Required Roles: All
Required Permissions: Workspace/PM Manager (to enable settings and assign templates); Kivo Support (to upload and configure overlay templates)
Kivo supports two complementary layering features for PDF documents: watermarking, which automatically stamps the document's current workflow status or approval label across each page, and overlays, which apply a custom designed template, built from a Word document with dynamic fields, on top of each page. Both are enabled at the folder level and apply to all PDF documents within that folder and its subfolders.
Overview
Watermarking requires no template design. When enabled for a folder, Kivo automatically derives the watermark text from the document's current state: if the document has been approved, the watermark shows the approval label (for example, Approved or Effective); if the document is still in progress, it shows the workflow status (for example, Draft or In Review). This gives readers an immediate, unforgeable signal about the document's status when they open the PDF.
Overlays go further. You design a Word document that defines what appears on every page, a header, footer, border, with fields like control number, effective date, using {{field}} placeholders for dynamic values. Kivo resolves those placeholders at render time using document metadata and merges the result onto the PDF. Overlays are ideal for adding organization-specific controlled-document markings required by quality systems or regulatory standards.
Watermarking and overlays are applied together in the same rendering pipeline. A document in a folder with both features enabled will carry both the watermark text and the overlay content.
How watermarking works
When watermarking is enabled, Kivo generates a layered rendition of the document's PDF. The watermark text is placed diagonally across every page as an underlay, behind the document content but clearly visible.
The watermark text is determined automatically by the Status names configured for the different documents States in workspace settings:
Document state | Examples of Watermark text shown |
Document is in progress (not yet approved) | Draft (not configurable)
|
An Approved document that has reached its effective date | Effective, Approved, |
An Approved document that has not been reviewed by the due date | Expired, Needs Review, Past Review |
An Approved document for which a new version of the document has been approved | Superseded |
An Approved document that has been marked as no longer relevant | Retired, Obsolete |
The watermark text is not configurable. It reflects the document's actual state so the marking is always accurate.
Layered renditions are cached. If nothing about the document or its resolved layer inputs changes, Kivo reuses the existing rendition. A new rendition is generated whenever the source file, approval label, or overlay values change.
Note: Watermarking applies to PDF documents only. Non-PDF files in a watermarking-enabled folder are displayed without a layered rendition.
Creating an overlay template and Variants (word file)
The support team will be available to work with your team to install and configure the overlays once the word files are provided. Below are some times to create your overlay templates.
Step 1 – Define the document types and locations
Define what segregated areas of your DMS will require unique overlays. For example, Controlled Documents, Quality Activities.
Step 2 – Design your overlay .docx file
Overlays are designed as Word documents (.docx). Anything you place in the Word document text, borders, headers, footers, images, tables — will appear on every page of the PDF when the overlay is applied. Use {{Field Name}} placeholders anywhere in the document where you want Kivo to insert dynamic values at render time.
For example, a footer overlay for a controlled document might contain:
CONTROLLED DOCUMENT — {{Document Name}} | v{{Version Label}} | Effective: {{Effective Date}}
Your organisation's logo in a corner
A border frame around each page
You must create a separate .docx file for each page size and orientation your documents use (A4 and/or Letter, portrait and/or landscape). The variable names must be identical across all variants of the same template.
Step 3 – Reach out to Support to Create the Overlay and Add Variants
The support team or your Implementation Manager will organize a call to create and configure the overlays and variants, and test them to ensure they produce the expected result.
Note: All variants added to the same template must use exactly the same set of {{field}} placeholders. If a subsequent variant contains different fields, Kivo will reject it. To change the fields, delete all existing variants and re-upload.
The Support team can configure overlay templates for the following page layouts:
A4 Portrait
A4 Landscape
Letter Portrait
Letter Landscape
Each template supports one variant per layout. Once all four layouts have been configured, no additional variants can be added.
The Support team can generate a preview of any overlay template before it is assigned to a folder. During the preview, sample values are entered for each variable (and optional watermark text), allowing the overlay to be rendered on a blank page so placement and formatting can be verified.
Supported overlay variables
The following {{field}} placeholders are supported in overlay .docx files. Field names are not case-sensitive.
Field | Resolved value |
| The full name of the user viewing or downloading the document at render time. |
| Today's date. You can also use |
| The name of the document as it appears in the DMS. |
| The document type metadata value. |
| The category metadata value. |
| The artifact metadata value. |
| The date and time the current version was approved. |
| The effective date set on the document version. |
| The scheduled periodic review date. |
| The date the document was last renewed. |
| The date by which the document must be reviewed. |
| The date the document was retired, if applicable. |
| The document's control number. |
| The version Status (e.g. Effective, Approved, Superseded). |
| The version number (e.g. 1.0, 2.1). |
Custom metadata fields | Any custom metadata field configured for your workspace, matched by exact name (not case-sensitive). For example, if your workspace has a metadata field called Department, use |
Note: Overlay fields are resolved from document metadata. They are different from the fields available in document templates, which support activity-specific fields like {{Activity Name}}, {{Type}}, and {{Subtype}}. Those activity fields are not available in overlays.
Enabling Watermarking and Overlays for a Folder
Step 1 – Open the folder settings
Navigate to the folder in the DMS. Select the folder settings or edit panel.
Step 2 – Enable watermarking and Overlays
Toggle Watermarking to on. If you have overlay templates configured (see Creating an overlay template below), an Overlay Template toggle and selector appear below the watermarking toggle. Enable the toggle and choose the template to apply to this folder.
Like watermarking, overlay template assignment is inherited by subfolders. A subfolder inheriting an overlay template shows the source folder and cannot be changed independently.
Note: Watermarking is inherited. Enabling it on a parent folder automatically applies it to all subfolders. A subfolder that inherits watermarking from a parent cannot be toggled independently — the control is greyed out and the source folder is shown.
The selected template is applied to all PDF documents in this folder and its subfolders. Subfolders will show the inherited template and source folder. To override the template for a specific subfolder, assign a different template directly to that subfolder.
What users see
When a user opens or downloads a PDF document in a folder with watermarking or overlays enabled, Kivo serves the layered rendition rather than the raw source file. The watermark and overlay content are baked into the rendered PDF — they cannot be removed by the viewer.
Kivo automatically selects the correct overlay variant based on the document's page size and orientation. If no variant exists for a given page layout (for example, the document is landscape but only a portrait variant was uploaded), the overlay is skipped for that page size.
Layered renditions are generated on first view and cached. If the document content, approval status, effective date, or any other resolved variable changes, the cache is invalidated and a new rendition is generated automatically.
