This tutorial shows how to insert watermarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat.
[Typewriter sounds]
Hello, my name is Erin.
I’m a technical writer and editor who shares step-by-step software tutorials
and writing tips for the real world on this channel and on my blog at erinwrightwriting.com.
Watermarks are words, phrases, or images used to identify ownership,
indicate confidentiality,
or show status.
Watermarks are usually transparent enough to allow text or images to be seen under or above the mark.
Today’s tutorial shows how to insert watermarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat.
We’ll also look at how to update watermarks,
and how to remove watermarks.
In addition, we’ll walk through the steps to add watermarks to multiple PDFs at once.
I’ll be using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
These steps will also work in Acrobat 2020 and Acrobat 2017.
Adobe’s free PDF display software, Acrobat Reader, doesn’t offer a way to add watermarks.
To begin, open the PDF to which you want to add the watermark.
And then select the Tools tab.
Next, select Edit PDF in the Tools Center.
Now, select Watermark in the Edit PDF toolbar.
Followed by Add from the drop-down menu.
If your watermark is going to be text, ensure that the Text radio button is selected,
and then type your watermark text into the text box.
You can then adjust the font style,
font size,
underlining,
color,
and alignment, as necessary.
If your watermark is going to be an image instead of text, select the File radio button.
And then select the Browse button.
Locate and select your image file in the Open dialog box.
It’s important to note that you can only use JPEG, BMP, or PDF image files.
Once you’ve located your file, select the Open button.
Whether you’ve chosen text or an image, you can adjust the rotation,
opacity,
and scale relative to the target page, which is the page or pages on which the watermark will be displayed,
which we’ll cover in just a moment.
Next, 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.
You can also select Appearance Options link 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.
Additionally, you can adjust the vertical and horizontal position of the watermark by inches, percent, centimeters,
millimeters, picas, or points based on the top, center, or bottom of the page.
To place your watermark on a specific page or page range, select the Page Range Options link.
When the Page Range Options dialog box appears, select "Pages from,"
and then enter a specific page range into the boxes.
If you only want the watermark to appear on one page in a multi-page PDF, put that same page number in both boxes.
Then, select "All pages in range," "Even pages only," or "Odd pages only" from the Subset menu.
When you’re finished, select the OK button.
And then select the OK button to close the Add Watermark dialog box.
Your watermark should now appear in your PDF.
You can’t add more than one watermark simultaneously.
However, you can repeat the steps we just did
to add multiple layers of watermarks, including a combination of text and images.
Now we’re going to update a watermark.
This process only updates the first watermark added to your PDF.
Acrobat doesn’t currently provide a way to update additional watermarks layered over the first one.
To begin, select the Tools tab,
followed by Edit PDF to open the Edit PDF toolbar.
Next, select Watermark,
followed by Update from the drop-down menu.
Now, make all necessary edits in the Update Watermark dialog box,
which offers the same options as the Add Watermark dialog box that we just used in the previous section.
When you’re finished, select the OK button.
Your watermark should now be updated.
This removal process deletes all the watermarks in your PDF.
Acrobat doesn’t currently provide a way to remove specific ones.
Once again, we’ll open the Edit PDF toolbar by selecting the Tools tab,
followed by Edit PDF.
And then Watermark.
Now, select Remove from the drop-down menu.
A dialog box will appear asking if you are sure you want to remove your watermark.
Select Yes if you’re sure.
Your watermarks should now be removed.
You can add watermarks to multiple PDFs at once.
To do so, first create your watermark as we did in the first section.
Then, select the Apply to Multiple Files button.
Next, 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.
If you selected Add Files, locate and select the files in the Add Files dialog box.
PC users can press and hold the Ctrl key on their keyboards to select multiple files at once.
Now, select the 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.
Next, select the OK button in the Watermark (Add) dialog box.
When the Output Options dialog box appears, ensure the Overwrite existing files is selected
in order to place the watermarks directly on the files you selected.
And then select the OK button.
The additional PDFs should open automatically if they are not already open.
Depending on your software settings, the additional files may open a separate window rather than a separate tab.
Ensure your watermark was added correctly, and then save the PDFs as you normally would.
I have created many other videos about Adobe Acrobat, including “How to Use the Comment and Markup Tools in Adobe Acrobat,”
and “How to Insert and Modify Images in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat.”
Please see the complete list in the playlist titled “How to Use Adobe Acrobat,” which is linked in the description box below.
The companion blog post for this video showing all the steps we just performed
appears on erinwrightwriting.com, which is also linked below.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic
related to Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word that you would like me to talk about in the future.
And please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss future tutorials.
And give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for watching!
[Typewriter sounds]