How to Set Up PDF Stamping on your PDFs

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

What do I need?

• A Shopify store
• The DDA – Digital Downloads app

Which plan do I need for this feature?

For the DDA app, you will need:

• The Basic plan to use a single PDF Stamping template. Already installed DDA? Upgrade here.
• The Growth plan or higher to create unlimited PDF Stamping templates. Already installed DDA? Upgrade here.

Troubleshooting

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

Limitation of 100MB to use PDF Stamping

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 could use the ‘Replace asset‘ button to replace the PDF. This will replace 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.

The variables available

Our PDF Stamp allows you to place multiple dynamic variables, such as:

• Customer’s email – {{email}}
• Customer’s full name – {{name}}
• Order number – {{orderNumber}}
• Order date – {{orderDate}}
• Order expiry date – {{orderExpiry}}
• Company name – {{company}}
• Billing address – {{billingAddress}}
• Shipping address – {{shippingAddress}}
• Order IP address (Shopify’s order IP) – {{orderIp}}

Customer’s email

The customer’s email address will be used on the PDF stamp if you use this variable.

Customer’s full name

The customer’s full name will be included on the PDF stamp if you use this variable.

Order number

The order number that is given to the customer.

Order date

The order date is straightforward. This is the date that the customer placed the order. This information is pulled in from Shopify.

Order expiry date

The order expiry date is when the order’s downloads will expire. This is the set number of days after the order date.

You can set this date by going to the Limitations page and setting how many days it takes for the order to expire.

1. Go to Settings > Limitations for downloads
2. Add a number in the “Order expiration” box

Company name (coming soon)

This is pulled from the Billing address.

Shipping address(coming soon)

Shipping address of the order.

Billing address (coming soon)

Billing address of the order.

IP address (coming soon)

This is the IP address that is pulled from the Shopify order where the order was placed.

How do I set the stamp to specific pages?

You can do this by using the “Pages” box. You will need to use either format listed below:

• Using format “1-10”. e.g. 2-4
• Choosing a single page. e.g. 4

How do I position the stamp?

You have a few options for positioning.

How to add PDF Stamping to an individual PDF

Ensure you have the DDA 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 already

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.

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‘.

Now click on “Edit” on a template you would like to customise or click “CREATE NEW TEMPLATE” if you want to create one.

Here you can customise all of your settings. You can even lock the PDF so 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 have created 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 PDF stamping with a test order

You can test this by going to:

1. Go to “Assets”
2. Click on your PDF
3. Click the “Download asset” button. Test data will be stamped on it so you can see how it looks.

You can also place a test order on Shopify if you want to test a real order.

If the stamp does not appear, please go to our PDF troubleshooting guide to see if you have set it up correctly. There will be a problem somewhere. A common mistake is that you may have uploaded a password-protected PDF and the app cannot edit it.

How to set a global PDF template for all PDFs

You can do this by:

1. Go to “Settings” in DDA
2. Go to “Edit PDF templates“

3. We are going to use the “Default” template to apply to the global setting
4. In the PDF templates box in the red box below, choose the template that you want to set as the global template for all PDFs

5. Choose the relevant setting that suits you

6. Click “Save“

Video tutorial to sell PDFs & set up PDF Stamping