· Written and maintained by Nonimo
A Montana driver’s license gets copied far more often than it gets shown: a landlord, a new employer, an insurance agent, a car rental desk at the airport or a medical office may all want one. Each copy then sits in an inbox or a chat for years. A watermark across the picture of the card names the person or company you sent it to and the month you sent it, so a copy that shows up anywhere else gives itself away.
The tool above adds that watermark in your browser: add the front of your license, and the back if they asked for it, write who the copy is for and download it. The photo of your license never leaves your device.
How to watermark a Montana driver’s license
1. Add the front, and the back only if it was requested
The tool has two zones, Front and Back. In each one, choose Photos to pick a picture you already took or Camera to take one now; on a computer you can also drop the file in. JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC (the iPhone’s photo format) and PDF all work. Lay the card flat on a dark surface for the picture. Leave the Back zone empty unless the request mentions both sides.
2. Write who the copy is for
The Watermark text field comes prefilled with a complete line, “For this application only”, followed by the current month and year. Keep it as is, or edit it to say who gets the copy and why. The Suggested text buttons offer COPY, Not valid as ID, For verification only or Do not copy or distribute, though a specific line protects more.
The panel called Customize your watermark holds the rest: Layout (Tiled, Diagonal or Horizontal), Font, Color, Opacity, Size and Angle. Reset settings puts everything back. To move the watermark, drag it on the card.
3. Download the watermarked copy
Each side has its own Download button, as PDF, PNG or JPG. With both sides in, Download both sides as PDF gives you a single page with the front above and the back below, each with its watermark. The text is burned into the image, and the new file carries no EXIF or GPS metadata, the hidden detail explained in removing metadata from PDFs and photos.
What to write on a Montana license copy
Three things: who it’s for, what for, and the month. A line that names one apartment or one job exposes any other use of the copy; a generic COPY proves nothing.
For Elm Street apartment lease use only · October 2026
For new patient registration use only · October 2026
For auto policy quote use only · October 2026
For airport car rental pickup use only · October 2026
A new job is the one place a watermarked copy doesn’t stand in. Form I-9 is completed with your original, unexpired documents: the employer examines them in your presence, or, if it uses E-Verify and follows the DHS alternative procedure, on a live video call after you send it clear, unaltered copies of the front and back. Any copy that goes with your I-9 has to match the original exactly, so don’t watermark it. A watermark is for the copies that simply get emailed and stored: a landlord, an insurer, a car rental desk, a doctor’s office, or an employer’s own onboarding file when it asks for one. On the USCIS list of acceptable Form I-9 documents, a driver’s license issued by a state is a List B document: it proves identity, and it goes with a List C document such as a Social Security card.
Put the month, not just the year. If a copy you sent for an October lease shows up on a car loan in March, the date alone tells you it was reused.
What a Montana license shows on the copy
Montana licenses are issued by the Motor Vehicle Division, the MVD, which is part of the Montana Department of Justice. Its REAL ID page says a REAL ID compliant license or ID card has a star within a circle in the upper right corner, and that this is the only physical difference from a card that isn’t compliant. On the other card, for those issued after January 2019, that corner carries the text “NOT FOR FEDERAL IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES” instead.
The same page says Montana does not require residents to have a REAL ID. Since federal enforcement began on May 7, 2025, though, you need a compliant card or another accepted document, such as a passport or passport card, to board a domestic flight or enter federal facilities.
The card itself got a new look at the end of 2025. On December 4, 2025, the Department of Justice announced a redesigned license and ID card, issued from December 2025, and said cards already issued would remain valid until they expire. The release described a polycarbonate card with Montana landmarks in the background, black and white laser engraved images, multi-color ink, color shifting elements, ultraviolet designs and raised tactile features. It said the new cards would carry up to three icons: a white star with a black circle for REAL ID, a black eagle in flight marking U.S. citizenship, and a black organ donor symbol, a heart with a Y inside a circle. So depending on when you renewed, your copy may show the older design or the new one.
Ultraviolet designs only show under UV light, and raised features can only be felt, so a phone photo won’t capture those. Everything printed on the face will be there: your name, photo, license number, dates, the star or the “NOT FOR FEDERAL IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES” line, and, on the new design, whichever of the three icons your card has. State law also has the department print the word “veteran” on the face for those who qualify. A watermark leaves all of it readable, which is why a watermarked copy still does its job. Send the back only when asked.
What Montana law says about license data
For the record destruction rules, Montana defines personal information as your name, signature, address or telephone number combined with another piece of information such as your driver’s license or state identification number. A license copy puts your name and your license number in one picture.
Under Montana’s record destruction law, a business must take all reasonable steps to destroy, or arrange for the destruction of, customer records with personal information that it no longer needs to keep, by shredding, erasing or otherwise making them unreadable or undecipherable.
