PDF Ink Lite – Free PDF Watermark & Password Protection

Thanks for thinking of the people who make free plugins!

You can add a tiny, hard-to-see link to PDF Ink on page 2 of your PDFs. In PDF Ink Lite settings, open Housekeeping and check the Attribution box.

On the Plugins page, click the “Settings for XXX” link under PDF Ink Lite. You can find the PDF Ink settings page by clicking on the “Settings for XXX” link under the PDF Ink Lite plugin title on your WordPress plugins panel.

Try these steps: 1. Check that WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, or Download Monitor is installed, and that you have a PDF product customers can buy. 2. In PDF Ink Lite settings, make sure “Enable watermarking” is checked. 3. Turn off PDF Ink Lite and check that the original download works. 4. Try a different PDF—ideally one you did not create. 5. Try a different font in the settings. 6. Turn on debugging in PDF Ink Lite settings. Try again, then check the logs. 7. If your server has low PHP memory or time limits, ask your web host whether they can increase them. 8. If possible, ask your webhost if changing PHP version might help. 9. If the watermark is off the page or blank pages appear, see the FAQ below: “Why does the watermark go off the page or create blank pages?”

Still stuck? Please post in the WordPress.org support forum before leaving a review. I’m happy to help.

Read these tips before posting in the WordPress.org support forum .

For help with PDF Ink Lite, use the WordPress.org support forum—not email.

For help with the paid version of PDF Ink, use the support channel provided with your purchase. Please don’t ask for paid-version support in the WordPress.org forum.

Try choosing a different font in the settings, such as “Deja Vu.”

A font may not include the special characters in your text. If none of the included fonts support your language, you’ll need to add a font with PHP code or use the full version of PDF Ink, which includes more fonts and lets you upload your own.

You can test a download by setting a product’s price to $0, or by making a coupon for a free purchase. For WooCommerce, you can also set the product to “Privately Published.”

Test the download as a customer would. If you use a coupon, keep it private.

For an easier way to test a watermark without making a purchase, use the full version of PDF Ink

The watermark may be too large or too long for the page. Try using a smaller font or shorter text. You can also adjust the Y-axis setting to move the watermark up or down the page.

The Y-axis setting is measured in millimeters. For example, an 11-inch-tall page is 279.4 mm tall, so the Y-axis value needs to be lower than that for the watermark to appear on the page. In this exampl, try a font size of 12 and Y of 260.

You can use a negative Y-axis value to measure up from the bottom of the page. This can help when your PDF has pages of different sizes.

Watermarked files are saved next to the original file, usually in a folder like “wp-content/uploads/year/month/”. Each watermarked file has a unique name that includes the order number and the time it was made.

If a customer can’t download their file—for example, because they have reached the download limit—you may be able to find it there.

For WooCommerce “Force” downloads, PDF Ink Lite tries to delete the watermarked file after the download. This may not always work.

The paid version lets you choose how and when stamped files are removed, so you can keep your server clean.

To turn off the cleanup attempt, use the “wwpdf_do_cleanup” filter hook and set it to FALSE.

You can choose to send the original file without a watermark if watermarking fails. This code adds that setting: add_filter( 'wwpdf_serve_unwatermarked_file', '__return_true' ); Add the code to your child theme’s functions.php file. If you’re not comfortable editing PHP files, you can use the Code Snippets plugin to add it.