How to Add a Watermark in Adobe Acrobat

How to watermark a PDF in Acrobat

1. Open the Edit tools

   Open your PDF in Acrobat and select All tools → Edit a PDF (in the classic interface: Tools → Edit PDF).

2. Add a watermark

   In the Edit toolbar or panel, choose Watermark → Add (sometimes under More).

3. Choose the source

   Under Source select Text and type your watermark (with font, size and color), or select File to use an image or another PDF as the watermark.

4. Set appearance

   Under Appearance set Rotation (45°, 0°, -45° or custom), Opacity and, for images, Scale relative to target page. Choose whether it appears on top of or behind the page content.

5. Set position and pages

   Under Position set vertical and horizontal distance from the top/centre/bottom and left/centre/right. Click Page Range Options to apply it to specific pages.

6. Apply and save

   Click OK and save the PDF (use Save As to keep the original). To process several PDFs, use Apply to Multiple Files in the same dialog.

How to update or remove a watermark in Acrobat

In the same menu choose Watermark → Update to change the settings or Watermark → Remove to delete it. Acrobat can remove watermarks it added itself — which also means recipients with Acrobat can remove them. Flattening the PDF (e.g. printing to PDF) makes this harder.

Watermark a PDF without Acrobat Pro

If you don’t have a paid Acrobat subscription, WatermarkOn offers the key features for free, right in your browser:

• Text or image/logo watermark with opacity and any rotation angle.
• Position by preset, by percentage or by exact distance (in points) from a corner.
• All pages, the first page, or a custom range like 2-5, 9.
• Tiled pattern across every page.
• Several PDFs at once, downloaded as a ZIP.
• The PDF is never uploaded — important for confidential documents.

The faster way: watermark without Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat gets the job done, but it was not built for watermarking. If you just need your name or logo on your files, WatermarkOn does it in your browser in under a minute:

1. Open WatermarkOn and drop in your images or PDFs (as many as you want).
2. Type your text or upload your logo (transparent PNG works best).
3. Pick a position — a preset like centred or bottom-right, an exact percentage, or a pixel distance from any corner — then set opacity and rotation.
4. Click “Add watermark” and download each file or everything as a ZIP.

Adobe Acrobat vs WatermarkOn

Frequently asked questions

Can I add a watermark with free Adobe Acrobat Reader?

No. The Watermark tool requires Acrobat Standard or Pro. A free alternative is WatermarkOn, which runs in your browser.

How do I watermark only some pages in Acrobat?

In the Add Watermark dialog click Page Range Options and set the pages. WatermarkOn offers the same with a custom page range field.

Can I watermark several PDFs at once?

Yes, Acrobat has “Apply to Multiple Files”. In WatermarkOn just drop all PDFs into the tool together.