Office PDFs: policy marks, not a substitute for access control
Contracts in review, invoices on vendor portals, and board packets all leak. A visible DRAFT or CONFIDENTIAL line plus a firm name reduces “I thought this was final” mistakes. It does not satisfy a regulator by itself and it does not replace DLP, secure links, or password protection. Convertify4u stamps with pdf-lib in a Worker so counsel is not uploading PII to a consumer converter. Keep an unmarked archive copy for the matter file. Stamp a derivative for external share. Invoices: a light company mark can deter casual remixing of your layout; it will not stop a determined editor. Reports: CONFIDENTIAL at 25–35% across the pack. If policy forbids any third-party processing, Instant local is the matching architecture — we never see the bytes. Batch and 100MB+ archives still need Premium for memory, not because we want the files in our cloud (the Worker still runs in the browser; Premium is capacity/headroom, billed via Lemon Squeezy).
Keep a clean original
Matter files should retain an unmarked PDF. Stamped copies are for circulation. You cannot reliably scrub a stamp from a copy already in a client’s inbox.
Pair with the right sibling tool
Need a password? Protect PDF. Need hidden text gone? Redact. Need a smaller email? Compress after you like the overlay.