Watermarks are often seen as a solution to prevent document copying. As an author, you might think that adding a watermark to your PDF is the best way to keep people from copying content without permission. Watermarks come in various shapes and sizes whereas some are simple images overlaying or at the bottom of the document while others are more complex, customizable text-based images flowing through your document.
Below are tools that will assist you to remove watermarks from a pdf file.
Pdf Filler
Price: 30days free trial and Paid (basic $8/mo, premium $15/mo, airSlate Business Cloud $50/mo)
PDFFiller is an online platform for every Pdf user to convert, create, edit, watermark, merge, and compress PDFs. This tool has among its stacked-up features, a watermark remover. You can auto-fill forms by automatically merging data from your document database or sending pre-filled copies.
PDF Filler is an application designed to fill the pages of PDF documents. It creates new pages in the document and fills them with a color, text, or image. You can choose what type of information you want to add and where it should go on the page. The program comes with many different options to help you get started with your project.
The program includes an intuitive interface that makes it easy for anyone to use, even if they’ve never used software like this before. You don’t need any special knowledge or training to be able to use it effectively because all of its features are laid out clearly in front of you so that you can focus on what matters most: creating great documents!
As a watermark remover, it allows you to convert PDFs to and from DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT and JPG formats. To cap it off, this platform operates on cloud computing which in turn guarantees cloud storage for your activities on it.
Pros
- It can edit and remove a watermark from a PDF
- Cloud storage
- Signature tracking and security for sensitive documents.
Cons
- Interface is not beginner friendly
- Template editing is not easy
- Price is costly
PDF2Everything
Price: Free
PDF2Everything is another tool used to remove watermarks from a PDF. Though this comes with a lot of hassles, especially with the installation process the swiftness of its performance, especially with the editing of PDF and conversion of files overshadows the former. Its installation requires downloading of the extra file to get the software to work. It converts PDF documents to and from multiple formats, including PowerPoint (PPT), PostScript (PS), Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), PNG, BMP, TIFF, JPEG, and PC Paintbrush. You can convert an entire document, unlike the others that requires conversion in batches.
PDF2Everything is a free, web-based service that converts PDF files to other file formats (like Word, Excel and PowerPoint). It’s fast, it’s easy and it’s absolutely free.
The process is simple: just upload your PDF file using the Upload button on our homepage, enter the email address you want us to send the converted file to, and click Go. You’ll be redirected to a page where you can see your converted file in seconds!
Pros
- One of the fastest PDF editing tools
- User-friendly interface
- Converts to multiple formats
Cons
- Download extra file after installation
- Cross-platform use is not available
- Ineffective support
PDF watermark remover
Price: Free
PDF watermark remover, as the name suggests, is used to delete and remove text and image watermarks from PDF files. Watermark remover is a very popular tool for removing watermarks from PDF files. The program is simple and easy to use, so even novice users can remove the watermarks from their PDF files with it. It has a very intuitive interface and offers many useful features that make the process of removing watermarks from PDFs a quick and easy task. It can remove a watermark from a PDF in batches. Remove all embedded images: logo, stamp, and watermark. No changes are made to the data stored in the PDF files. Unlike other PDF watermark removers mentioned so far, this is dedicated specifically to removing watermarks from PDFs free online. With a basic one-page display devoid of every distraction, it goes straight to the point and runs every operation at a lightweight speed.
Pros
- User-friendly and basic interface
- It preserves data on the PDF
- Error-free
Cons
- No additional information on the page
- The site may be risky with information
Google Drive
Price: Free
Google drive is probably the most popular tool on this list. Being one of the explicit and expressive tools to remove watermark from pdf available for free. It can be used to edit, convert, split, merge and read PDFs though it offers so much more than that. With cloud storage, you can be guaranteed that your information is backed up and accessible at almost any time across any platforms where google drive is accessible from. Also, it can be used for basic editing, conversion from and to multiple document options, and can be used for removing watermarks from PDFs online.
Pros
- Easy to use interface
- Offers cloud storage
- File sharing is easy
Cons
- Google analyzes your content
- Potential security risks to files
Soda PDF
Price: Free trial and Paid (Standard $6.75/mo, Pro 10.5/mo, Business 16.75/mo)
SodaPdf is one of the most powerful tools, if not the most powerful, for creating and editing PDF files on this list. Boasting of a superior, modern and sleek interface with advanced cloud-computing service. Though it requires installing its application to work, which is available for free. But to maximize its use, it is recommended to get Adobe Acrobat Pro DC also which costs less than $15/mo. But based on the quality of services being offered on this platform, every penny of the cost is worth it. It can convert PDFs to and from DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT and JPG formats.
As a powerful PDF product, Soda PDF allows you to edit PDF, annotate PDF, protect PDF, and sign PDF. When it comes to removing watermarks from PDFs, Soda provides easy solution as well to quickly erase all marks on your PDF documents.
