User Guide
Load the PDF
Choose the document. It stays on your machine — the whole operation is performed by your browser, with nothing transmitted and no size limit imposed.
Leave the first option on
Remove watermark & stamp annotations is enabled by default and does the main work. It targets stamps, overlay watermarks and draft marks that PDF editors add as annotation objects sitting above the page.
Try the second option if a mark survives
Also remove text-box (FreeText) annotations starts switched off, because free-text boxes are sometimes legitimate content — a reviewer’s comment, a label someone added deliberately. If the watermark is still there after a first pass, enable this and run it again.
Clean the metadata
Clean document metadata is on by default and clears producer and author fields, which is where the “created with trial version” string lives. That text does not appear on the page but is visible to anyone who opens the document properties.
Run it and inspect every page
Press Run, then open the result and page through it. Watermarks are sometimes applied to only part of a document, so checking the first page alone will mislead you. Reset returns everything to the starting state if you want to try a different combination.
About the Watermark Remover
There are two entirely different ways a watermark gets onto a PDF, and which one you are facing decides whether it can be removed at all. This is the single most useful thing to understand before you try.
Annotations, which this tool removes
Most editors add a watermark as an annotation — a discrete object stored alongside the page rather than inside its content, defined as its own category in the PDF file structure. Stamps, draft marks and the banners trial software adds are usually annotations. Because they are separate objects, they can be located in the file’s object tree and deleted outright, leaving the page beneath completely untouched.
The work runs in your browser using pdf-lib, which parses the document into its object model, removes the annotation entries you selected, and writes a new file. Nothing is re-rendered or re-compressed, so quality and file size are unchanged — the page is bit-for-bit what it was, minus the objects that were layered over it.
Watermarks painted into the page, which nothing can remove
The other method draws the mark directly into the page’s content stream, in the same list of instructions that draws your text and images. At that point it is not covering the document, it is part of it, the way ink is part of paper. No tool can separate them without destroying what sits underneath. If a run changes nothing, this is almost certainly what you have.
Why the metadata option is on by default
Trial software typically writes its name into the document’s producer and author fields as well as stamping the page. Those fields are invisible while reading and plainly visible to anyone who opens the document properties. Clearing the mark while leaving “created with an unregistered copy” in the metadata solves half the problem.
A word on when to use it
Removing a trial banner from a document you produced, or clearing a draft stamp from your own file before it circulates, is ordinary housekeeping. Stripping a copyright mark from someone else’s work is not, and the fact that a mark can be removed has no bearing on whether the document is yours to redistribute.
Frequently Asked Questions
I ran it and the watermark is still there.
First enable the FreeText option and run again, since some editors place watermarks as floating text boxes. If it still survives, the mark is drawn into the page content itself rather than added as an annotation, and no tool can separate it from the page.
Does removing the watermark damage the page?
No. Annotations are separate objects, so deleting them leaves the underlying text and images exactly as they were. Nothing is re-rendered or re-compressed, and the document stays the same size and quality.
Why is the metadata option on by default?
Because trial-version software typically writes its name into the producer field as well as stamping the page. Clearing the visible mark while leaving “created with an unregistered copy” in the file properties would only half-solve the problem.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything runs inside this browser tab, so the document never crosses the network. That also means there is no size cap from us — only what your device’s memory can hold.
Can it remove a watermark from a scanned document?
No, and nothing else can either. In a scan the watermark is part of the image, indistinguishable from the rest of the pixels. Only editing the image itself would touch it.
Will comments and highlights be deleted too?
The first option targets stamp and watermark annotations. Enabling the FreeText option widens the sweep to text boxes, which can include reviewer notes, so use it when a mark persists rather than as a default.