How to add a picture watermark in Word, and why it vanishes on some pages

In Microsoft Word

Open Design → Watermark → Custom Watermark and choose Picture watermark. Click Select Picture and pick the image. Scale sets the size (Auto fits it to the page), and Washout fades it so the text stays readable. Click OK.

A logo with a transparent background, saved as PNG, looks best. A photo with a solid background makes a grey box on the page once it is washed out.

To take it off, use Design → Watermark → Remove Watermark. Word keeps one watermark at a time, so choosing a text watermark such as DRAFT replaces the picture.

Why it is in the header, and what that causes

Word puts the watermark in the page header, as a picture placed behind the text. That is why it repeats on every page, and also why you cannot click it in the body: double-click in the header area first and the watermark can be selected, moved and resized.

It also explains the pages where it does not appear. A document split into sections can have a different header in each, and a section whose header is not linked to the previous one keeps its own header without the watermark. Different First Page and Different Odd and Even Pages make separate headers too. Add the watermark again with the cursor in each section, or link the headers with Link to Previous on the Header & Footer tab.

A watermark or a page background?

Design → Page Color → Fill Effects → Picture fills the page behind the text as well, but Word does not print page colours and backgrounds unless File → Options → Display → Print background colors and images is ticked, and that setting belongs to the computer, not the document. For something that has to print, use the watermark.

In Google Docs and LibreOffice

Google Docs has Insert → Watermark, with an Image tab for a picture and a Text tab for words. It has a fade option and a scale, and the watermark sits behind the text on every page.

LibreOffice Writer’s Format → Watermark adds text only. For a picture, open Format → Page Style → Area, choose Image and pick the file, or put the picture in the header and set its wrap to In Background. If the document will be opened in Word, check it there after saving as .docx.

What a watermark does not do

A watermark is a label. Anyone with the document can remove it in a few clicks, so it does not stop copying. For a document going outside, send a PDF, and be aware that a PDF can be edited too with the right program. Check Print Preview before printing as well: a washed-out picture can come out much fainter on paper than on screen.