How to Remove Watermark from PDF in 2024[ 8 Effective Methods]

By Roche | Follow | Updated on March 13, 2024 | Deutsch Français

Introduction:

A PDF watermark is used to specify the document status and protect classified information data. However, a watermark can also create a distraction when viewing a PDF. A large watermark embedded across the middle of your PDF file makes it hard to focus on the text. Hence, it is time to get an easy tool to remove watermarks from PDF files.

It’s quite easy to watermark a PDF, however, things aren’t easy when you don’t need the PDF watermark, especially when the watermark is wrongly placed or disrupts our editing and reading. If you need to remove it from the PDF, you must need help from a PDF watermark remover. This article demonstrates how to remove watermark from PDF documents on Windows, Mac, and online with different tools like SwifDoo PDF, an ideal solution to all your PDF worries.

In this section, we will showcase how to remove watermarks from PDFs on Windows with three best methods.

Method 1: Remove Watermark from PDF with SwifDoo PDF

SwifDoo PDF is an all-in-one desktop PDF program running on Windows. Even though it is not the biggest name in the document management industry, it offers more than 30 features to meet diversified needs. To eliminate watermarks from PDFs for a better reading experience, SwifDoo PDF has improved the workflow so that users can readily delete PDF watermarks with one click.

Before removing PDF watermarks, remember to get SwifDoo PDF and install it on your computer by tapping the download button below. And here are the steps to remove watermarks from PDFs:

Step 1: Open the file in this PDF watermark remover

Open the software and click “Open” on the main screen to import the watermarked PDF.

Step 2: Remove watermarks from the PDF

Click “Watermark” in the Protect tab. Then select “Delete Watermark” from the drop-down list to remove all the watermarks from your PDF.

Step 3: Save the changes

A pop-up window jumps out when you successfully remove a watermark from a PDF. Tap “OK” and click the save button in the upper left to save the file.

This PDF watermark remover can delete both text watermarks and image watermarks from a PDF. On the occasion that you want to know how to remove a CamScanner watermark, open the watermarked PDF with SwifDoo PDF, and right-click on the watermark to choose "Delete Image". That's all that is needed to deal with a watermark created by CamScanner.

More File Protection Methods in SwifDoo PDF

Removing watermarks in PDF files is never the last step you need to take when protecting a PDF. Sometimes, it is necessary to update the watermark to display the status of a certain file. Or you may need to design a special watermark to prevent counterfeiting. SwifDoo PDF offers a convenient process to remove watermarks from PDF documents and update them efficiently.

After removing watermarks from PDF files, this program has other protection tools to safeguard your files, including encryption and flattening files. You can add open and permission passwords to prevent unauthorized access. Flattening PDF guarantees the file integrity, making it unable to be edited.

More features:

• Customize PDF watermarks and update them with ease;
• Encrypt multiple PDFs in a batch swiftly;
• Restrict file sharing, editing, printing, and copying flexibly.

Add PDF Stamp after Removing Watermarks from PDF

Apart from adding and removing watermarks from PDF documents, this rising star is also a PDF stamp creator that can stamp a PDF with standard business, dynamic, and “Sign Here” stamps. This feature lets you directly sign a PDF and it removes the hassle of printing the file, which is more environment-friendly and cost-saving. SwifDoo PDF enables you to better collaborate with colleagues by efficiently removing PDF watermarks and adding signatures to attest to the content.

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Method 2: Use Soda PDF

As a powerful PDF product, Soda PDF allows you to edit PDF, annotate PDF, protect PDF, and electronically sign a PDF on a Windows computer. When it comes to removing watermarks from PDFs, Soda provides an easy solution, to quickly erase all marks from your PDF documents. Here's how to delete watermarks from PDFs:

Step 1: Download and install Soda PDF on your computer from the official website;

Step 2: Upload the watermark-protected PDF document to the workstation;

Step 3: Click Remove Page Marks in the tab Edit;

Step 4: Choose Watermark to delete all watermarks made on the PDF.

Different from SwifDoo PDF, Soda PDF allows its users to customize what to delete, meaning users can decide to remove watermarks from PDF files for certain pages. In addition to the desktop version, Soda PDF released an online version as a web-based counterpart, intending to reach a broader market.

With that said, when you need help with a PDF watermark remover online, try Soda PDF Online and repeat the same steps above to erase the PDF watermarks.

Method 3: Use Nitro PDF

Nitro PDF is a suitable PDF editor alternative to Adobe Acrobat Windows version. With a similar user interface to Microsoft Office, Nitro PDF is a qualified PDF viewer, creator, editor, signer, and annotator. In terms of how to remove PDF watermarks, Nitro PDF allows users to edit, manage, and remove all marks within several clicks:

Step 1: Download Nitro PDF and install the program on your device;

Step 2: Launch the application and import your watermarked PDF into the workspace;

Step 3: In the Page Layout, select Watermark in the drop-down menu to remove all watermarks from PDFs.

Step 4: Select Delete Watermark in the drop-down menu to remove watermarks from PDFs.

The above-mentioned approaches to removing watermarks from PDFs are mainly for Windows users. The next part will talk about how to deal with watermarked PDF documents on Mac.

If you intend to remove PDF watermarks on Mac, the default PDF viewer, Preview cannot help with that. As a consequence, Mac users have to ask for outside help. The following content fills you in on how to remove watermarks from PDFs on Mac.

