How to Insert Watermarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

This tutorial shows how to insert watermarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. We’ll also look at how to update and remove watermarks. In addition, we’ll walk through the steps to add watermarks to multiple PDFs at once. But first…

What Are Watermarks?

Watermarks are words, phrases, or images used to identify ownership (e.g., Copyright XYZ Corporation), indicate confidentiality (e.g., Top Secret, Confidential), or show status (e.g., Draft, Sample). Watermarks are usually transparent enough to allow text or images to be seen under or above the mark.

Quick Links:

How to Insert Watermarks
How to Update Watermarks
How to Remove Watermarks
How to Add Watermarks to Multiple PDFs

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than fifty other videos about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. These steps will also work in Adobe Acrobat 2020 and Adobe Acrobat 2017. Adobe’s free PDF display software, Acrobat Reader, doesn’t offer a way to add watermarks.

How to Insert Watermarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

Open the PDF to which you want to add the watermark.
Select the Tools tab.

Tools tab in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 1. Tools tab

Select Edit PDF in the Tools Center.

Edit PDF button in Adobe Acrobat Tools Center — Figure 2. Edit PDF button

Select Watermark in the Edit PDF toolbar.

Watermark button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 4. Watermark button

Select Add from the drop-down menu.

Add Watermark option in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 4. Add option

Skip to step 8 if your watermark is an image.

Select the Text radio button if it is not already selected, and then type your watermark text into the text box.

Text text box in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 5. Text text box

Adjust the font style, font size, underlining, color, and alignment, as necessary.

Watermark font options in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 6. Font options

Skip to step 12 if your watermark is not an image.

If your watermark is an image, select the File radio button.

Important Note: Watermark images have to be JPEG, BMP, or PDF files. (Sorry, no PNGs.)

File radio button in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 7. File radio button

Select the Browse button.

Browse button in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 8. Browse button

Locate and select your image in the Open dialog box, and then select the Open button.

Open dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 9. Open dialog box

(Optional) Change the percentage in the Absolute Scale box if you want to adjust the scale of the image.

Absolute Scale box in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 10. Absolute Scale box

(Optional) Adjust the rotation, opacity, and scale relative to the target page (which is the page or pages on which the watermark will be displayed, as shown in step 17).

Rotation, Opacity, and Scale options in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 11. Rotation, opacity, and scale options

Select Appear behind page if you want the watermark located behind the text and images. Or, select Appear on top of page if you want the watermark located over the text and images.

Location options in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 12. Location options

(Optional) Select Appearance Options to choose whether to show the watermark when printing, display the watermark on screen, and keep the position and size of the watermark the same when printing different page sizes.

Appearance Options in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 13. Appearance Options link and dialog box

(Optional) Adjust the vertical and horizontal position of the watermark by inches, percent centimeters, millimeters, picas, or points.

Vertical and horizontal position options in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 14. Vertical and horizontal position options

Skip to step 20 if you don’t want your watermark to appear on a specific page or page range. The default is to show the watermark on every page.

Select Page Range Options to select specific pages.

Page Range Options link in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 15. Page Range Options link

Select Pages from, and then enter a specific page range into the boxes in the Page Range Options dialog box.

Pro Tip: If you only want the watermark to appear on one page in a multi-page PDF, put that page number in both boxes.

Page range boxes in the Page Range Options dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 16. Page range boxes

Select All pages in range, Even pages only, or Odd pages only from the Subset menu.

Page Range Options Subset menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 17. Subset menu

Select the OK button to close the Page Range Options dialog box.

Page Range Options dialog box OK button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 18. Page Range Options OK button

Select the OK button to close the Add Watermark dialog box.

OK button in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 19. Add Watermark OK button

Pro Tip: You can’t add more than one watermark simultaneously. However, you can repeat the steps above to add multiple layers of watermarks, including a combination of text and images.

How to Update Watermarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

This process only updates the first watermark added to your PDF. Acrobat doesn’t provide a way to update additional watermarks.

Select the Tools tab (see figure 1).
Select Edit PDF in the Tools Center (see figure 2).
Select Watermark in the Edit PDF toolbar (see figure 3).
Select Update from the drop-down menu.

Update watermark option Adobe Acrobat — Figure 20. Update option

Make all necessary edits in the Update Watermark dialog box, which offers the same options as the Add Watermark dialog box (see figure 5).
Select the OK button to close the Update Watermark dialog box (see figure 19).

How to Remove Watermarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

This process removes all the watermarks in your PDF. Acrobat doesn’t provide a way to remove specific watermarks.

Select the Tools tab (see figure 1).
Select Edit PDF in the Tools Center (see figure 2).
Select Watermark in the Edit PDF toolbar (see figure 3).
Select Remove from the drop-down menu.

Remove watermark option in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 21. Remove option

Select Yes in the dialog box asking if you are sure you want to remove your watermark.

Permanently remove watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 22. Remove watermark dialog box

How to Add Watermarks to Multiple PDFs in Adobe Acrobat

Create your watermark by following steps 1 through 15 in the How to Insert Watermarks section, above.
Select the Apply to Multiple Files button.

Apply to Multiple Files button in the Add Watermark dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 23. Apply to Multiple Files button

Select the Add Files button in the Watermark (Add) dialog box, and then select Add Files or Add Open Files from the drop-down menu.

Add Files menu in the Watermark (Add) dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 24. Add Files menu

If you selected Add Files, locate the files in the Add Files dialog box, and then select the Open button.

Pro Tip: PC users can press and hold the Ctrl key on their keyboards to select multiple files at once.

Open button in the Add Files dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 25. Add Files Open button

If you selected Add Open Files, select the files from the Open PDF Files dialog box, and then select the Add Files button.

Pro Tip: PC users can press and hold the Ctrl key on their keyboard to select multiple files at once.

Open PDF Files dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 26. Add Files button

Select the OK button in the Watermark (Add) dialog box.

OK button in the Watermark (Add) dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 27. Watermark (Add) OK button

Ensure that Overwrite existing files is selected in the Output Options dialog box in order to place the watermarks directly on the files you selected.

Overwrite Existing Files option in the Output Options dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 28. “Overwrite existing files” option

Select the OK button to close the Output Options dialog box.

OK button in the Output Options dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 29. Output Options OK button

The additional PDFs should open automatically if they are not already open. Ensure that your watermark was added correctly, and then save the PDFs as you normally would.