Creating and Modifying Stamps

In this chapter…

…you will learn how to create and modify stamps.

  • Creating a Stamp describes two ways to begin your stamp file and provides the basics for creating text or image stamp items.
  • Customizing a Stamp Item explains how to change the appearance and placement of your stamp, as well as how to specify which pages to stamp.
  • Modifying a Stamp explains how to modify a stamp if needed.
  • Examples sub-chapter provides step-by-step instructions for creating 1) a standard page numbering stamp, 2) a Bates numbering stamp, and 3) alternating header or footer stamps.

Creating a Stamp

You stamp a PDF document with a stamp file, much like you stamp a paper document with a rubber stamp. A stamp file contains the content of your electronic stamp, just as the rubber stamp contains the content of a paper stamp. But an electronic stamp is much more flexible. It can contain multiple stamp items, each with unique content, positioning, and pagination. The only stipulation is that a single stamp item can contain either text or an image, but not both. A stamp item that contains text is called a text stamp item and a stamp item that contains an image is called an image stamp item.

When you create a new stamp file, you can either use an existing stamp file as a starting point, or start from scratch.

To use an existing stamp file as a starting point

You may simply use your Windows Explorer or similar to create a copy of your original stamp file. To achieve the same result using StampPDF DE, follow these steps.

  1. Start StampPDF DE, then click the Stamp tab.

  2. If the stamp file you want to copy is not open select File > Open StampFile.

    Note: If the open stamp file has been changed but not saved, you will be asked if you want to save it.

  3. In the Select a Stamp file dialog box that appears, select the stamp file you want to copy, then click the Open button. The selected stamp file opens.

    Note: Stamp files are text files and end with a .txt extension.

  4. Select File > SaveStampFile As. The Save Stamp File dialog box is displayed.

  5. In the Save in field, specify a location for the copy of the stamp file.

  6. In the File name field, specify a name for the copy of the stamp file. It must have .txt extension.

  7. Click Save. The copy is saved and ready to use or modify. Its name appears following the StampFile label.

    Note: You must save the stamp in a file before you can use it to a stamp a document.

To create a stamp file from scratch

  1. Click the Stamp tab.

  2. Select File > New StampFile.

    If you are asked whether to save changes to an open stamp file, click Save to save them or Don’t Save to discard them.

  3. To define default page margins for the stamp file, click the Page Options button in the upper right corner, enter the margins in points, and then click OK.

  4. Create a stamp item. It can contain text or an image, but not both.

    See To create a text stamp item or To create an image stamp item below for instructions.

    You can customize each stamp item in your stamp file by selecting options for appearance and placement, as well as choosing which document pages to stamp. Refer to Customizing a Stamp Item below for instructions.

  5. To create another stamp item in the same stamp file, click the New button.

  6. To save your stamp in a file, select File > Save StampFile, specify a name and location for the file, and then click Save.

    Note: You must save the stamp in a file before you can use it to a stamp a document.

To create a text stamp item

  1. Click the Text tab.

  2. In the Name field, enter a name for the stamp item.

    Examples: Watermark, Header or Footer

    Tip! You could accept the name that StampPDF DE generates, but it is usually best to use a name that is meaningful to you, especially if your stamp will include multiple stamp items.

  3. In the Undo Label field, enter an Undo Label. The Undo Label is required to remove a stamp item from a PDF document.

    Note: If the Undo Label is not set in the stamp file before the stamp is applied, then the stamp will not be removable with StampPDF DE at a later time.

    Tip! Each stamp item has its own Undo Label. If you give all of the stamp items in your stamp file the same Undo Label, they will all be removed when you perform an “Undo” operation. If each stamp item has a different Undo Label, you will have to perform a separate “Undo” operation to remove each one.

  4. In the text field just below the Text tab, create the content for the stamp item by typing the text.

    For example, a simple one-line stamp item might contain the word Draft.

  5. To create a multi-line stamp, press the Enter key or use “%n” to create a new line.

  6. To include a variable in your stamp:

    • Click the down arrow button in the drop-down field below the text entry field.
    • Select the variable.

    • Click the Insert button.

    A code representing that variable is displayed in red in the text field.

