A watermark adds a visible credit — your name, studio, website, or copyright notice — to the images shown in your galleries. FotoGrids configures the watermark once, site-wide, then applies it to the copies it serves on your pages. Your original uploaded files are never changed; the watermark only appears on the generated images FotoGrids displays.
Location FotoGrids → Settings → Watermark
How Watermarking Works #
Watermarking has two parts. You define the watermark itself — its text, font, position, and appearance — once under FotoGrids → Settings → Watermark. That single watermark is then applied across your galleries. A per-Gallery toggle lets you turn the watermark off for individual Galleries that should stay unmarked (see Per-Gallery Control below).
Because the watermark is burned into the image copies FotoGrids generates, switching it on affects new uploads automatically. Images already used in your galleries need to be regenerated once before the watermark appears on them — FotoGrids prompts you to do this when you first enable watermarking.
Watermarks are applied to the image copies FotoGrids serves on your site. The original files in your Media Library stay exactly as you uploaded them.
Enabling Watermarks #
Enable watermark
| Setting | Enable watermark |
| Options | On Off |
| Default | Off |
Switch this on to add your credit to gallery images. The text, position, and appearance settings appear once watermarking is enabled.
When you turn watermarking on for the first time, FotoGrids notes that your existing images still need updating. New uploads are watermarked automatically; images already in your galleries are watermarked when you regenerate them.
Watermark Text #
The text settings control what the watermark says and how it reads.
Watermark text
| Setting | Watermark text |
| Default | © Your Name |
| Visible when | Enable watermark is on |
The text shown on each image. Common choices are your name, studio name, website address, or a copyright notice.
Font family
| Setting | Font family |
| Options | Inter Roboto Open Sans Montserrat Oswald Lora Playfair Display Merriweather JetBrains Mono Dancing Script |
| Default | Inter |
| Visible when | Enable watermark is on |
The typeface the watermark is drawn in. The list mixes sans-serif, serif, monospace, and script styles so you can match the watermark to your brand.
Font size
| Setting | Font size |
| Options | Small Regular Large |
| Default | Regular |
| Visible when | Enable watermark is on |
The watermark scales with each photo, so it reads at the same relative size on a thumbnail and on a full-size image.
Text colour
| Setting | Text colour |
| Options | Light Dark |
| Default | Light |
| Visible when | Enable watermark is on |
Choose Light for a white mark that reads against darker images, or Dark for a near-black mark that reads against lighter ones.
Position & Styling #
These settings control where the watermark sits and how visible it is.
Position
| Setting | Position |
| Options | Top left Top centre Top right Centre left Centre Centre right Bottom left Bottom centre Bottom right |
| Default | Bottom right |
| Visible when | Enable watermark is on |
A nine-point grid sets where the watermark appears on each image. Bottom right is the most common placement for a credit mark, but any corner, edge, or the centre is available.
Opacity
| Setting | Opacity |
| Default | 70% |
| Range | 10–100 |
| Units | % |
| Visible when | Enable watermark is on |
How visible the watermark is. Lower values make it subtle; higher values make it harder to overlook or crop around.
Margin
| Setting | Margin |
| Default | 20px |
| Range | 0–100 |
| Units | px |
| Visible when | Enable watermark is on |
The distance between the watermark and the image edge. A larger margin pulls the mark further in from the corner or edge it is anchored to.
Updating Existing Images #
New uploads are watermarked as they come in, but images already used in your galleries keep their current copies until they are regenerated. After enabling watermarking — or after changing any watermark setting — FotoGrids shows a banner letting you regenerate the affected images so the new watermark is applied to them.
Changing watermark settings marks existing images as out of date. They keep their previous watermark until you regenerate them.
Per-Gallery Control #
The site-wide watermark applies to your Galleries by default. To leave a particular Gallery unmarked, open it, go to the Security tab, and switch off Apply watermark to this Gallery under the Watermark Generation group.
If watermarking is turned off site-wide, that same group shows a notice with a link back to FotoGrids → Settings → Watermark, so you can enable it from where you are working.
Image Watermarks and Advanced Placement (Pro) #
The free watermark is a text watermark. FotoGrids Pro adds more control over the mark and where it lands:
- Image watermarks — use your own logo or graphic as the watermark instead of text.
- Custom colour — set any colour for the text watermark to match your brand exactly, beyond the Light and Dark options.
- Apply to — choose whether to watermark full images, thumbnails, or both.
- Repeat watermark — tile the watermark across the whole image so it is harder to crop out.
On free installations these controls are visible in the Watermark tab as a preview, with a Pro badge, and are locked until you upgrade.
