Watermark Annotations using Python

This article shows how to work with watermark annotations in PDF documents using Aspose.PDF for Python via .NET.

The example script demonstrates three common workflows:

  • add a watermark annotation
  • get watermark annotation rectangles
  • delete watermark annotations

Add Watermark Annotation

This example adds a watermark annotation to the first page of a PDF document. The watermark uses a text state to control font settings and applies custom opacity for a semi-transparent appearance.

Open the PDF and get the target page

document = ap.Document(infile)
page = document.pages[1]

Create the watermark annotation

Define the annotation rectangle and append it to the page annotations collection.

watermark_annotation = ap.annotations.WatermarkAnnotation(
    page,
    ap.Rectangle(100, 100, 400, 200, True),
)

page.annotations.append(watermark_annotation)

Configure the text appearance

Create a TextState object to control text color, font size, and font family.

text_state = ap.text.TextState()
text_state.foreground_color = ap.Color.blue
text_state.font_size = 25
text_state.font = ap.text.FontRepository.find_font("Arial")

Set opacity and watermark text

The sample uses 50% opacity and writes three text lines into the watermark annotation.

watermark_annotation.opacity = 0.5
watermark_annotation.set_text_and_state(["HELLO", "Line 1", "Line 2"], text_state)

Save the PDF

document.save(outfile)

Complete example

def watermark_add(infile, outfile):
    document = ap.Document(infile)
    page = document.pages[1]

    watermark_annotation = ap.annotations.WatermarkAnnotation(
        page,
        ap.Rectangle(100, 100, 400, 200, True),
    )

    page.annotations.append(watermark_annotation)

    text_state = ap.text.TextState()
    text_state.foreground_color = ap.Color.blue
    text_state.font_size = 25
    text_state.font = ap.text.FontRepository.find_font("Arial")

    watermark_annotation.opacity = 0.5
    watermark_annotation.set_text_and_state(["HELLO", "Line 1", "Line 2"], text_state)

    document.save(outfile)

Get Watermark Annotation

To inspect existing watermark annotations, filter the first page annotations by the WATERMARK type and print their rectangles.

Load the document and collect watermark annotations

document = ap.Document(infile)
watermark_annotations = [
    a
    for a in document.pages[1].annotations
    if a.annotation_type == ap.annotations.AnnotationType.WATERMARK
]

for watermark_annotation in watermark_annotations:
    print(watermark_annotation.rect)

Complete example

def watermark_get(infile, outfile):
    document = ap.Document(infile)
    watermark_annotations = [
        a
        for a in document.pages[1].annotations
        if a.annotation_type == ap.annotations.AnnotationType.WATERMARK
    ]

    for watermark_annotation in watermark_annotations:
        print(watermark_annotation.rect)

Delete Watermark Annotation

This workflow removes all watermark annotations from the first page and saves the updated PDF.

Find watermark annotations to remove

document = ap.Document(infile)
watermark_annotations = [
    a
    for a in document.pages[1].annotations
    if a.annotation_type == ap.annotations.AnnotationType.WATERMARK
]

Delete the annotations and save the PDF

for watermark_annotation in watermark_annotations:
    document.pages[1].annotations.delete(watermark_annotation)

document.save(outfile)

Complete example

def watermark_delete(infile, outfile):
    document = ap.Document(infile)
    watermark_annotations = [
        a
        for a in document.pages[1].annotations
        if a.annotation_type == ap.annotations.AnnotationType.WATERMARK
    ]

    for watermark_annotation in watermark_annotations:
        document.pages[1].annotations.delete(watermark_annotation)

    document.save(outfile)
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