Video: Working with watermarks

Watermarks are text or pictures that appear on the background of a document, typically on every page. It's easy to add one in Word. On the DESIGN tab, click Watermark, and select one from the gallery.

Insert a watermark

Watermarks are text or pictures placed behind the document text. They can mark the document’s status as Draft, Confidential, etc., brand it with a logo, or just make it look better.

1. Click VIEW > Print Layout.

2. Click DESIGN > Watermark.

3. Apply one of the built-in watermarks in the watermark gallery, search for one online, or click Custom Watermark to create your own from text or a picture.

Change a watermark

1. Click DESIGN > Watermark.

2. Do any of the following:

   • Choose a different pre-designed watermark, such as Confidential or Urgent, from the gallery of watermarks.

   • To change pictures, click Custom Watermark, and then click Select Picture.

   • To change picture settings, click Custom Watermark, and then select, or clear the options Picture watermark.

   • To change text, click Custom Watermark, and then select a different built-in phrase or type in your own phrase.

   • To change text settings, click Custom Watermark, and then select or clear the options that you want under Text watermark.

Remove a watermark

To remove a watermark, under DESIGN, in the Page Background group, click Watermark > Remove Watermark. If that doesn’t work, the watermark was applied to a specific section of the document. Double-click to open the header area of any page the watermark is on, click the watermark, and click Delete.

Want more?

Insert or change a watermark

Add a "Draft" watermark to your document

Add a picture as a background watermark

Move a watermark

Remove a watermark

Watermarks are text or pictures that appear on the background of a document, typically on every page.

It's easy to add one in Word.

On the DESIGN tab, click Watermark, and select one from the gallery.

You can use watermarks for a number of things, such as identification or branding, like a company logo, for security or legal purposes, or simply as a design or decorative element.

Open the Watermark gallery, where you can use one of the pre-designed watermarks, or if you want more control over how it looks, you can create a Custom Watermark.

Double-click the box next to Text and start typing.

Change the font if you want and choose a size.

If you want the text to automatically extend to the left and right margins, select Auto.

You can choose a color other than gray, but don't choose something that will be distracting for the reader.

You can click Apply at any time to see what it looks like.

Select Semitransparent to dim the text a bit more.

And finally, choose whether to lay out the text horizontally, or diagonally.

Click OK, or Close if you already applied the settings.

Now check through the document to make sure you can see the watermark, and it doesn’t compete with your text.

To get a more accurate picture of how the watermark will look when you print the document, click FILE, and click Print.

Then, check the print preview. Click the page selector to look through the print preview of the document.

On this page, the chart has a solid color background that covers the watermark.

If it's important for you to see the watermark through a chart, you can make the chart background semitransparent.

Go to the page that the chart is on.

With just the background shape selected, go to the CHART TOOLS FORMAT tab, click Shape Fill, and More Fill Colors.

Then, change the Transparency to around 50. You can do this with shapes and other objects, too.

Finally, if you want to remove the watermark, simply open the Watermark gallery and click Remove Watermark.

If your document contains sections, your watermark might not show up on every page.

You'll learn more about how to deal with that in Movie 3.

But up next, you'll see how to add a logo or picture as a watermark.