    Example: Setup StampPDF DE to use the date variable:

    Text field showing the current date variable.

    • Note: In StampPDF DE, the percent sign is used as an escape character, so that whatever follows it is used literally. Therefore, if you want to use a percent sign in your stamp, you must use the sequence , which tells StampPDF DE to handle the second percent sign like a percent sign symbol instead of an escape character.

  7. You can customize each stamp item in your stamp file by selecting options for appearance and placement, as well as choosing which document pages to stamp. Refer to Customizing a Stamp Item below for instructions.

  8. When you are finished, select File > Save StampFile to save your changes.

To create an image stamp item

  1. Click the Image tab.

  2. In the Name field, enter a name for the stamp item.

    Example: Company Logo, John’s Signature, Received

    Tip! You could accept the name that StampPDF DE generates, but it is usually best to use a name that is meaningful to you, especially if your stamp will include multiple stamp items.

  3. In the Undo Label field, enter an Undo Label. The Undo Label is required to remove a stamp item from a PDF document.

    Note: If the Undo Label is not set in the stamp file before the stamp is applied, then the stamp will not be removable with StampPDF DE at a later time.

    Tip! Each stamp item has its own Undo Label. If you give all of the stamp items in your stamp the same Undo Label, they will all be removed when you perform an “Undo” operation. If each stamp item has a different Undo Label, you will have to perform a separate “Undo” operation to remove each one.

  4. Select the image type: JPEG, TIFF, or PDF.

    Note: Once a PDF image stamp item is applied to a document, it cannot be removed. If you select PDF, delete the Undo Label.

  5. In the Image Path field, enter the path name of the image file using any of these methods:

    • Click the Browse button, select a file, and then click the Add button.
    • Drag and drop a file from your desktop or file navigator into the Image Path field.

    • Manually enter the full path name. In Windows, separate directories with a back slash: \

    Example:  C:\Appligent\StampPDF DE\samples\image_files\sig.jpg

  6. In the Image Scale box, enter a percentage value to indicate the size of the image stamp item in relation to the size of the original graphic.

  7. Select the method you want to use to specify horizontal and vertical placement of the stamp item on the page:

    • If you want to enter precise coordinates, either manually (see step 6 below) or visually by dragging the image on a preview page (see step 7 below), check the Place Image with Left/Bottom Coordinates box.
    • If you want to specify placement relative to the page margins (for example, bottom, left), clear the check mark in the Place Image with Left/Bottom Coordinates box. (See step 8 below.)

      Note: If you choose this relative method, you cannot override the page margins with stamp margins.

  8. To specify precise coordinates visually:

    • Click the View Image Placement button. (If you are prompted to choose an input file, go the Main tab. In the File Names list, add a file you plan to stamp with this stamp item, or one with similar dimensions.)
    • In the Image Location dialog box that appears, drag the image to the position you want.
    • You can also change the image scale and the page width and height, if needed.
    • When you are finished, click the OK button.

    • The coordinates are displayed in the Stamp Margins area. If you changed the scale, the new scale is displayed in the Image Scale box.

  9. To specify precise coordinates manually, enter the Left and Bottom coordinates, in points, in the Stamp Margins area.

    Note: The Left coordinate is measured from the left page edge, and the Bottom coordinate is measured from the Bottom page edge.

    Tip! For a visual preview, click the View Image Placement button. If you are not satisfied with the preview, you can either drag the image to another position or close the Image Location dialog box and change the coordinates.

  10. To specify placement relative to the page margins, select the horizontal alignment from the Justification list and the vertical position and orientation from the Position list.

  11. In the Layer box, indicate whether the stamp item should lay over or under the PDF content.

  12. See To specify pages to be stamped for information on selecting pages to stamp.

  13. When you are finished, select File > Save StampFile to save your changes.

Customizing a Stamp Item

To customize the appearance of a text stamp item

  1. In the Font field, select a font for the text from the drop-down list.

    Note: If the font you want is not listed, see Working with Fonts for information about adding fonts.

  2. In the FontSize field, enter a whole or decimal point size for the text.

    Tip! The text in most business documents is between 10 and 12 points. To create a watermark that diagonally fills a letter-sized page, select a large point size. For example, the word “Confidential” stamped in 128 points fills an 8 1/2 x 11 inch page diagonally.

