Watermarks in Excel

The use of watermarks in business has been prevalent for a very long time.  They serve many functions and are certainly useful in Excel.  An Excel user may wish to include a WATERMARK to indicate a Special Status of an Excel worksheet. For instance, you may wish to mark it PROOF, CONFIDENTIAL or DRAFT.  A watermark can be a quick and easy solution.

First, you may wish to create your own specific image.  In WordArt, you can easily create an image (such as DRAFT), upload it to an image-handling app, and save it as a .png file.  Then it is a simple matter of adding it to your Excel worksheet as a Background Image.

To add your Background Image/Watermark, simply do the following:

1. On the Toolbar, click on the Page Layout tab.
2. Go to the Page Setup group on the ribbon and click Background
3. Browse to the file in your computer or network, and double-click it
4. Bamm!  Your Watermark has been inserted!

One Additional Suggestion:  Format your image that provides a proper Low Contrast with your Excel content. You don’t want the image to overpower and obscure the data in your worksheet.

This may take a few minutes to do this the first time, but the results are really quite effective. If you ever find the need to add a WATERMARK in your Excel worksheet, give it a try!