between these is the pages value. Each snippet writes to a different output file.

Cover page onlybash
# pages=1: stamp just the title page.
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F line_1='DRAFT' \
  -F pages='1' \
  -o cover.pdf
Every page but the lastbash
# pages=..-2: the first page through the second-to-last.
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F line_1='DO NOT DISTRIBUTE' \
  -F pages='..-2' \
  -o body.pdf
An appendix onwardbash
# pages=8..: page 8 to the end.
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F line_1='APPENDIX' \
  -F pages='8..' \
  -o appendix.pdf
Selected pagesbash
# pages=1..3,5: pages 1, 2, 3, and 5.
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_text_watermark \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F line_1='REVIEW COPY' \
  -F pages='1..3,5' \
  -o review.pdf

Image watermarks target the same way

An image watermark uses an identical pages field: pass a PNG or JPEG in the image field alongside file. This stamps a logo on the cover page only:

cURLbash
curl https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_image_watermark \
  -H 'X-API-Key: your_api_key' \
  -F file=@input.pdf \
  -F image=@logo.png \
  -F pages='1' \
  -o watermarked.pdf
Pythonpython
# pip install requests
import requests

with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as file, open('logo.png', 'rb') as image:
    response = requests.post(
        'https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_image_watermark',
        headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'},
        files={'file': file, 'image': image},
        data={'pages': '1'},
    )

response.raise_for_status()
with open('watermarked.pdf', 'wb') as output:
    output.write(response.content)
Node.jsjavascript
// Node.js 18+
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const body = new FormData();
body.set('file', new Blob([await readFile('input.pdf')]), 'input.pdf');
body.set('image', new Blob([await readFile('logo.png')]), 'logo.png');
body.set('pages', '1');

const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfblocks.com/v1/add_image_watermark', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' },
  body,
});

if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
await writeFile('watermarked.pdf', Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));

The same pages selector drives the page-oriented actions too: Extract pages, Remove pages, and Rotate pages all read it the same way. Learn it once, reuse it everywhere.

Selecting pages

The full page-range syntax, including negative indices.

Add a text watermark

Templates, colors, opacity, and margins.

Add an image watermark

Stamp a PNG or JPEG logo instead of text.

Extract pages

Pull out a subset of pages with the same selector.