How to Add Watermark in MS Word

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Simply put, a watermark is a text or image that spans over a significantly large portion of each page of a document.

In this tutorial we will share a couple of methods for adding a watermark to a word document

2 Ways to Add Watermark in MS Word

  • Using predefined watermark 
  • Using custom watermark

Method 1: Using Predefined Watermark

Word comes with a set of predefined watermarks.

Step 1: Open up an MS Word document. 

Step 2: Go to the Design tab. 

Go to Ribbon and select the Design tab. You’ll find this on the left side of the Ribbon. 

Step 3: Click the Watermark button. 

On the rightmost part of the Ribbon, click the Watermark button in the Page Background group. This will open a drop-down menu showing different watermark templates. 

Step 4: Select a predefined watermark. 

On the drop-down menu, select a predefined watermark in the selection. You can scroll down to view more options. By default, you should see three categories namely confidential, disclaimers, and urgent. 

For our example, we used the Do Not Copy watermark under the Confidential category. 

Method 2: Using Custom Watermarks

You can also use a custom watermark instead of pre defined ones.

Here’s how you can do that.

Step 1: Open up a Word document. 

Step 2: Go to the Design tab. 

Go to Ribbon and select the Design tab. Move your mouse cursor to the top-left corner of the window, then click the Watermark button found in the Page Background group. 

Step 3: Click Custom Watermark. 

In the drop-down menu, scan past the predefined watermarks and select Custom Watermark. 

This will open the Printed Watermark Dialogue box. Now, select the Text Watermark button and type in the words you want as watermark in the Text: field. 

Click the Apply button if you want to preview the changes and keep editing. Select OK to apply the changes and exit the dialogue box. Otherwise, click the Close button to cancel and revert the changes. 

Editing and Deleting a Watermark in MS Word 

Editing Watermarks

If you want to edit your watermarks, you will need to reopen the Printed Watermark dialogue box. To do this, simply go to the Design tab and click the Watermark button. Then, choose the Custom Watermark option from the drop-down menu. 

Once the dialogue box is displayed, you should see that the Text Watermark option is selected. Below it are the options you can use to modify your watermark. 

Here’s a quick rundown of each of them. 

Language

Use this when you want to change the language of your text. 

Text 

Use this when you want to change the words in your watermark. 

Font 

Use this when you want to specify the font to use in your watermark. 

Size

Use this when you want to specify the size of your watermark. 

Color

Use this when you want to specify the color of your watermark. By default, the Semitransparent box is selected to lighten the color shade. Untick this if you want a darker shade. 

Layout

Use this when you want to change the orientation to diagonal or horizontal. 

Select Apply if you want to see how it looks like while keeping the dialogue box open. Select OK to accept changes and exit the dialogue box. Otherwise, click the Close button to cancel. 

  1. Click the Apply button to preview and keep editing. 
  2. Click the OK button to apply changes and exit the dialogue box.
  3. Click the Close button to exit. 

Note that the Apply button is only enabled when you’re creating a new watermark or editing a previously added one.

Deleting Watermarks

To delete your document’s watermark, go to the Design tab and click the Watermark button.

Move your cursor to the bottom of the drop-down menu and select Remove Watermark. 

We have covered removing a watermark in a bit more depth in this post.

Adding an Image Watermark 

In some cases, you might find it a useful skill to add an image watermark. This is usually true when you want your company logo to serve as the watermark of your document.

Here’s how you can add an image watermark in MS Word. 

On the Printed Watermark dialogue box, select the Picture watermark option then click the Select Picture button. This will open the Insert Pictures menu. 

Now, click the From a file button to browse in your computer. 

Go to the folder where you saved the image and double click on it to insert. 

Click the Apply button if you want to preview the changes while keeping the dialogue box open. Click the OK button to accept changes and exit the dialogue box. Otherwise, click the Close button to revert any changes. 

The watermarked document should look like: 

There you have it! You’ve just added an image watermark in your Word document. 

Conclusion 

Watermarking also allows you to add identity or branding to your document. 

We hope you’ve found this article helpful! 

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