Blog · October 28, 2026
How to stop clients screenshotting proofs.
“Love them. Posted three to stories already.” They were proofs. You hadn’t retouched a single one.
You can’t block the screenshot itself. It’s taken by the phone or the computer, not by the page, so no photo gallery can stop one. What you can do is make a screenshot not worth keeping: a watermark burned into the proof, a preview too small to print big, and the full-size files held back until your client approves.
By Vitaly Kibenko
Why a gallery can’t stop it.
Some sites turn off right-click or dragging an image. That stops the easiest way to save the file, and nothing else: the screenshot button still works, and so does a second phone pointed at the screen. Anything that shows a picture on someone’s screen has handed them a copy of the screen.
Make the screenshot worth less than the real thing.
Burn the mark in
A watermark drawn over the photo by the page can be stepped around. One that’s part of the picture comes along with every save and every screenshot. On DropYourFiles the proofs your client sees carry Review copy in the picture itself, and once your client has typed a name, that name sits across the photo too.
Keep the preview small
Proofs show at 1600 px on the long edge at most. Plenty for choosing on a phone or a laptop, and soft for a print or a billboard.
Lock the files
No download of any size until your client approves. Until then, a screenshot is the one copy they have, with the mark on it.
Then the real files, as soon as they approve.
Most clients who screenshot aren’t stealing. They’re excited and want to post today. When they press Approve, the mark comes off and the full-size files open on the same link, so the clean photo is right there and the screenshot isn’t worth the trouble. On a job with photos and film, they can approve the photos before the film is done.
The mark is on for review copies by default, under Watermark review copies in your account. Films get the same treatment: how to watermark a video for client review.
Questions.
How can a website stop screenshots?
For a photo, it can’t. A screenshot is taken by the device, outside the page. A site can make the screenshot less useful, with a mark in the picture and a smaller preview.
Can a client screenshot a watermarked proof?
Yes, and the mark comes with it when it’s burned into the picture. That’s the point of putting it there.
Does disabling right-click protect my photos?
Not from a screenshot. It stops the right-click save and nothing more.
When does the watermark come off?
When your client approves. The full-size photos are ready to download from the page they’re already on.
Keep reading.
- How to watermark a video for client review
- How to stop a client downloading before approval
- Photo proofing your client can do on a phone
- What to say when a client is not responding
- Should photographers give clients raw files?
- How to share a video privately with a client
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