  3. Select a Mode, or text style: Solid, Outline, or Invisible.

    Tip! Use Outline mode to prevent obscuring the PDF content. Invisible mode is useful if you need a stamp item that can be searched but not seen.

  4. Enter an Opacity level.

    Tip! Use a level of about 40% to prevent obscuring the PDF content.

  5. If you want the text to wrap within the margins, check Word Wrap.

  6. In the Color field, select a color space:

    • For Gray, either move the slider or enter a number from 0 to 100 in the box (0 is black and 100 is white).
    • For RGB, either click the Pick Color button to select a color or enter values (from 0 to 255) in the Red, Green, and Blue boxes.

    • For CMYK, enter values (from 0 to 1) in the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black boxes.

For additional information, see Text Stamp Item Options

To customize placement of a stamp item

  1. In the Layer field, indicate whether the stamp item should lay over or under the PDF content.

    Note: Some PDF documents have a white background. Underlaid stamps are not visible in these documents.

  2. In the Justification field, select an option for the horizontal alignment of the stamp item: Left, Right, or Center.

    Note: Stamp items are aligned horizontally within the left and right margins.

  3. If you want to override the left and right page margins for this stamp item, enter new left and right stamp margins, in points, in the Stamp Margins area. Do not change the default Page Margins unless you want to change the margins for every stamp item in the stamp file.

    Note: Stamp item margins and page margins are measured differently. The left page margin is measured from the left page edge, and the right page margin is measured from the right page edge. However, both the left and right stamp item margins are measured from the left page edge.

  4. In the Position field, select an option for the vertical location and orientation of the stamp item: Top, Bottom, Diagonal From Top Left, Diagonal From Bottom Left, Vertical Center, or Angle.

    Note: Stamp items are positioned vertically with respect to the top and bottom margins.

  5. If you want to override the top and bottom page margins for this stamp item, enter new top and bottom stamp margins, in points, in the Stamp Margins area. Do not change the default Page Margins unless you want to change the margins for every stamp item in the stamp file.

    Note: Stamp item margins and page margins are measured differently. The top page margin is measured from the top page edge, and the bottom page margin is measured from the bottom page edge. However, both the top and bottom stamp item margins are measured from the bottom page edge.

    Tip! If you are creating a multi-line stamp item on the bottom of the page, be aware that the first line will start at the bottom margin. Make sure to allow enough space for subsequent lines.

  6. For more precise stamp item placement:

    • Enter a value in the OffsetX field to precisely set horizontal stamp item placement. The value of the offset is in points, and can be positive or negative. A positive value of OffsetX will move the stamp to the right of its Justification location (Step 2, above); a negative value will move the stamp to the left of its Justification location.

    • Enter a value in the OffsetY field to precisely set vertical stamp item placement. The value of the offset is in points, and can be positive or negative. A positive value of OffsetY will move the stamp up from its Position location (Step 4, above); a negative value will move the stamp down from its Position location.

For additional information, see Text Stamp Item Options.

To specify pages to be stamped

To specify the pages on which the stamp item should be applied, in the Pages area, select one of the following:

  • All — To apply the stamp item to all document pages.
  • Selected Pages — To apply the stamp item only to pages that you enter. Separate the pages with commas and use a -1 to indicate the last page.
    Example: 2,4,7,10,-1
  • Range — To apply the stamp item to a range of pages that you specify. Enter a Start page, an End page (use a -1 to indicate the last page), and an Increment. Use an increment of 1 to stamp every page, an increment of 2 to stamp every other page, and so on.

Modifying a Stamp

If you previously created a stamp and your stamping requirements changed, you can easily modify the stamp file.

To modify a stamp file

  1. If the stamp file you want to edit is not already open, open it.  See To use an existing stamp file as a starting point above.

  2. Make your changes; edit existing stamp items or create new ones.

  3. When you are finished, select File > Save StampFile to save your changes.

Examples

Visit the Examples sub-chapter for step-by-step instructions for creating these stamps:

  1. A standard page numbering stamp
  2. A Bates numbering stamp
  3. Alternating header or footer stamps