Sometimes when you open a word document, you might see a giant sign over the text. It could be a phrase like CONFIDENTIAL or DO NOT COPY. This is called a Watermark, and in some cases, you might want to remove them from your document.

To remove Watermarks, first, select Watermark from the Design tab in Word. The option to delete the watermark will then appear. Your Word document’s watermark will be removed by simply selecting this option. If however you are trying to remove someone else’s watermark, you will not be able to do so in Word.

In this article, we will explore what watermarks are, why they are important, and how you can remove them from your Document. Read on to find out how.

Why Can’t I Remove Watermarks In Word?

A watermark is a pattern or wording that is placed over the background of an image or piece of text in order to indicate who owns the copyright to it, or to provide specific information. By making it obvious and giving it a large presence in the work, a watermark can assist in preventing misuse of important documents.

Many professionals use watermarks to show that their documents belong to them. They want to utilize their materials on their websites, social media pages, and other platforms, but they also want to include a disclaimer that says you shouldn’t duplicate or distribute them freely

Watermarks can be found in images, and even Word document files. If you can’t remove these watermarks, this is likely why:

• The Document is Read Only: Sometimes, important documents cant be edited if the user is not the creator of the document. To resolve this, you need to click the “enable editing” option and you can remove your watermark.
• You are Using an Older Version of Word: In recent Word documents, the option to remove Watermarks in under the Design tab, but in older versions it is under the Page Layout Section
• The Watermark Was Saved: When you remove a watermark, sometimes it might come back when you reopen the document. This is likely because the document wasn’t saved correctly. View your documents save history under File, Info, and then Version History to check if Word was saved when your Watermark was removed.

These watermarks might be used in a formal situation to identify confidential documents, allowing users to keep their information private while still distributing it to those who require it. In conclusion, watermarks are a terrific way to claim ownership of documents and prevent copying, but they are also simple to remove when this is no longer necessary.

How Do I Remove a Watermark in a Word Document

To remove a watermark from a word document, you should follow these steps. First open the Design tab and select Watermark. Then you will see an option to remove Watermark. Simply click this option, and the watermark will be gone from your word document. You can also add a custom watermark from the same menu.

If that doesn’t work, then try this. Click the insert tab and then click Header. You will see an option to edit your header and then you can remove your watermark with the delete button. For older versions of Word, you can find this option in the page layout section instead of the design section.

Can I Add Watermarks in Word?

There are several ways to add watermarks in Microsoft Word. You can click the design tab and select the watermark option here. There will be a few options such as Confidential, Do Not Copy, Draft, Sample, and more.

You can even add your own image to use as a watermark with the Custom Image option. Select it and you will have the option to either use a picture from your PC or a text watermark in which you can adjust the wording, font, size and more. This is very convenient because you can also search an image directly from Bing to use as your watermark without having to leave the menu.

Ensure your watermark doesn’t obscure important pieces of the document. Keep any images or crucial text or a logo at the bottom where they are and add your watermark above them. Pick a font that won’t draw attention away from the image. When used for photos, some fonts may not look as good as when used over other text.

Can an Entire Document be Watermarked?

Sometimes it can be a hassle for bigger documents to add watermarks one at a time. Thankfully Word has an option to apply watermarks on all pages at once. To use this feature go back to the watermark button and select Custom watermark. You can select from either a picture or text watermark and hit OK and this will automatically apply that watermark to the entire document.

To adjust the positioning of a watermark all you have to do is Right Click on your current area and select Insert at Current Document Position. This will add a watermark in the space where you just clicked. This can be useful in adjusting your water marks placement so that they don’t cover up or distract from important text.

Be sure to check every page of the document afterwards to make sure that the watermarks are placed correctly and do not cover up or detract from the information and text itself. You have to make sure both the text on the page and the text on the watermark itself are legible.

Concluding Thoughts

By adding a watermark, you can convey the message that you own the document and wish for it to not be shared or duplicated.

Watermarking can be beneficial for a variety of reasons, and most of the time, they are there for a reason. However, this isn’t always the case, and there may be instances when you need to get rid of them for valid reasons.

Removing Watermarks from the entire document will be a quick and convenient process. This is why you should always watermark your information, and how to remove them from Word documents.