A person or business that conducts business in Montana and owns or licenses computerized data with personal information, which for this rule includes your name together with your driver’s license number when either one isn’t encrypted, must disclose a breach to the affected Montana residents without unreasonable delay, and send an electronic copy of the notice to the Attorney General’s consumer protection office.
The Montana identity theft statute also lists a driver’s license number as personal identifying information, and purposely or knowingly obtaining someone else’s and using it for any unlawful purpose is the offense of theft of identity.
Those rules govern what happens after a business holds your copy. A watermark works earlier: it ties each copy to the one place you sent it.
Where the watermark goes: Tiled, Diagonal or Horizontal
Across the data, never in a corner. A line along the edge can be cropped off in a second, and the copy is clean again.
Tiled repeats your line diagonally over the whole picture, across the photo, the name and the license number. It leaves no clean strip to cut away, so use it for a landlord you haven’t met or anyone you won’t deal with again.
Diagonal and Horizontal place a single line, quieter and easier to read around. They suit an office you already know, such as your employer’s HR team. Drag the line until it crosses your name and license number, not the margin.
Sending a Montana license copy safely
Check who is asking first. The FTC’s warning about rental listing scams describes fake landlords who collect a picture of your driver’s license along with paystubs and other details, and then use them to steal identities. When a request arrives through a listing site or a text from a number you don’t know, look up the landlord or the company on your own and reach them that way before you send anything.
Prefer the company’s own upload portal over email or a chat app, where the photo stays in both phones for good.
If the card itself is lost or destroyed, Montana law lets you get a replacement license from the MVD by giving the department satisfactory proof of the loss. If a copy went to the wrong person and your details are being used, report it to your local police. With that report, you can apply through any law enforcement agency for an identity theft passport, which the Attorney General may issue as a card or certificate. You can show it to police to help prevent being arrested for something done under your name, to creditors checking fraudulent accounts, and to credit bureaus, which must accept it as a dispute. Police and creditors decide for themselves whether to accept it. IdentityTheft.gov builds a report and a recovery plan if your details are already being misused.
A license from another state works the same way, with its own details: see the pages to watermark a driver’s license from California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, Tennessee, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Utah, Iowa, Nevada, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Idaho, West Virginia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming or DC. If you’d rather send a document without your home address, a watermarked passport card copy is the other option.
For the rest of what Nonimo does, including a desktop app that redacts client names and ID numbers before text reaches an AI tool, start at the Nonimo homepage.
Common questions
What should I write on a copy of my Montana driver's license?
Who the copy is for, what it's for, and the month and year, for example: For Elm Street apartment lease use only, October 2026. If the copy turns up on a different application, that line shows it doesn't belong there. A plain COPY fits any use, so it proves nothing.
Will a watermark hide the star on my Montana REAL ID?
No. A watermark hides nothing; it is text laid across the picture of your card, and everything under it stays readable. The Montana MVD says a REAL ID compliant card has a star within a circle in the upper right corner, and that a card that isn't compliant, if issued after January 2019, reads NOT FOR FEDERAL IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES in that same corner. Someone checking your copy will still see either one, along with your name, photo and license number. Lower the Opacity if you want the line lighter.
Does a Montana business have to destroy the license copy it keeps?
If you gave it to them as a customer, yes, once they no longer need it. Montana law counts your name, address or signature combined with your driver's license number as personal information, and requires a business to take all reasonable steps to destroy customer records with that information when they no longer need to be kept, by shredding, erasing or otherwise making them unreadable. That law governs what the business does with the copy; the watermark shows where the copy was meant to go.
Do I need to send the back of my Montana license?
Only if they asked for both sides. The front already shows your name, photo, license number and whether the card is REAL ID compliant. If the back is requested, add it in the Back zone and use Download both sides as PDF: one page, front above back, each side watermarked.
Can I watermark my Montana license on my phone?
Yes. The tool runs in your phone's browser. In the Front zone, tap Camera to take the picture or Photos to choose one, and HEIC pictures from an iPhone work as they are. Write the line, choose a layout, drag the watermark into place with your finger and download a PDF, PNG or JPG without installing anything.
Is my Montana license uploaded anywhere when I use the tool?
No. Your license never leaves your device: the photo is read and watermarked in your browser, and nothing is sent to our servers or anyone else's. The file you download is a new image, re-encoded without EXIF or GPS metadata, so it doesn't carry your phone model or the place where you took the picture.
Will a landlord or employer in Montana accept a watermarked license copy?
They should, because every detail on the card stays readable under the line. A property manager can check your name against the rental application. The watermark only makes the copy hard to pass off for some other purpose. Form I-9 for a new job is different: your employer examines the original license, not a copy.
What do I do if my Montana license copy went to a scammer?
If the card itself is lost or destroyed, Montana law lets you get a replacement license from the MVD by giving proof that satisfies the department of the loss. If someone is using your details, file a report with your local police and at IdentityTheft.gov. With a police report, Montana law lets the Attorney General issue an identity theft passport, a card or certificate you can show to police, creditors and credit bureaus.