New watermark added to student version. Any way to remove?

[Anonymous]

I am currently working on projects for my architectural technology course at university. I use AutoCAD pretty much 24/7 and use a student licence so I can work on it at home.

In the most recent version of AutoCAD a watermark is added to all printed sheets on each side saying "PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION"... This, frankly, ruins the presentation of my sheets for university work. I am not sure why this has been added to AutoCAD in the most recent version and I am wondering if there is any way to remove it without paying thousands for the full licence?

Im sorry but I can't submit university work with this plastered all over it.

Thanks

[beyoungjr · Accepted solution]

Short answer... YES YOU CAN.  It's educational work on an educational license.

Just so you know that I am sympathetic...

I've instructed CAD for almost 14 years and there were a few years that implemented the watermark.  It was removed for 2017 and 2018 but it's back again and Autodesk is not considering removal at this time.  There were a couple of workarounds but those have been negated and I've seen no workaround yet for the 2019 software.

For the benefit of know you should be aware that every drawing created or edited with an educational licensed product will get the watermark, even if initial creation was on a commercial licensed product.  I advise that you beware of the watermark before editing any legacy drawings.

I'm pretty sure that you can login to your educational account and download 2017 or 2018 for educational use.  If you see those then you could simply resume use of them and uninstall 2019 if you like.  Should negate the watermark and still be legit.

Cheers,

Blaine

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> This, frankly, ruins the presentation of my sheets for university work

Sorry, but that's for getting the software for free.

No education center should have problems with such a plot marker. They know you are using a education license and they also know that it creates plot stamps.

In general to the question if it can be removed ... doing that would be a violation of license terms, as shown >>>here<<< (middle section).

- alfred -

[gotphish001 · Accepted solution]

Why would a water mark that says made on a student version ruin a presentation that you as a STUDENT are doing? I understand it might not look the best but if you made it on a computer in your university lab it would still have the watermark on it. The watermark is there so a company can't just bypass paying for the product for it's commercial use. Without the watermark they would pretty much never get caught by anyone and use the program for free. Autodesk is in business to make money not support companies with it's software for free. Autodesk let's you use the software as a student for free, the price you pay is the watermark. Some companies are much stingier with student versions. For my archicad student version I needed to send a transcript or a photo student ID with a date on it to get a student version. Plus I need to resend that stuff every year when it expires to prove to them I'm actually still in school. If you aren't actually in school but want to learn archicad you are out of luck as you can not get a free version. Autocads student version is simple to get and you can basically renew it forever which is also why they take precautions so companies don't just use it for free for business.

I'd just ask your professor. He might say everyone's will have the watermark and to not worry about it. Honestly if I was the professor I would never dock points for the watermark. In fact I might actually take points away if you illegally removed the watermark. I wouldn't want to encourage that in my classroom as it could cost a company you get a job for eventually big fines if you did it there. Not to mention you could corrupt their entire server of files by working on something at home on a student version and bringing that back to work.

Yes I understand you want it too look as nice as possible and I didn't mean to sound snippy but the watermark is just the price of having free access to the software. Also as mentioned you can download the 2017 or 2018 student version and use those to avoid the watermark for now at least.

[Anonymous]

I understand that I'm getting the product for free and thats how educational licences work. I am just generally wondering why it has been added to the 2019 version when it was not present in the previous versions of the product?

[pendean · Accepted solution]

AutoCAD2019 reintroduced the EDU watermark: it will always show up if you save or print in your free EDU student software.

There are tips to get rid of it, but it only stays away if the file is never saved or printed from EDU software, or content from EDU software is not inserted into it.

That is how autodesk wants it to work for free EDU licenses now.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> when it was not present in the previous versions of the product?

It was also part of previous products, up to 2014.

Autodesk just paused it for 2015-2018 (I don't want to guess or discuss why it was re-introduced).

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

honestly they do care this is architecture, clearly you don't understand what it is like in architecture school, appearances is everything.

Edited by
Discussion_Admin

[RobDraw]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

honestly they do care this is architecture not medicine! clearly you dont understand what it is like in architecture school, apperances is everything.

---

You are totally out of line. If your school is worth the cost of admission, they will fully understand that the watermark is a part of the program and nothing can be done about it.

[Discussion_Admin]

Please remember these are professional forums and as such deserve a professional decorum when participating.

Thanks
Discussion_Admin

[GrantsPirate]

If it is that important to you then find an X-acto knife and remove it for those presentations.

