CamScanner PDF Remove Watermark

Overview

CamScanner provides a high-precision document enhancement engine that removes watermarks from PDF documents while preserving the underlying text, images, and original layout. It intelligently detects overlaid watermarks, stamps, and translucent logos across every page and erases them, leaving the document clean and legible. The workflow is a 3-step pipeline: upload the PDF, remove watermark via remove_watermark_pdf, then download the result. For convenience, the remove-watermark step also supports a raw output mode that returns the processed PDF bytes directly, skipping the download step.

When to Use

• User wants to remove watermarks, stamps, or translucent logos from a PDF
• User has a watermarked PDF that needs to be cleaned before sharing or printing
• User wants to recover a clean copy of a watermarked PDF
• User has a watermarked PDF and needs a clean copy for OCR or further processing

Privacy & Data

Important: Privacy & Data Flow Notice

• Third-party service: This skill sends your files to CamScanner's official servers (ai-tools.camscanner.com) for processing.
• Data retention: CamScanner servers process your files in real-time. Files are not permanently stored on the server.
• Local files: Output files are saved to your local filesystem at the path you specify.

API Reference

Base URL: https://ai-tools.camscanner.com

Supported Operation

Parameters

Step 1: Upload PDF

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"

IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@/path/to/document.pdf" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Response:

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "upload_file",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857600_ab12cd34ef56.pdf",
      "size": 524288
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Remove Watermark

OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/remove_watermark_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"dpi\":144,\"timeout_sec\":180,\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Response:

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "remove_watermark_pdf",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857701_9988aabbccdd.pdf"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Download Result

curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o /path/to/output.pdf

Critical: The response_mode=raw query parameter is required to get the binary file. Without it, the response is JSON.

Alternative: One-Shot Raw Output

If you don't need a reusable file_id for the result, pass "output_mode": "raw" to remove_watermark_pdf and save the response body directly — this combines steps 2 and 3:

curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/remove_watermark_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"dpi\":144,\"timeout_sec\":180,\"output_mode\":\"raw\"}" \
  -o /path/to/output.pdf

Quick Reference: Complete Pipeline

Remove watermark from a PDF (three-step, keeps an output file_id):

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"
INPUT_PDF="/path/to/document.pdf"
OUTPUT_FILE="/path/to/output.pdf"

# Upload
IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@$INPUT_PDF" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Remove watermark
OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/remove_watermark_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"dpi\":144,\"timeout_sec\":180,\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Download
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o "$OUTPUT_FILE"

Or one-shot (two-step, raw PDF stream straight from remove_watermark_pdf):

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"
INPUT_PDF="/path/to/document.pdf"
OUTPUT_FILE="/path/to/output.pdf"

# Upload
IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@$INPUT_PDF" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Remove watermark + download in one call
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/remove_watermark_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"dpi\":144,\"timeout_sec\":180,\"output_mode\":\"raw\"}" \
  -o "$OUTPUT_FILE"

Common Mistakes

Error Handling

Check each step before proceeding:

# After upload
if [ -z "$IN_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$IN_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Upload failed"; exit 1
fi

# After remove watermark (file_id mode)
if [ -z "$OUT_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$OUT_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Watermark removal failed"; exit 1
fi