How to Insert Watermark in Word: A Step-by-Step Guide

Adding watermarks to Word documents can be a game-changer for a variety of purposes. Whether we’re dealing with confidential reports, status updates, or documents that need to be reviewed, watermarks help communicate important information prominently. To add a watermark in Word, it’s as simple as clicking on the ‘Design’ tab and choosing between text or picture options. This straightforward process ensures our documents have that extra layer of professionalism and security.

One thing we’ve found handy is customizing watermarks for specific needs. For instance, when sending out a draft report, inserting a “Draft” watermark prominently across each page helps in reminding readers it’s still a work in progress. Or, for documents meant for review, watermarks like “For Review” can save us lots of email back-and-forth by making the document’s status clear at a glance.

Now, creating a watermark with personalized text or even an image isn’t just practical, it’s a breeze. When our team wants to emphasize that a document contains sensitive info, a custom “Confidential” watermark does the trick. We often tweak the settings so the watermark doesn’t overshadow the text while still being noticeable. Here’s to easy, effective watermarking that keeps our documents clear and professional!

How To Insert Watermark In Word

To insert a watermark in Microsoft Word, let’s get started with the steps.

Next, go to the Design tab on the Ribbon. Here, you’ll find the “Watermark” button in the Page Background group.

To make a custom watermark, select Custom Watermark. Choose between a Picture Watermark and a Text Watermark. For a picture, upload your chosen image. For text, type in your desired words.

To see your watermark, switch to Print Layout View under the View tab. If the watermark isn’t visible, this view will help.

If you’re using Microsoft 365, Word 2019, or Word 2021, the steps are the same. These versions offer easy-to-use features, keeping the process simple and intuitive.

Types of Watermarks

Watermarks come in many types, each serving a unique purpose. Let’s explore some of the most common ones you’ll encounter.

Text Watermark

Text watermarks are words or phrases placed behind the main text of a document. They are often used to mark documents as Confidential, Draft, or Do Not Copy. You can customize the font, size, color, and orientation to fit your needs.

Picture Watermark

Picture watermarks use images, such as logos or photographs, instead of text. Use your company logo, for instance, to brand your documents. Picture watermarks can be made transparent to ensure they don’t obscure the main content.

WordArt Watermark

WordArt watermarks add a stylish touch to your document. They allow you to use decorative text and graphical text effects. You can insert fancy text designs while maintaining the watermark’s function.

Watermark Gallery

Microsoft Word offers a Watermark Gallery with pre-designed options like Confidential, Urgent, or ASAP. This gallery helps you quickly add a watermark without designing one from scratch.

Transparent Watermark

Transparency is important. It ensures your watermark doesn’t make the main text unreadable. By adjusting the transparency level, you can have a watermark that’s visible yet subtle.

Let’s break it down:

Using watermarks helps in protecting and branding our documents. Whether we need to mark something as confidential or add a company logo, there’s a watermark type to suit our needs.

Customizing Your Watermark

When we want to make our document look unique, adding a custom watermark can be a great idea. Customizing our watermark in Word is simple and gives us many options to play around with. Here’s how we can do it:

First, we need to go to the Design tab and select Watermark. From there, we choose Custom Watermark.

We can create either a Text Watermark or a Picture Watermark. For text, we type our desired text in the Text box. We can adjust:

• Font
• Size
• Color
• Layout (diagonal or horizontal)

For pictures, we select the Picture Watermark option. We can use any picture from our computer. After choosing the picture, we have options to:

• Scale the image
• Apply a washout effect for better readability

To see our watermark, we ensure the document is in Print Layout view. This helps us see how it’ll look once printed. If we like our custom watermark and want to use it in other documents, we can save it by selecting Save Selection to Watermark Gallery. This saves us time in the future.

Customizing our watermark makes our documents stand out, and it’s fun to experiment with different styles.

Removing A Watermark

Removing a watermark in Microsoft Word is simple. We’ll walk you through it.

1. Open your document.
2. Go to the Design tab.
3. Select Watermark.
4. Choose Remove Watermark.

And voilà! The watermark is gone.

1. Open your document.
2. Click on the Design tab.
3. In the Page Background group, select Watermark.
4. Choose No Watermark.

Got a stubborn watermark? Sometimes, we need to manually delete it by accessing the header.

1. Double-click near the top of the page to open the header.
2. Hover your cursor over the watermark until a 4-way arrow appears.
3. Select the watermark.
4. Press the Delete key.

If you need more precision, repeat these steps for each section of your document.

Sometimes, Word Online can show watermarks, but removing them requires the desktop version. Here’s a tip: open the document in your desktop Word, remove the watermark, then save your changes. It’ll sync back to Word Online without the watermark.

Removing a watermark doesn’t need to be a headache. Follow these steps and your document will be clear in no time.