Automating watermarking from the command line

None of the eight watermarking tools we looked at recently can be called from a script. Ours can, and if you have a repeating publishing workflow it's the feature that pays for itself fastest.

The command

WatermarkImage.exe "C:\configs\portfolio-web.wmi"

That loads a saved configuration, runs the batch, and exits. No window left open, no interaction, nothing to click.

The .wmi file holds everything: the watermark, its size and position, output format and quality, resizing, folder handling, and — on Share editions and above — the upload destination.

Making the profile

Set the job up once in the interface: source folder, destination folder, watermark, output settings. Then save the configuration to a .wmi file. [VERIFY: exact menu path]

Build one profile per job shape, not per job:

C:\configs\
    portfolio-web.wmi 1600px, corner logo, JPEG 85, → WordPress
    client-proofs.wmi tiled watermark, JPEG 70, → local folder
    listings-mls.wmi agency logo, 1024px, → FTP
    archive-full.wmi embossed 3D mark, TIFF, structure preserved

Then the whole job is one line.

Where you'd put it

Scheduled — the folder gets watermarked overnight

Task Scheduler → Create Task → Action: start a program

Program:   C:\Program Files\TSR Watermark Image\WatermarkImage.exe
Arguments: "C:\configs\portfolio-web.wmi"

Set it daily at 02:00. Drop files into the source folder during the day; find them watermarked, resized and uploaded in the morning.

On the end of an existing script

If something already moves files off cards or out of a camera folder, append one line:

robocopy E:\DCIM\100CANON C:\jobs\incoming /MOV /S
"C:\Program Files\TSR Watermark Image\WatermarkImage.exe" "C:\configs\client-proofs.wmi"

PowerShell, waiting for completion

$exe = 'C:\Program Files\TSR Watermark Image\WatermarkImage.exe'
Start-Process $exe -ArgumentList '"C:\configs\portfolio-web.wmi"' -Wait -NoNewWindow
Write-Host "Watermarking finished at $(Get-Date -Format 'HH:mm:ss')"

aren't written yet.

Several profiles in sequence

$exe = 'C:\Program Files\TSR Watermark Image\WatermarkImage.exe'
foreach ($cfg in 'web-small','web-large','proofs') {
    Write-Host "Running $cfg..."
    Start-Process $exe -ArgumentList "`"C:\configs\$cfg.wmi`"" -Wait -NoNewWindow
}

Three outputs at three sizes with three different marks, from one source folder, unattended.

Watching a folder

$watcher = [System.IO.FileSystemWatcher]::new('C:\jobs\incoming', '*.jpg')
$watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = $true
Register-ObjectEvent $watcher Created -Action {
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 5          # let the file finish writing
    Start-Process 'C:\Program Files\TSR Watermark Image\WatermarkImage.exe' `
        -ArgumentList '"C:\configs\portfolio-web.wmi"' -Wait -NoNewWindow
}

Rough but effective. For anything busy, prefer a scheduled sweep — it batches, and it doesn't fire once per file.

Things worth knowing before you automate

Your originals are safe by design. The application refuses to accept the source folder as the destination. Watermarking is irreversible, and an unattended job that could overwrite an archive is not a risk worth taking, so we removed the possibility rather than warning about it.

Metadata survives. EXIF, XMP and IPTC are preserved on every paid edition, so scheduled runs don't quietly strip your copyright fields. GPS, ID3 and several hundred more tag groups on Share editions and above.

Uploads are part of the profile. On Professional + Share, the run can end by pushing the finished files to WordPress or FTP; Secure Share adds secure FTP. That means one scheduled task takes files from a folder to a live website with nobody present. [VERIFY: upload credentials are stored in the .wmi and don't prompt]

Existing files. Profiles can skip or overwrite files already in the destination. Scheduled sweeps over a growing folder want skip, or you'll reprocess the same images nightly. [VERIFY: setting name]

Log the runs. Redirect output and keep the timestamps:

Start-Process $exe -ArgumentList '"C:\configs\job.wmi"' -Wait -NoNewWindow `
    -RedirectStandardOutput "C:\logs\watermark-$(Get-Date -f yyyyMMdd).log"

Unattended jobs fail silently unless you make them talk.

Who this is for

Property agencies. Photographs land in a folder per listing; overnight they're watermarked with the agency mark, resized for the portal, and uploaded.

E-commerce. Product shots watermarked and pushed to the web server as part of the same pipeline that renames and resizes them.

Photographers with a WordPress portfolio. Export from Lightroom into a watched folder; watermarked and published without opening a second application.

Studios and archives. Nightly sweeps over incoming scans, with folder structure preserved and metadata intact.

Anyone who keeps forgetting. The best argument for automation isn't speed, it's that a step nobody has to remember is a step that never gets skipped on the busy week.

The honest caveat

This is a small audience and we know it. Most people watermark a folder by hand a few times a month and that's completely fine.

But if you're in the group that thinks in scheduled tasks, this is the difference between a tool you operate and a tool you install once and stop thinking about. Command-line support is included in every edition, including the $29.95 Professional — it isn't gated behind the expensive one.

Download the free version → · Compare editions → · 90-day money-back guarantee

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