Adding A Watermark In Word Document


A watermark is useful for adding a light background image to a document. Some people use watermarks as part of their stationary. Such a watermark might include a company logo. Others use watermarks for indicating a document’s place of origin or perhaps labeling draft copies with the letters DRAFT diagonally down the page or perhaps putting TOP SECRET across the page to remind readers of a document’s confidentiality.

In Word, if a document includes a watermark, you will see the watermark when you print the document. When editing a document with a watermark, you will see the watermark in Word’s Print Layout or Full Screen Reading views.

Enter Print Layout View
Before working with watermarks, make sure that you’re using the correct Word view. Click the Print Layout View button to enter Word’s Print Layout view, where you’ll be able to see the watermark after you apply it. (You can also view watermarks from the Full Screen Reading view, but you cannot edit your document in that view.)

Request a Supplied Watermark
Word offers a few watermarks from which you can select. Display your Page Layout ribbon and click Watermark in the Page Background group. The scrolling list of common watermarks includes Draft and Urgent watermarks that you can apply to your document.

Apply the Watermark
Click to select a watermark. The watermark will appear in your document’s background. Assuming that your document had text or graphics before you inserted the watermark, the watermark should be light enough that you can see your text and graphics without problems.

Remove a Watermark
If you added a watermark in a previous editing session, your Undo command won’t remove the watermark. To remove a document’s watermark, click the Page Layout ribbon’s Watermark button and select Remove Watermark to remove your document’s watermark.

Add a Customized Text Watermark
You can add your own text to use for a watermark. Click the Page Layout ribbon’s Watermark button and select More Watermarks. Word displays the Printed Watermark dialog box. To add custom text, click to open the Text drop-down list box or type your own text in the Text text box. You then can adjust the font, size, color, and diagonal or horizontal layout of the watermark. For text such as Top Secret, you might want your watermark’s color to be bright red to gain extra attention.

Add a Customized Graphics Watermark
You can add your own graphics image to use for a watermark. Click the Page Layout ribbon’s Watermark button and select More Watermarks. Word displays the Printed Watermark dialog box.

To add a custom image, click to select Picture Watermark and click the Select Picture button. Locate the picture you want to use as the background watermark. Optionally, you can adjust the scale, or relative size, of the image to grow or shrink the watermark on your page. Keep the Washout option selected unless you want the graphics image to be more prominent and risk making your document’s text and graphics more difficult to see.