User Guide Cancel

Add watermarks to PDFs

Search
Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat

Open on web
  1. Acrobat User Guide
  2. Introduction to Acrobat
    1. Access Acrobat from desktop, mobile, web
    2. Introducing the new Acrobat experience
    3. What's new in Acrobat
    4. Keyboard shortcuts
    5. System Requirements
    6. Download Adobe Acrobat
    7. Download Acrobat | Enterprise term or VIP license
    8. Download Acrobat 64-bit for Windows
    9. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader | Windows
    10. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader | Mac OS
    11. Install updates for Acrobat and Reader
    12. Update your Acrobat to the latest version
    13. Download Acrobat 2020
    14. Release Notes | Acrobat, Reader
  3. Workspace
    1. Workspace basics
    2. Opening and viewing PDFs
      1. Opening PDFs
      2. Navigating PDF pages
      3. Viewing PDF preferences
      4. Adjusting PDF views
      5. Enable thumbnail preview of PDFs
      6. Display PDF in browser
    3. Working with online storage accounts
      1. Access files from Box
      2. Access files from Dropbox
      3. Access files from OneDrive
      4. Access files from SharePoint
      5. Access files from Google Drive
    4. Acrobat and macOS
    5. Acrobat notifications
    6. Grids, guides, and measurements in PDFs
    7. Asian, Cyrillic, and right-to-left text in PDFs
    8. Adobe Acrobat for Outlook
    9. Set Acrobat as default PDF viewer
    10. Explore Acrobat tools
  4. Creating PDFs
    1. Overview of PDF creation
    2. Create PDFs with Acrobat
    3. Create PDFs with PDFMaker
    4. Using the Adobe PDF printer
    5. Converting web pages to PDF
    6. Creating PDFs with Acrobat Distiller
    7. Adobe PDF conversion settings
    8. PDF fonts
  5. Editing PDFs
    1. Edit text in PDFs
    2. Edit images or objects in a PDF
    3. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    4. Edit scanned PDFs
    5. Enhance document photos captured using a mobile camera
    6. Optimizing PDFs
    7. PDF properties and metadata
    8. Links and attachments in PDFs
    9. PDF layers
    10. Page thumbnails and bookmarks in PDFs
    11. PDFs converted to web pages
    12. Setting up PDFs for a presentation
    13. PDF articles
    14. Geospatial PDFs
    15. Applying actions and scripts to PDFs
    16. Change the default font for adding text
    17. Delete pages from a PDF
    18. Edit a signed PDF | FAQ
  6. Scan and OCR
    1. Scan documents to PDF
    2. Enhance document photos
    3. Troubleshoot scanner issues when scanning using Acrobat
  7. Forms
    1. PDF forms basics
    2. Create a form from scratch in Acrobat
    3. Create and distribute PDF forms
    4. Fill in PDF forms
    5. PDF form field properties
    6. Fill and sign PDF forms
    7. Setting action buttons in PDF forms
    8. Publishing interactive PDF web forms
    9. PDF form field basics
    10. PDF barcode form fields
    11. Collect and manage PDF form data
    12. About forms tracker
    13. PDF forms help
    14. Send PDF forms to recipients using email or an internal server
  8. Combining files
    1. Combine or merge files into single PDF
    2. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    3. Add headers, footers, and Bates numbering to PDFs
    4. Crop PDF pages
    5. Add watermarks to PDFs
    6. Add backgrounds to PDFs
    7. Working with component files in a PDF Portfolio
    8. Publish and share PDF Portfolios
    9. Overview of PDF Portfolios
    10. Create and customize PDF Portfolios
  9. Sharing, reviews, and commenting
    1. Share and track PDFs online
    2. Mark up text with edits
    3. Preparing for a PDF review
    4. Starting a PDF review
    5. Hosting shared reviews on SharePoint or Office 365 sites
    6. Participating in a PDF review
    7. Add comments to PDFs
    8. Adding a stamp to a PDF
    9. Approval workflows
    10. Managing comments | view, reply, print
    11. Importing and exporting comments
    12. Tracking and managing PDF reviews
  10. Saving and exporting PDFs
    1. Saving PDFs
    2. Convert PDF to Word
    3. Convert PDF to PPTX
    4. Convert PDF to XLSX or XML
    5. Convert PDF to JPEG