Step 1: Download Soda PDF from the official website;
Step 2: Install the PDF program on your PC;
Step 3: Upload the watermark-protected PDF document;
Step 4: Click Remove Page Marks in the tab Edit;
Step 5: Choose Watermark to delete all watermarks made on the PDF.
Different from SwifDoo PDF, Soda PDF allows its users to custom what to delete, meaning users can decide which pages to remove watermarks from.
Pros
- Modern and sleek interface
- Advanced PDF creation and editing tools
- Makes use of cloud storage services.
Cons
- Most features must be purchased separately
- Complicated installation
PDFdu
One of the best PDF watermark remover online free tools you can use is PDFdu. This online tool doubles as a PDF editor, converter, splitter, and merger. You can use it to remove watermarks from your PDF as well as add watermarks. To remove the watermarks on your PDF documents, you first need to convert the PDF document to a text format. After you have converted the files to text format, the watermarks will be overlaid on the document allowing you to click and delete them manually.
PDFaid
The second online PDF watermark remover that you can use is PDFaid. This web-based program allows you to convert PDF files to editable formats, extract images from PDFs, rotate and merge PDFs, add watermarks, create PDF watermarks and remove watermarks. To remove watermarks, first, you need to convert your PDF files to an editable output format. Then, you can go ahead to delete the watermark with ease. Once you are done, you will need to import the editable output format to the website to convert it back to PDF.
SwifDoo PDF
SwifDoo PDF is an all-in-one desktop program. 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 acts as an easy-to-use watermark remover. Here are the steps to hide watermarks from PDFs:
Step 1: Download and install SwifDoo PDF on your computer;
Step 2: Open the software and import the watermarked PDF to the workstation;
Step 3: Click Watermark in the Advanced tab, and then select Delete Watermark to erase all the watermarks from your PDF.
This PDF program can remove both text watermark and image watermark from a PDF. If you want to know how to remove a CamScanner watermark from the PDF, 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.
Apart from removing watermarks from PDF documents, this rising star enables users to add commonly-used watermarks to PDFs, such as “Confidential”, “Office Use Only”, and “Do Not Copy”.
Nitro PDF
Nitro PDF is a suitable alternative to Adobe Acrobat. With a similar user interface to Office, Nitro PDF is a qualified PDF viewer, creator, editor, and signer. In terms of removing watermarks from PDFs, Nitro PDF can help you delete all marks within several clicks:
Step 1: Download Nitro PDF and install the program on your device;
Step 2: Start the program and import your watermarked PDF to the workplace;
Step 3: Choose Watermark in the Page Layout;
Step 4: Select Delete Watermark in the drop-down menu.
Tip:Nitro PDF is comprehensive in its features, but the installation process sometimes lets you down as it automatically crashes and asks you to retry again and again.
The above-mentioned approaches to eliminate watermarks from PDF is mainly for Windows users. The next part will talk about how to deal with watermarked PDF documents on Mac.
Remove Watermarks from PDFs on Mac
PDFelement
PDFelement by Wondershare is a versatile PDF program which enables users to create, view, edit, convert, and sign PDFs. It is available on both Windows and Mac. To remove watermarks from PDF on Mac, PDFelement is capable of quickly erasing all marks on the pages:
Step 1: Drag your watermarked PDF to the PDFelement;
Step 2: Select Tool and then choose Add or Edit Watermark;
Step 3: Click Edit Watermark and hit the Delete button at your right side;
Step 4: Choose Yes to remove all watermarks from PDFs.
This easy-to-use PDF program allows users to perform batch processing, such as batch removal of text, image, and watermarks. If you need to add watermarks in bulk, PDFelement is a trusted product.
Preview
Preview is the Apple’s built-in PDF reader and image viewer. This application lets users to view, edit, and print digital images and documents. As to watermark removal, Preview can remove the background from an image:
Step 1: Open a watermarked PDF with Preview, and click Show Markup Toolbar button;
Step 2: Click Instant Alpha to drag over the selected area;
Step 3: Press the Delete button to delete the selected area;
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. For converting PDF to image, this article may be helpful: Solutions: Convert PDF to JPG on Windows 10 [Online & Offline].
Limitation of Online PDF Watermark Remover Tools
- Online PDF watermark removers have file size limitations. Most of them do not remove watermarks from several PDF files at once or large PDF files.
- Online PDF watermark removers may not keep the original format of the PDF file. You will need to re-format the PDF back to its original layout.
- Another limitation of online PDF tools is that they don’t remove watermarks directly. You have to convert the PDF file into an editable format to remove the watermarks and then convert the document back to PDF format.
Conclusion
Almost everyone has used a PDF at some point, and it’s probably had some watermarks on the document. Watermarks and security features can be useful for some businesses and can provide protection, but if your goal isn’t to keep your content secret — you might want to remove it. That said, while some PDF apps allow you to remove them — not all do, and it’s not always obvious how to remove PDF security features.