How to Make a Watermark in Excel

A watermark can be added to a document to add security, specify information or simply give the document a more polished and professional appearance. While you cannot create an actual watermark in Excel, you can mimic a watermark with a graphic that prints on every page of your spreadsheet.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Open the Excel workbook in which you want to create a watermark.
2. Click “View” on the Excel toolbar, or use the keyboard shortcut “Alt+V."
3. From the “View” menu, click “Header and Footer."
4. In the “Page Setup” dialog box, choose “Custom Header." Click in the “Center Section” so that your cursor is active in the corresponding field.
5. Click the “Insert Picture” button on the right; this button has a picture of mountains and the sun. Navigate to the picture that you wish to use as a watermark and double-click the graphic to insert it.
6. Click the “Format Picture” button on the far right of the “Header” dialog box. Resize the picture to fit your page using the options on the “Size” tab.
7. Click on the “Picture” tab. Under “Image Control” in the drop-down menu next to “Color” choose “Washout." This will give your graphic a watermark appearance.
8. Click “OK” on the “Format Picture” dialog, and again on the “Header” dialog and “Page Setup” dialog.

Tips & Warnings

• You can see how your "watermark" will appear by going to "Print Preview" from either the "File" menu or the "Page Setup" dialog box.

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