    6. Convert PDF to TIFF
    7. Convert PDF to PNG
    8. Convert or export PDFs to other file formats
    9. File format options for PDF export
    10. Reusing PDF content
  11. Security
    1. Enhanced security setting for PDFs
    2. Securing PDFs with passwords
    3. Manage Digital IDs
    4. Securing PDFs with certificates
    5. Opening secured PDFs
    6. Removing sensitive content from PDFs
    7. Setting up security policies for PDFs
    8. Choosing a security method for PDFs
    9. Security warnings when a PDF opens
    10. Securing PDFs with Adobe Experience Manager
    11. Protected View feature for PDFs
    12. Overview of security in Acrobat and PDFs
    13. JavaScripts in PDFs as a security risk
    14. Attachments as security risks
    15. Allow or block links in PDFs
    16. Edit secured PDFs
  12. Electronic signatures
    1. Sign PDF documents
    2. Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere
    3. Send documents for e-signatures
    4. Create a web form
    5. Request e-signatures in bulk
    6. Collect online payments
    7. Brand your account
    8. About certificate signatures
    9. Certificate-based signatures
    10. Validating digital signatures
    11. Adobe Approved Trust List
    12. Manage trusted identities
  13. Printing
    1. Basic PDF printing tasks
    2. Print Booklets and PDF Portfolios
    3. Advanced PDF print settings
    4. Print to PDF
    5. Printing color PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    6. Printing PDFs in custom sizes
    7. Scale or resize PDF pages
  14. Accessibility, tags, and reflow
    1. Create and verify PDF accessibility
    2. Accessibility features in PDFs
    3. Reading Order tool for PDFs
    4. Reading PDFs with reflow and accessibility features
    5. Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panels
    6. Creating accessible PDFs
    7. Cloud-based auto-tagging
  15. Searching and indexing
    1. Creating PDF indexes
    2. Searching PDFs
  16. Multimedia and 3D models
    1. Add audio, video, and interactive objects to PDFs
    2. Adding 3D models to PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    3. Displaying 3D models in PDFs
    4. Interacting with 3D models
    5. Measuring 3D objects in PDFs
    6. Setting 3D views in PDFs
    7. Enable 3D content in PDF
    8. Adding multimedia to PDFs
    9. Commenting on 3D designs in PDFs
    10. Playing video, audio, and multimedia formats in PDFs
    11. Add comments to videos
  17. Print production tools (Acrobat Pro)
    1. Print production tools overview
    2. Printer marks and hairlines
    3. Previewing output
    4. Transparency flattening
    5. Color conversion and ink management
    6. Trapping color
  18. Preflight (Acrobat Pro)
    1. PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files
    2. Preflight profiles
    3. Advanced preflight inspections
    4. Preflight reports
    5. Viewing preflight results, objects, and resources
    6. Output intents in PDFs
    7. Correcting problem areas with the Preflight tool
    8. Automating document analysis with droplets or preflight actions
    9. Analyzing documents with the Preflight tool
    10. Additional checks in the Preflight tool
    11. Preflight libraries
    12. Preflight variables
  19. Color management
    1. Keeping colors consistent
    2. Color settings
    3. Color-managing documents
    4. Working with color profiles
    5. Understanding color management
  20. Troubleshoot
    1. Troubleshoot PDF printing in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
    2. Adobe Acrobat license has either expired or not been activated
    3. Edit PDF forms created in LiveCycle Designer
    4. Insufficient data for an image error on Adobe Acrobat
    5. Resolve errors related to the AcroCEF/RdrCEF processes of Acrobat or Acrobat Reader

About watermarks

A watermark in a document is either text or an image that appears either in front of or behind existing content, akin to a stamp. For instance, you might use a "Confidential" watermark on sensitive data pages. Multiple watermarks can be added to one or more PDFs, each added individually. Also, you can just specify the pages or page ranges where each watermark should appear.

