By Kimberlee Leonard Updated August 16, 2018
Many small businesses or freelancers who perform work for clients, will send a PDF proof for approval before finalizing the document. This is common with templates, writing, graphics and artwork. If you need to remove a watermark, Adobe Acrobat DC is capable of doing this, in most circ*mstances. There are times in which you will need the creator's permission or you'll need to use a workaround that was designed to become a watermark PDF remover.
Removing a Watermark in Acrobat
You can add, edit or remove a watermark in Adobe Acrobat, using the same procedures. Watermarks might state that something is confidential, is a draft or may have the creator's name and potential copyright disclosure on the document. Removing the watermark changes the authority of distribution.
Launch Adobe Acrobat and open the PDF that contains the watermark. Go to the Tools tab and select Edit PDF. The next set of options has Watermark listed. Click on this to get to the option to Add, Edit or Remove. Select this to remove the watermark word or image, You can also remove a watermark from multiple files, by loading Acrobat. Go through the same menu options, but don't open a file while doing so. Once you select Remove, you will select Add Files. You can search and find the files to edit and click OK. An Output Options box appears for you to rename files if needed.
Permissions and Protections
Watermarks are designed to advise readers of authorized or unauthorized use. They also indicate the states of a version being a draft version or a final version. Many creative documents use a watermark to protect ownership rights until final approvals and payments are made.
If the watermark was created with a PDF security setting, you might not be able to edit the document. You will need permission from the creator of the document, which includes a password for editing the document. Even with the security password enabled on the document, there are workarounds with third-party programs.
Bypassing Password and Security
Before removing any watermark, make sure that you have legal permission to do so. Distributing or using any document that was protected without permission could result in adverse legal action.
To bypass the password requirement, open the original document in Adobe Reader. Use the option to Print the document as a PDF, and then give it a new name. This should override the password features on the new document, making it an unsecured document. Once this is completed, you are able to load the new file into Acrobat to remove the watermark.
