Skip to main content
Participant
September 12, 2013
Question

watermarks on pdfs that don't show up except while working in acrobat

  • September 12, 2013
  • 2 replies
  • 29754 views

I have tried everything and can't get my watermark to show except when I'm working on the PDF in acrobat. Once it's been created, the watermark does not appear. I have checked the boxes that say: "show while viewing" and "show while printing". This is my first time. I've watched several videos, gone over and over each item in the diaglogue box. Help!

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

April 21, 2016

Hi there.

I had the same experience, but I solved it using a different watermark format.

In my case, I was trying a PNG image (wich didn't work), then I saved the image as JPG , and It worked instantly.

Hope you get the same result.

Take care.

Fernando

Participant
October 5, 2016

I am trying to convert a Word document which has company logo as watermark.

When I save that document as PDF the watermarks are not visible.

Can you please help.

I am also using a jpg file for Logo.

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 5, 2016

How are you converting the file to PDF? What exact command are you using,

and with what settings?

You can simply re-apply the watermarks in Acrobat using the Tools - Pages -

Add Watermark tool...

Mark Tezak
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
September 16, 2013

Are you saying that the Watermark is visible in ACROBAT, but elsewhere - which is where, exactly? - you are not seeing it.

How large is the file, ie, how many pages?  And which version and OS platform are you using?`

Participant
September 16, 2013

Thanks so much for answering! Yes, I am saying that the watermark is visible in Acrobat, but not on the pdf viewed outside Acrobat. The PDF file is 737 KB, 192 pages. I'm using Mac OS 10.6.8.

I finally figured out that I could go into InDesign (the PDF had been exported from InDesign) and do the equivalent of a watermark on a master page and then make the PDF. Which is what I did.

But I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong to add a watermark to an existing PDF.

Do you think it's the size of the PDF? I should try it on one page.

Many thanks for helping me sort this out!

Mark Tezak
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
September 19, 2013

Hi, sorry for not getting back earlier, seems I must have turned off my Forum notifications (somehow), and was not aware you had answered.

When you say "outside of Acrobat", what does that mean exactly, ie, which PDF viewers are you using to open and view PDF's?  Is it in a Browser, Apple Preview, Adobe Reader, 3rd party PDF viewer, placed PDF in InDesign or Illustrator, etc?

In the ADD WATERMARK dialog, there is a page range feature as well, and defaults to THIS PAGE ONLY.  One must change that setting to apply to ALL pages.  Is it possible that only one page in the 192pp has a watermark?  That number of pages is no problem for the feature or the ap, we regularly test with files containing tens of thousands of pages (yes, some users do it).