You brand a data room by uploading your logo in that room's settings, on Pro and Business, and it replaces the 99 mark for every viewer. Everyone who opens a room or folder link sees your logo and organisation name instead of the platform's, from the first page.
Steps
- Open the room you want to brand, or create a new room for the deal, engagement or client the branding is for.
- Go to room settings and find the Branding section. Upload a logo (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF or SVG, up to 2 MB); a transparent PNG or an SVG sits cleanly on both light and dark headers. Branding is a Pro and Business feature.
- Add your organisation name and a welcome message. The name appears beside your logo on the viewer gate and the room header, and the welcome message sits under it, for example "Q3 board papers, please review by Friday".
- Preview the room in the live viewer gate preview in room settings, which updates as you type, and check the logo still reads clearly at the small size the header uses.
- Add the documents and set access controls separately. Branding changes what the room looks like. It does not decide who can open it, so still configure gating and expiry to suit the material inside (watermarking is on by default).
- Send the link once branding and access are both set. Recipients now see your name on the room, not a generic vendor page, from the moment they click through.
Edge cases and tier requirements
A logo makes a room look like it belongs to you. It does not change what is inside it, so a branded room holding sensitive material still needs the same gating decisions as an unbranded one. Do not treat branding as a security measure. It is a client-facing polish step, and it sits on the same plans as NDA gating: custom branding and NDA gating are Pro and Business features, while per-viewer watermarking is on by default on every plan. The watermark shows each viewer's email and the date on screen, which deters screenshots; downloads are never watermarked. Word, Excel and PowerPoint uploads are also Pro and up, and Free and Plus hold PDF uploads only.
If you are on the free tier, you can still build and test a room end to end. Free gives three rooms and twenty-five active links, forever, with no card required, so you can confirm the workflow before deciding whether branding is worth upgrading for. The logo can be up to 2 MB, and it shows at a small size in the header, so check that it still reads clearly there. A detailed mark with fine text often disappears at that scale, so a simplified version of your logo usually looks better than the full one.
If your current tool cannot do this
Plenty of sharing tools have no branding option at all, and some that claim one only add a small watermark rather than replacing the interface. The test is whether the recipient's whole experience of opening the room, the header, the name, the surrounding page, reflects your organisation, or whether the vendor's own name and styling still dominate the page around your file.
- If the tool only lets you add a logo to the document itself, that is document editing, not room branding. It does not touch the page the recipient lands on first.
- If branding is locked behind an enterprise sales conversation rather than a visible plan tier, you cannot judge the cost against the benefit without entering a sales process, which is the same quote-based trap that makes any pricing decision harder than it needs to be.
- If the branded view only appears for the room owner and reverts to the vendor's own look for the recipient, it is cosmetic for you and invisible to the person who actually matters, the viewer at the other end of the link.
- If there is no preview step, you cannot check the logo renders properly before a client or investor sees it, and the first person to spot a stretched or pixelated logo will be someone you were trying to impress.
Any platform that lets you upload a logo, preview the branded room as a recipient would see it, and keep that branding live for every subsequent viewer clears this bar. 99 Data Rooms folds this into the same room a founder would use to run a raise, which our guide on what a virtual data room actually is explains in more depth, and it sits alongside the same gating and revocation controls that keep the underlying documents protected regardless of how the page looks. Branding shows on room and folder links; a link to a single document opens in the standard viewer. It is also worth reading against what a data room can do that a Dropbox link cannot, since a plain file-sharing link usually opens on the provider's own page, and our comparison of data room vs shared drive covers the underlying structure a branded room sits on top of.
Branding vs security: two separate questions
| What it changes | What it does not change | |
|---|---|---|
| Room branding | The logo, organisation name and welcome message a viewer sees | Who can open the room, or what happens after they do |
| Gating | Whether a viewer must verify their identity first | How the room looks once they are inside |
| Watermarking | Whether a screenshot can be traced to one viewer | Whether the room looks branded or generic |
Treat these as three separate controls, not one bundle that comes as a package. A branded room with no gating is a good-looking room anyone can open. A gated room with no branding is a secure room that still looks like a stranger's product.
Frequently asked questions
Does branding a data room make it more secure? No. Branding changes how the room looks to a viewer. It has no effect on who can open it, whether the file can be downloaded, or whether a screenshot is traceable. Gating, expiry and watermarking (on by default) are separate from branding, because they answer a different question.
Can I use different logos for different rooms? Yes. Branding applies per room, so a room for one client, deal or department can carry a different logo, organisation name and welcome message from another. This is useful for agencies and consultants running several client engagements at once through the same account.
Is room branding available on the free tier? No. Custom branding is a Pro and Business feature, and Free and Plus rooms show the 99 mark. The free tier still gives three rooms and twenty-five active links, forever, with no card, to test the underlying workflow.
Will the recipient know the room is built on a third-party platform? A branded room leads with your logo, organisation name and welcome message from the first page a recipient sees, which is the point. If they look closely they will see that the link address and the emails we send on your behalf are 99 Data Rooms', and there are no custom colours. Preview the room yourself before sending so you know exactly what they will see.
What file format works best for a room logo? A transparent PNG usually renders most cleanly across light and dark headers. Simplify a detailed logo before uploading it, since fine text or thin lines can blur at the small size a header actually displays.
Build the room, then make it yours
Set up the room and add your documents, then on Pro upload your logo before you send the first link. The free tier gives three rooms and twenty-five active links, forever, no card required, which is enough to test the rest of the flow. Start free and see how the room looks to your first recipient.
Sources
- Room branding, watermarking and tier structure reflect 99 Data Rooms product facts. General claims about logo file handling and image rendering are standard, documented behaviour of web platforms, not specific to any single vendor.