Rubber Stamp Annotations

• Jul 27, 2026
• 3 minutes to read

You can use rubber stamp annotations to display predefined or custom stamps on a PDF page, such as to indicate a document’s status, review result, or workflow stage.

The PDF Document API supports the following stamp types:

• Built-in static stamps
• Built-in dynamic stamps
• Custom stamps

Create a Static Rubber Stamp

Create a RubberStampAnnotation object, specify its icon, and add the annotation to a page.

The following code snippet adds an Approved stamp to the first page:

package pdf;

import com.devexpress.docs.pdf.*;
import com.devexpress.system.drawing.*;

import java.nio.channels.*;
import java.nio.file.*;
import java.time.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        try (FileChannel fileChannel = FileChannel.open(Path.of("Document.pdf"));
             PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument(fileChannel)) {

            Page page = pdfDocument.getPages().getFirst();

            createRubberStampAnnotation(page);

            // Save the document.
            try (WritableByteChannel channel =
                         FileChannel.open(Path.of("Result.pdf"),
                                 StandardOpenOption.CREATE,
                                 StandardOpenOption.WRITE,
                                 StandardOpenOption.TRUNCATE_EXISTING)) {

                pdfDocument.save(channel);
            }
        }
    }

    static void createRubberStampAnnotation(Page page) {
        RubberStampAnnotation stamp =
                new RubberStampAnnotation(
                        new RectangleF(80, 510, 100, 24),
                        RubberStampAnnotationIconName.Approved);

        // Specify annotation information.
        stamp.setTitle("John Smith");
        stamp.setSubject("Review");
        stamp.setContent("Approved for publication.");
        stamp.setCreationDate(OffsetDateTime.now());

        page.getAnnotations().add(stamp);
    }
}

The RubberStampAnnotationIconName class defines built-in stamp icons.

Create a Dynamic Rubber Stamp

Dynamic stamps display additional information, such as the title or creation date.

The PDF Document API supports the following dynamic stamp icons:

Icon	Description	Preview
DApproved	Approved
DReviewed	Reviewed
DRevised	Revised
DConfidential	Confidential
DReceived	Received

The following code snippet creates a dynamic Reviewed stamp:

void createRubberStampDynamicAnnotation(Page page) {
    RubberStampAnnotation stamp =
            new RubberStampAnnotation(
                    new RectangleF(80, 510, 140, 30),
                    RubberStampAnnotationIconName.DReviewed);

    // Specify annotation information.
    stamp.setTitle("John Smith");
    stamp.setSubject("Review");
    stamp.setContent("Reviewed.");
    stamp.setCreationDate(OffsetDateTime.now());

    page.getAnnotations().add(stamp);
}

Create a Custom Stamp from a PDF Page

The PDF Document API accepts a PdfDocument, an InputStream, or a ReadableByteChannel as the source for a custom stamp.

The following code snippet creates a custom rubber stamp from the first page of a PDF document that contains a company-specific approval stamp:

import com.devexpress.docs.pdf.*;
import com.devexpress.system.drawing.*;

import java.io.*;
import java.nio.file.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        try (InputStream documentStream =
                     Files.newInputStream(Path.of("Invoice.pdf"));
             InputStream stampStream =
                     Files.newInputStream(Path.of("CompanyApprovalStamp.pdf"))) {

            PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument(documentStream);

            Page page = pdfDocument.getPages().getFirst();

            // Create a rubber stamp annotation.
            // Use the first page of the PDF document as the stamp appearance.
            RubberStampAnnotation stamp =
                    new RubberStampAnnotation(
                            new RectangleF(50, 700, 180, 80),
                            stampStream, 0);

            page.getAnnotations().add(stamp);

            pdfDocument.save(Files.newOutputStream(Path.of("Invoice_Approved.pdf")));
        }
    }
}

If the source document is already loaded, use the corresponding overload:

PdfDocument stampDocument = new PdfDocument(
    Files.newInputStream(Path.of("ApprovalStamp.pdf")));

RubberStampAnnotation stamp =
    new RubberStampAnnotation(
        new RectangleF(50, 700, 180, 80),
        stampDocument);

stamp.setCustomIcon(stampDocument, 0);

page.getAnnotations().add(stamp);

Customize Stamp Information

Use markup annotation properties to specify additional information:

Method	Description
setTitle()	Specifies the title (for example, the author name).
setSubject()	Specifies the annotation subject.
setContent()	Specifies the annotation text.
setCreationDate()	Specifies the creation date.
setColor()	Specifies the annotation color.