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New Participant
August 1, 2012
Answered

Can't remove watermark...

  • August 1, 2012
  • 4 replies
  • 52099 views

I have a PDF that I need to remove what looks like a watermark across each page, but using the "remove watermark" feature in Adobe X Pro does not remove it. What else can I try to get rid of

what looks like a watermark on each page?

Thanks,

Andy

Correct answer markpkessinger

Here's a solution that sometimes works, depending on how the watermark was created.  If it's a gray watermark, export the file to an image (PNG or TIFF works best).  This will create one image for each page of the document.  Then open each page in an image editor.  Raise the contrast to 100%.  This will have the effect of fading the gray watermark so that it is invisible, while any text remains unaffected. Then save the images.  Once all the page images have been edited, recombine them into a .PDF.

4 replies

New Participant
February 21, 2022

Hi, Did you find a solution ? I'm experiencing a similar problem. 

markpkessingerCorrect answer
New Participant
December 5, 2023

Here's a solution that sometimes works, depending on how the watermark was created.  If it's a gray watermark, export the file to an image (PNG or TIFF works best).  This will create one image for each page of the document.  Then open each page in an image editor.  Raise the contrast to 100%.  This will have the effect of fading the gray watermark so that it is invisible, while any text remains unaffected. Then save the images.  Once all the page images have been edited, recombine them into a .PDF.

New Participant
July 30, 2024

This worked for me!  "Contrast" didn't work but "Brightness"  did the trick.

dave_m_k
Brainiac
August 2, 2012

You could try to save the file as a Word document, check to see if you can then grab and delete just the watermark, then convert the file back to PDF.  I've seen that work in instances like this.

-David

Alec Molloy
Inspiring
August 1, 2012

The "Remove Watermark" feature only removes watermarks that were created by Acrobat. If the watermark is not an Acrobat one, you can just delete the object with Steve's method.

Steve Werner
Adobe Expert
August 1, 2012

Try selecting the object with the Select Object tool and deleting.

Tools > Content > Select Object

New Participant
August 1, 2012

Steve, I tried that, but it had no effect. I clicked on Select Object, then clicked on the "watermark" but nothing happened (I expected some type of change / some indication the object was selected, but it had not effect). Any other ideas?

Inspiring
August 1, 2012

You should use the Edit Object (or perhaps Edit Document Text) tool, not the Select Object tool.