Inserting a Watermark

Awatermark is an image (or text) that appears on each printed page. A watermark can be a faint company logo, or a word such as DRAFT. Excel doesn't have an official command to print a watermark, but you can add a watermark by inserting a picture in the page header or footer. Here's how to do it.

1. Locate an image on your hard drive that you want to use for the watermark.
2. Choose View => Workbook Views => Page Layout View.
3. Click the center section of the header.
4. Choose Header & Footer Tools => Header & Footer Elements => Picture.
5. Using the Insert Picture dialog box, locate the image from Step 1.
6. Click outside of the header to see your image.
7. To center the image in the middle of the page, click the center section of the header and add some carriage returns before the &[Picture] code. You'll need to experiment to determine the number of carriage returns.
8. If you need to adjust the image (for example, make it lighter), click the center section of the header and then choose Header & Footer Tools => Header & Footer Elements => Format Picture. Use the Image controls in the Picture tab of the Format Picture dialog box to adjust the image. You may need to experiment with the settings to make sure that the worksheet text is legible.