[Windows] Remove watermarks from PDFs with SoftOrbits PDF Logo Remover

2013-04-07_221947Sometimes you may find a PDF that has a watermark which you want to remove (for whatever reason). SoftOrbits PDF Logo Remover is a program that claims to allow you to remove those watermarks. Let’s see if it does what it claims to do.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

SoftOrbits PDF Logo Remover allows you to remove images from PDFs. The developer markets the ability to remove watermarks as the main purpose of this program but you can use it to remove any image from a PDF.

Pros

  • Very easy to use; simply load the PDF from which you want to remove a watermark, select the watermark you want to remove, and PDF Logo Remover quickly creates a copy of the PDF with watermark removed
  • Supports batch processing that allows you to remove the same watermark from multiple PDFs
  • Removes more than just watermarks — allows users to remove non-watermark images from PDFs, too
  • Outputs are of good quality

Cons

  • Cannot remove all watermarks. If a watermark is not in the form of an image, PDF Logo Remover will not not detect it and will not allow you to remove it.
  • Does not support user-password protected PDFs
  • Batch processing is really stupid. You can use batch processing to remove the same watermark from multiple PDFs but you cannot remove different watermarks from multiple PDFs via batch processing.
  • By default, wants to store outputs in C:\Results folder instead of a more proper location (like My Documents)
  • Doesn’t support drag + drop
  • The developer claims this program allows users to “embed your own watermarks”, but I could not find this feature anywhere in the program. Either it is very well hidden or it isn’t there.
  • $49.95 is a high ask for this program

Discussion

2013-04-07_230332PDF Logo Remover is pushed by the developer as a program that allows you to remove watermarks from PDFs. If only that was so.

When PDF Logo Remover works (i.e. when it properly detects a watermark), it works well — it is fast with good output quality. However, as per my tests, PDF Logo Remover does not always properly detect watermarks in PDFs and thus does not allow you to remove all watermarks from all PDFs.

Based on my testing, PDF Logo Remover can remove a watermark from a PDF if that watermark is in the form of an image; PDF Logo Remover detects images in PDFs and allows you to pick which image(s) to remove. If a watermark is not in the form of an image, then PDF Logo Remover will not detect it. For example, I used BullZip PDF Printer to create two PDFs with a text watermark embedded in the background for one of them and and in the foreground for the other. PDF Logo Remover did not detect either of the watermarks and did not remove them.

The other major problem with PDF Logo Remover is it doesn’t support user-password protected PDFs. It works with owner-password protected PDFs but does not work with user-password protected PDFs. This is because PDF Logo Remover has no feature to allow you to enter a password for protected PDFs and you cannot open user-password protected PDFs without entering a password first.

Conclusion and download link

If you are looking for a program that allows you to remove images from PDFs, then PDF Logo Remover may be worth a shot as long as you realize the program will be useful with user-password protected PDFs. If you are looking for a program that allows you to remove watermarks from PDFs, then don’t bother with PDF Logo Remover — it isn’t able to remove all types of watermarks and only works on a case-by-case basis.

Price: $49.95

Version reviewed: 1.0

Supported OS: Windows

Download size: 5.7MB

VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/46

Is it portable? No

SoftOrbits PDF Logo Remover homepage

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