Some application forms don't just want a photo — they want your name and the date the photo was taken printed on the photo itself. UPSC and the Indian Army are the best-known examples, and a photo without that text gets rejected at document verification even if its size and dimensions are perfect. Here's exactly what they ask for and how to add it in under a minute, without Photoshop.
Which exams require name and date on the photo
- UPSC (Civil Services, NDA, CDS and others) — the photo must carry your name and the date of the photograph along the bottom.
- Indian Army / Agniveer — name and photo date printed on the photo; it's checked at every stage of recruitment.
- Some banking and state forms — a few request it; the notification will say "photograph with name and date" if so.
If your exam's notification doesn't mention it, you don't need it — adding text to a photo that should be plain can itself cause a rejection. When in doubt, check your exam in the requirements directory.
What the text actually needs to look like
The rules are simple but specific: your full name and the date should be clearly legible, in a plain dark font, on a light strip at the bottom of the photo — without covering your face or shoulders. The date is the day the photo was taken, not the day you apply. Handwriting it after printing is allowed for the paper form, but for online uploads the text needs to be part of the image.
Why people struggle with this
The usual advice is "open it in MS Paint and type the text," which is fiddly on a phone, easy to misalign, and often leaves the text too small to read or overlapping the chin. Then the photo still has to be resized to the exam's KB and dimensions afterward — two separate chores.
The one-minute way
The photo with name & date tool does both at once. You:
- Drop in your photo.
- Type your name; the date defaults to today (taken date) and is editable.
- It places a clean, legible strip at the bottom without touching your face.
- Download — already a JPG, ready to resize for your exam.
It runs entirely in your browser, so your photo is never uploaded. There is a dedicated SSC name-and-date photo page too, preset for that format.
Then size it for your exam
Once the name and date are on the photo, run it through your exam's resizer so the file lands in the right KB band and dimensions — for instance the UPSC resizer or the UPSC NDA resizer. That order — text first, resize second — keeps the text crisp and the file compliant.
Worried about other reasons a photo gets sent back? We listed every common one in why exam photos and signatures get rejected.