How To Set Up PDF Stamping

Last updated on 22 June 2022

PDF Stamping is a brilliant method to prevent your customers from sharing digital downloads with others. Of course, it only works on PDF files, but you can learn more about preventing customers from sharing other types of digital downloads here.

If you want to learn more about selling PDFs, check out our tutorial on how to sell PDFs on Shopify.

Below is a video showing a PDF that is stamped and locked so the customer cannot remove their personal details. Preventing them from sharing the PDF with others because their identity is attached.

Troubleshooting

If you have set up PDF Stamping but are running into issues, please check our PDF Stamp troubleshooting guide.

Which plan do I need for this feature?

You will need the Starter plan to use a single PDF Stamping template.

You will need the Scale plan or above to create unlimited PDF Stamping templates.

How to set up PDF Stamping

Make sure that you have the Downloadable Digital Assets app installed on your Shopify store.

It’s really easy to get set up with PDF stamping. All you need to do is:

1. Go to your PDF asset

Upload the PDF if you haven’t

I am assuming that you have already uploaded your PDF. If you haven’t, you can do this by:

1. Go to the ‘Assets‘ page
2. Click on the ‘Upload new asset‘ button
3. Then upload your PDF

Find the PDF Stamp setting on the asset page

On the PDF asset page, you will see an option for ‘PDF Stamping‘. You can either use the default template, or you can create your own depending on the plan you’re on.

Limitations

Please note that there is a maximum file size of 100MB to use PDF Stamping. If you want to compress your PDFs, you can do this here on Adobe’s PDF Compression page.

It will be able to compress your PDF to less than 100MB while maintaining the quality. Adobe invented PDFs so this service is the best you can get.

If you did compress your PDF, you can use the ‘Replace asset‘ button to replace the PDF. This will take the place of the current PDF so you don’t need to do anything else. You will be asked if you want to inform customers of an updated file, but that’s up to you to say Yes or No.

2. Edit or create a PDF template

It’s possible to edit your PDF templates by clicking on the link in ‘Edit your PDF templates here‘.

Here you can customise all of your settings. You can even lock the PDF so that your customers cannot remove their personal details. This prevents the customer from wanting to share the PDF files with others.

3. Apply the template to your PDF

Once you are done with creating your template, go back to your PDF asset.

Here you can choose the template you want, then you can click the ‘Update‘ button to save.

4. Test the PDF stamping with a test order

Place a test order on Shopify and see if the stamp applies to the PDF.

If it doesn’t, please go to our PDF troubleshooting guide to see if you have set it up correctly.

Video tutorial to sell PDFs & set up PDF Stamping