Sofia Sondh
- May 29, 2021
- 2 min read

How to Add a Watermark in Microsoft Excel

A watermark in Excel is a text or image that is displayed behind the text on a worksheet. It is typically used to add additional information or branding to a worksheet, such as a date, time, or name of the company. In this article, we will discuss how to add a watermark in Microsoft Excel.

The watermark will be added to all the pages of the worksheet, so it will be visible when you print or save the worksheet as a PDF file.

How to Add a Watermark in Excel

There are a couple of ways to add a watermark in Excel:

Insert a text watermark
Insert an image watermark

Let’s discuss these methods in detail!

Method: 1 Insert a Text Watermark

You can add a text watermark by following the below steps:

STEP 1: Open Microsoft Excel. Go to the Insert tab and click on "Header & Footer".

STEP 2: Type the text that you want to use as the watermark and select the font, size, and color.

STEP 3: Click on the "OK" button to add the watermark.

Method 2: Create and then add a Watermark in Excel

You can add an image watermark by following the below steps:

STEP 1: Open Microsoft Excel and go to the Insert tab.

STEP 2: Select the "Picture watermark" option.

STEP 3: Select the image file that you want to use as the watermark.

STEP 4: Select the position and scaling of the image.

STEP 5: Click on the "OK" button to add the watermark.

How to format watermark images in Excel

You can format your watermark image by selecting the image and clicking on the Format Picture option to open up various watermark customization options. These are the options:

1. You can resize the watermark image.

2. It lets you crop a watermark image.

3. You can also apply a few coloring effects to the watermark image. For example, if you don’t want to emphasize the watermark too much, you can use the Washout effect. Similarly, you can adjust the brightness and contrast of the image.

4. It also provides an option to compress the watermark image.