[neaton]

Unless the school expects you to buy AutoCAD instead of using the free educational version, I would discuss the watermark with the instructor and determine what the requirement and/or workaround is. The instructor may not realize that the watermark has been put back in the 2019 version.

Nancy

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Im sorry but I can't submit university work with this plastered all over it.

[Anonymous]

Try open the file in previous version of AutoCAD,for example AutoCAD 2018, and from there you can try to either plot,convert to pdf or print. There shouldn't be a watermark issues I guess. Or in another way,just try to copy paste everything including exporting all the layers from the 2019 AutoCAD to any previous AutoCAD version. It should be work. All the BEST!!!

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

@Anonymous 

>> I would also not accept student's work with a watermark

As teacher, really?

Good to know that I don't have you as teacher, because if you would rate my work bad because of a plot-stamp (which is part of the educ program and more important part of the education license agreement) of a software vendor we really would run into a lot of troubles. For me that looks like you are suggesting to either buy the full version or to start actions to remove the plot stamp with the result of violating the license agreement ... that can't be your statement.

Autodesk tried to remove the educ plot stamp from 2015 to 2018, the result was that now a lot of education licenses are used for commercial work. No wonder that Autodesk revised that and now turned the plot stamp back on.

- alfred -

[RobDraw]

Technically, you are not working in a professional environment. If you want to work in a professional environment, pay for the software!

[cadffm]

---

@Anonymous  schrieb:

You should really consider the fact that Educators also download the "student version" and it's incredibly unprofessional to have a watermark like that when you are handing out floor plans for students. It's really not a good look, and yes teachers get the software for free, but we're certainly not students and need to present it professionally.

I would also not accept student's work with a watermark - it's unprofessional and can often get in the way of title blocks, sometimes overlapping them. It's bad for the student's portfolio.

---

Then pay for it, your choice.

Incredible that it is allow such people to educate people (my personal opinion)

[beyoungjr]

Can't see your post here any longer, guess it got edited out???  But I saw it in my email notification in it's original form.

The other respondents here are pretty forward in their remarks but I'd like to offer my response in context.

As an instructor, I made a similar argument well before the plot stamp was removed in 2015-2018.  Schools were paying for their seats of Autodesk products and the campus software did not embed the stamp at all.  Instructors could get a single companion license code from the college to install and run on their personal computer at home, with no stamp.  This license had to be documented and transmitted to Autodesk.

As an instructor I did not want my assigned projects, hardcopy or PDF e-distro, to display the plot stamp.  I avoided using the Education Community license on most work and stuck to the Instructor companion license issued from the college.

I always explained to students that they would receive the plot stamp on any work done at home on their Education Community license but not on work completed on campus.  Some chose to do their work in the classroom or campus lab and never saw the stamp.

I get the notion that you want to present your project work without the stamp but you should understand that Autodesk stopped charging schools for licenses and their software is now provided completely free through the same style license agreements that are used for the Education Community.  No more vendors to deal with, now straight to Autodesk.  The cost of this change is the plot stamp.  Schools get the software free and they get installation and configuration support from Autodesk free!  That is a huge savings to educational institutions.

I hope you will consider presenting this explanation to any colleagues and/or students so that they might appreciate the level of educational support that Autodesk provides.  I'm not saying that as a way of "kissing-up" but instead just to offset any bad notions toward the plot stamp.

I hope this information helps you to reconcile the reasoning and acceptance of the policy?

Sincerely,

Blaine Young

[Anonymous]

I'd say that it ruins the presentation because it is in no way visually appealing or discreet. It seems as though there was no attempt to make it seem so either.

[RobDraw]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I'd say that it ruins the presentation because it is in no way visually appealing or discreet. It seems as though there was no attempt to make it seem so either.

---

And most likely it was done that way deliberately to deter using free software in a manner not allowed by the free license.

[10655292CEHUD]

@gotphish001  I disagree. Student work is a representation of the student and the university. It should not be watermarked in such an obnoxious way. If Autodesk wants their stamp on student work then they should do it in such a way it doesn't make students work look so crappy. There are plenty of other softwares that don't use watermarks for student work. If the watermark is must, which it isn't, then they should at least make it look nice.

Yes, everyone is arguing "free." But why does free have to mean, "make it look ugly." It makes Autodesk look bad, the student look bad, and the university look bad. How does this help anyone? Autodesk, make your watermark presentable, or remove it!