Originally, watermarks were faintly visible images or impressions manufactured into paper that identified its maker and/or quality. Today we use digital watermarks to provide an indelible message or identifier on electronic documents. Watermarks are useful because they are subtle and integrate with the contents of the document page. If you simply type the word “Confidential” in a page header or footer, the word can be digitally removed. However, if you apply a watermark of the word “Confidential” as the background on document pages, removing this classification becomes virtually impossible.
You can add a watermark to the pages of an Excel worksheet by inserting a picture field in the center section of the page Header. Sometimes, however, the watermark does not display in Print Preview or when the document is printed. You confirm that the picture field (&[Picture]) is in the page Header, so why doesn’t the watermark appear on the page?
The short video and step-by-step instructions below explain the reason that the watermark is missing and how to solve the problem.
Background
The requirements for your worksheet are: 1) there should be no gridlines, and 2) a “Draft” watermark should print on all pages.
Your worksheet looks fine. The gridlines have been removed by applying the white fill color to the entire worksheet. However, when you check Print Preview the “Draft” watermark you had added to the page Header doesn’t display. You check the page Header and the picture field is still there. So what’s the problem?
Answer: The white fill color you used to hide the gridlines also hides the watermark. Here are the steps to correct the problem:
Step 1: Remove the fill color from the worksheet.
a. Click the Select All button, which is located at the intersection of row 1 and column A.
b. Select “No Fill” in the color picker tool. The gridlines are now visible. When you check Print Preview, you see the watermark.
Step 2: Hide the gridlines on the worksheet.
a. Open the File tab and select Options.
b. In the Excel Options window select Advanced in the navigation area.
c. Scroll down to the area titled “Display options for this worksheet:” and uncheck the “Show gridlines” checkbox.
When you go to the worksheet, the gridlines are hidden, and when you go to Print Preview, the watermark displays.
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