Remove PDF Watermark

Removing PDF watermarks – tips and tricks

There are many reasons why you would want to use standard Adobe watermarks in PDF documents (for PDF watermarking methods see pdf watermarking and document watermarking):

• as a copying deterrent
• as a means of identifying the source of a printed document
• as a means of determining whether a document has been altered

but the problem is is that they can be easily removed, even if the PDF file is password protected to prevent this.

Removing PDF watermarks

Below is a list of some of the many ways you can remove watermarks from PDF files.

1. If the PDF files are NOT password protected, open the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat 8, choose the option “Remove Watermark” and then re-save the document.
2. If the PDF files are password protected, then use a PDF password remover program such as A-PDF Restrictions Remover.  It costs $10 for the software, and once the PDF password is removed you can use the method above to remove the watermark.
3. If you have access to the original source document (e.g. Word document) that was used for creating the Watermarked PDF, create a new PDF file minus the watermark.  If you don’t have the original source document then you can use a PDF to Word convertor to convert the document to Word, manually remove the Watermark and then convert it back to PDF.
4. Use Adobe Illustrator to open the PDF, select the watermark object, delete, resave as PDF.
5. Use a third party PDF editor like Foxit PDF Editor to remove the watermark.
6. Use a screen capture application to capture a copy of the PDF and then use a paint editing program to remove the watermark.  This option is the most time consuming and not really worth doing since there are easier methods of removing the document watermark as described above.

PDF watermark creator: PDF watermark security software

If you want to watermark PDF documents securely so that the watermarks CANNOT be removed then use PDF document security software that uses digital rights management (DRM) controls to impose dynamic and static watermarks on your PDF documents.

PDF files protected with Safeguard PDF Security cannot be opened in a PDF editor or converted to other file formats in order to remove the document watermarks.  Users are automatically prevented from taking screenshots.

You can dynamically insert usernames, email addresses, and date and time information into your watermarks, yet you only ever have to protect the document once for all users.  The document watermarks can be displayed when the document is viewed and/or printed.  Safeguard PDF Security uses public key technology which is transparent to the user – there are no passwords that can be easily compromised or that can be passed on to other users.