Method 4: Use PDFelement

PDFelement by Wondershare is a versatile PDF program that enables users to create, view, edit, convert, and sign PDFs. It is available on both Windows and Mac. To take away watermarks from PDF on Mac, PDFelement is capable of erasing all marks on the pages with several clicks:

Step 1: Drag your watermarked PDF to the PDFelement;

Step 2: Select Edit and then choose Delete Watermark;

Step 3: When a pop-up window shows up, choose Yes to remove watermarks from PDFs.

This easy-to-use PDF program allows users to perform batch processing, such as batch removal of text, images, and watermarks. If you need to remove PDF watermarks in bulk, PDFelement is a trusted product.

Method 5: Remove Watermark from PDF Free with Preview

If your PDF documents are standard ones created by any virtual printer or Microsoft Office Suite, you can try Preview to remove a watermark from a PDF but don't have high expectations for it.

Preview is Apple’s built-in PDF reader and image viewer. This application lets users view, edit, and print digital images and documents. As to PDF watermark remover, Preview can remove the background from an image:

Step 1: In Preview, open a watermarked PDF and select the Show Markup Toolbar option;

Step 2: Click Instant Alpha to drag over the selected area;

Step 3: Press the Delete button to delete the selected area and remove the watermark from your PDF;

This method applies to image files. Therefore, if you need to erase the watermark background from your PDFs, you need to convert your PDFs into images. This article may help convert PDF to image.

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The author has selected seven commonly used web-based PDF tools to test how to easily remove watermarks from PDFs online, and it’s surprising to find that most Internet-based applications don’t allow users to DIRECTLY delete watermarks from PDFs. Most online PDF watermarks will erase both the mark and the text together. Luckily, we still have Google Drive to help remove PDF watermarks online for free.

Method 6: How to Remove Wathermark Online with Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud storage platform where users can store PDFs. Users don’t need any software to access and process documents. Concerning how to remove a watermark from a PDF, Google Drive integrates the word processor, Google Docs, to deal with watermarked PDFs:

Step 1: Upload the watermarked PDF to Google Drive from the local folder;

Step 2: Right-click the PDF and choose Google Docs in Open with;

Step 3: Click the watermark to remove it.

Although Google Drive (actually Google Docs) can remove watermarks from PDFs online for free, it works by initially converting the PDF to an editable Word so that users can make changes to the document. Therefore, it is suitable for normal PDFs without any sophisticated content.

If your PDF contains complex interactive content, such as multi-media, then the conversion result is far from satisfying: some images are lost and the original formatting is altered. Therefore, it is the least ideal solution to eliminate watermarks from PDFs.

Method 7: Use Pdfcandle

Pdfcandle is a free site that allows you to remove watermarks from PDFs online. It is a comprehensive application to handle PDF files, including deleting watermarks, merging PDF pages, and converting PDFs. Be aware: it cannot automatically recognize the watermark and requires you to manually enter the watermark content before removing the PDF watermark. Read on to see how to remove a watermark from a PDF:

Step 1: Drag and drop your file to the indicated area to open it in this software;

Step 2: Enter the text content of the watermark and click Download to remove PDF watermarks.

Some watermarks are superimposed behind the existing text layer, and online watermark removers cannot deal with multilayered PDF documents. That can well answer the question of why it is bothersome to remove watermarks from PDFs online.

Method 8: Use SysTools PDF Watermark Remover

When you have multiple PDFs with watermarks, removing PDF watermarks one by one can be a waste of time. SysTools PDF Watermark Remover is designed to be a proficient watermark-removing solution that allows you to delete unwanted watermarks from multiple PDF documents at once. This desktop program can remove logos, stamps, watermarks, and signatures handily without corrupting the original formatting. Learn the way to remove  watermarks from multiple PDF files:

Step 1: Launch this software and click Open PDF under the Start Page tab;

Step 2: Tap Add File(s) to import PDFs and press Next;

Step 3: Hit Start to get rid of all watermarks from these PDF files.

This application is a basic utility that has no learning curve. However, it still has one major drawback: it can only remove watermarks created by Adobe Acrobat.

Comparison of Listed PDF Watermark Removers

If you are still unclear about the software presented, this section does a summary to compare the advantages and disadvantages of each application. Take a look at this chart to choose the tool to remove PDF watermarks.

What Is a Watermark?

Maybe you're still interested in what a watermark is. In this section, we simply give an introduction to it.

A watermark is usually an identifiable image or pattern placed on a paper document or image file. The purpose of a watermark is to prevent the document from being tempered. It is widely used by those who need to protect content and claim ownership of the asset. 

A PDF watermark is an image placed on the PDF text layer as well. Adding watermarks to PDF is not a big deal, but issues may crop up when they interfere with your PDF reading and editing. That is the primary reason why this post narrows down some easy-to-use PDF watermark removers. Now, follow the guide to readily remove a watermark from a PDF document.

Final Words

All things considered, watermark removal is not an easy job, even if you have the right tools. Desktop PDF programs can better assist in removing all watermarks from PDFs, without erasing the text behind the mark. Most online PDF watermark removers can add PDF watermarks, but removing them from PDFs instead seems to be a tough task.

Among all the desktop software, SwifDoo PDF is a reliable software program to remove PDF watermarks, and it provides a longer free trial for registered users.