Watermarking files proves highly efficient in safeguarding your sensitive content from misuse. As of now, visual watermarking–an enterprise-level security feature–is now available for all users. Free users will have a static "powered by Ci" text in the bottom-right corner of the media. To remove this text, users will need to upgrade to a Pro plan, or purchase a Team or Business plan.
Additionally, all company network users have the ability to enable visual watermark downloads for MediaBoxes. To learn more about MediaBoxes, please check out our support article Create MediaBoxes . In this article, we will show you how to use visual watermarking in detail.
Select a file to Share in a MediaBox
In the Workspace view, right-click on a file, hover over "Share" in the context menu, and select "Share in a new MediaBox." You can also select a file and use the Share icon in the blue action bar:
Figure 1: Select a file to Share in a MediaBox
A MediaBox Creation modal will open. After filling out the MediaBox details at the top, open the Advanced Settings and select the Apply visual watermark to images and videos check box. For company network users, select the User can download source files check box to enable download. Optionally, you can edit the placement and text of the watermark by selecting the blue Edit button:
Figure 2: Applying Visual Watermark (1)
In the Watermark dialog, you can edit your text, adjust its visibility, and change its position in the preview frame. To do so, select the text to invoke the Toolbar. The Toolbar includes the ability to change text size, text color, highlights, opacity, and text alignment. By default, there are five tags that allow you to leverage system identified information about each file that is previewed: Viewer Name, Viewer IP Address, Viewing Date, Viewing Time, Viewer Email. These can be moved around and the text modified. You can also create custom overlay text by selecting + Add new text > Custom Text (see Figure 4). To save your Watermark Settings in the future, select Set As Default near the bottom-left.
As mentioned in the beginning, Free users will have the powered by Ci text near the bottom-right corner and given the option to upgrade within the modal (see Figure 5):
Figure 3: Applying Visual Watermark (2)
Figure 4: Applying Visual Watermark (3)
Figure 4: Applying Visual Watermark (4)
For company network users enabling download, please note the following:
— Users cannot download source files for images or videos that have watermark applied.
— Users can download watermarked image renditions at a max height of 2000px.
— Users can download the highest watermarked video proxies available.
After modifying the watermark to your preference, click Save and select Create MediaBox (or Update for existing MediaBoxes. See Figure 2).
Preview Visual Watermarked Assets in MediaBox
After creating the MediaBox, let's preview the watermark. Upon opening the MediaBox, the recipient will be greeted with a message indicating the contents are classified and must be viewed in a non-public area. Click Proceed to access the content:
Figure 5: MediaBox Viewer Guidelines
You will notice that hovering over the MediaBox content will display a scrubbable thumbnail and reveal the watermark (see Figure 6). Click the content to preview, hit play, and you will see the watermark during playback. Image files will have the same watermark applied (see Figure 7):
Figure 6: Watermarked MediaBox view
Figure 7: Previewing watermarked video
Downloading Visual Watermarked Assets
Company Network users have the ability to enable visual watermark download for recipients. Any file that is downloaded from a visually watermarked MediaBox will be personally watermarked with the recipients information. To begin this process, click the download icon on a file and select Download (see Figure 8). For recipients that are logged into their Ci account, we will automatically begin generating the file and prepare it to be downloaded (see Figure 10). For recipients that do not have a Ci account, they will be prompted to enter their email address & full name (see Figure 9). This step is necessary in order for Ci to begin processing the download request:
Figure 8: Initiating visual watermark download
Figure 9: Non-existing Ci User download prompt
After entering the email & full name, click Continue. The recipient will be met with a message that confirms we are generating the personally watermarked video. When the video(s) is finished processing, we will notify the recipient via email so they can begin downloading the content (see Figure 11):
Figure 10: Video generation confirmation message
Figure 11: Download ready email notification
Upon receiving the "download ready" email notification, please note that the downloads will be available for 48 hours. The downloads will have the recipient's unique identifier on it. Once expired (and assuming the MediaBox is still active), recipients can request for new downloads using the same process. Click the Go to downloads button to be taken to the MediaBox download page:
Figure 12: Download Visual watermarked video(s)
Videos that are ready to be downloaded will have a blue download button as seen in the figure above. To begin downloading, simply click the blue download button. Video files that are still being prepared for download will display a "Generating download" status. Recipients will receive an email for each video that completes generating. To go back to the main MediaBox view, select the back arrow icon near the upper-left corner.
In addition to visual watermarking, we also offer Forensic Watermarking for company network accounts. To learn more about this functionality, please visit the Forensic Watermarking support article.
For any additional questions, please reach out to the Ci Customer Success Team by submitting a request here in the Help Center.