CamScanner Image Remove Watermark
Overview
CamScanner provides a high-precision image enhancement engine that removes watermarks from images while preserving the underlying content and original layout. It intelligently detects overlaid watermarks, stamps, and translucent logos and erases them, leaving the underlying document clean and legible. The workflow is a 3-step pipeline: upload the image, enhance it with enhance_mode: 10 (remove watermark), then download the result. For convenience, the enhance step also supports a raw output mode that returns the processed image bytes directly, skipping the download step.
When to Use
- User wants to remove watermarks, stamps, or translucent logos from an image
- User has a scan or photo of a document with a watermark that needs to be cleaned
- User wants to recover a clean copy of a watermarked image
- User has a watermarked scan and needs a clean copy for OCR, printing, or sharing
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 Enhancements
| source_type | enhance_mode | Operation | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| image | 10 | Remove watermark | .jpg |
Step 1: Upload Image
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/image.jpg" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')
Response:
{
"code": 200,
"tool": "upload_file",
"tool_result": {
"success": true,
"data": {
"file_id": "file_1741857600_ab12cd34ef56",
"size": 24576
}
}
}
Step 2: Enhance Image (Remove Watermark)
OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/enhance_image/execute" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"enhance_mode\":10,\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
| jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')
Response:
{
"code": 200,
"tool": "enhance_image",
"tool_result": {
"success": true,
"data": {
"file_id": "file_1741857701_9988aabbccdd",
"enhance_mode": 10
}
}
}
Step 3: Download Result
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
-o /path/to/output.jpg
Critical: The response_mode=raw query parameter is required to get the binary file. Without it, the response is JSON.
Alternative: One-Shot Raw Output
If you don't need a reusable file_id for the result, pass "output_mode": "raw" to enhance_image and save the response body directly — this combines steps 2 and 3:
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/enhance_image/execute" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"enhance_mode\":10,\"output_mode\":\"raw\"}" \
-o /path/to/output.jpg
Quick Reference: Complete Pipeline
Remove watermark from an image (three-step, keeps an output file_id):
BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"
INPUT_IMAGE="/path/to/image.jpg"
OUTPUT_FILE="/path/to/output.jpg"
# Upload
IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
-H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
--data-binary "@$INPUT_IMAGE" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')
# Enhance (remove watermark)
OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/enhance_image/execute" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"enhance_mode\":10,\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
| jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')
# Download
curl -sS -X POST "$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 image stream straight from enhance_image):
BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"
INPUT_IMAGE="/path/to/image.jpg"
OUTPUT_FILE="/path/to/output.jpg"
# Upload
IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
-H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
--data-binary "@$INPUT_IMAGE" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')
# Enhance + download in one call
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/enhance_image/execute" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"enhance_mode\":10,\"output_mode\":\"raw\"}" \
-o "$OUTPUT_FILE"
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
Forgetting response_mode=raw on download | Always append ?response_mode=raw to the download URL |
| Wrong Content-Type on upload | Upload uses application/octet-stream, not multipart/form-data |
| Using GET instead of POST | All endpoints use POST |
Passing enhance_mode as a string | enhance_mode is an integer — use 10, not "10" |
Missing output_mode in enhance request | Must be either "file_id" (then download separately) or "raw" (stream out) |
Parsing JSON when output_mode is "raw" | With raw, the response body IS the image — write it to a file with -o |
Trying to download a file_id after raw response | raw mode returns no file_id; re-run in file_id mode if you need one |
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 enhance (file_id mode)
if [ -z "$OUT_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$OUT_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
echo "Enhancement failed"; exit 1
fi