Unlike a stamp, a watermark becomes a fixed element within PDF pages. Stamps, on the other hand, are PDF comments that readers can open to view, edit, or delete text annotations.

Adobe Acrobat deeplink

Try it in the app
Add watermarks to PDFs for branding and document protection in a few simple steps.

Open Acrobat
Open Acrobat

Add a watermark to a PDF

  1. Open the PDF to which you want to add a watermark. 

  2. From the global bar on the upper left, select Edit.

  3. Under ADD CONTENT, select More and then select Watermark > Add.

  4. In the Add Watermark dialog, adjust the source, appearance, and position as required. You can also save the settings for future use. Once you have set everything as required, select OK. 

    Add Watermark settings window
    Add Watermark settings window

Add watermark settings

Page Range Options: To apply the watermark to individual pages, select Page Range Options, specify a page range, and choose a Subset option, as needed.

Text: To create a text watermark, select Text and type the text in the box. Adjust the text formatting options as needed.

Save Settings: To reuse the watermark and watermark options you create, select Save Settings, provide a name for your settings, and select Ok.

File: To use an image as a watermark, select File and select the desired image file. If the file has multiple pages with images, specify the Page Number you want.

Note:

Only PDF, JPEG, and BMP images can be used as watermarks.

Appearance Options: Select Appearance options to adjust the appearance if watermark as needed

  • To specify when the watermark appears, select or deselect Show when printing and Show when displaying on screen.
  • To control variations in a PDF with pages of varying sizes, select or deselect. Keep the position and size of watermark text constant when printing on different page sizes.

Apply to Multiple Files: You can apply the same settings to additional PDFs. Select Apply to Multiple Files options > Add Files. Select the files and specify your folder and filename preferences in the Output Options dialog box. Select OK.

Change the size of an image watermark: 

Absolute Scale: To resize the watermark to the original image file size, enter a percentage in the Absolute Scale option (in the Source area of the dialog box).

Scale relative to target page: To resize the watermark relative to the PDF page dimensions, enter a percentage in the Scale relative to target page (in the Appearance area of the dialog box).

Add a watermark in component PDFs in a PDF Portfolio

  1. Select one or more component PDFs in a PDF Portfolio.

  2. Follow the steps mentioned in the previous section Add a watermark to a PDF.

Update a watermark

  1. Open the PDF in which you want to update the watermark. 

  2. Select Edit from the Global bar. 

  3. In the Edit pane under ADD CONTENT, select More. 

  4. Select Watermark and then select Update. 

  5. Make the desired changes and then select OK.

Note:

If you've multiple watermarks in a PDF, this procedure will update only the first watermark you added and discards all other watermarks.

Remove watermarks from a PDF

  1. Select Edit from the Global bar. 

  2. In the Edit pane under ADD CONTENT, select More. 

  3. Select Watermark and then select Remove. 

  4. Select Yes in the confirmation dialog box. 

Remove watermarks from multiple PDFs

  1. Close all the open PDFs. 

  2. In the Acrobat home view, select See All tools > Edit a PDF. 

  3. From the Edit pane under ADD CONTENT, select More. 

  4. Select Watermark and then select Remove. 

  5. In the dialog box that opens, select Add files. Select the files from which you want to remove watermarks, select Add files, and then select OK.

  6. In the Output Options dialog box, specify your folder and filename preferences and select OK. 

Get help faster and easier

New user?

Quick links

View all your plans Manage your plans
View quick links
Hide quick links

Legal Notices    |    Online Privacy Policy