Remember back in gradeschool when you would hold up bond papers against a light to see that “secret writing?”

That secret writing is called watermark. “The watermark on Southworth paper is a sign of quality. It assures the user that the paper is a fine paper. The watermark generally will identify the manufacturer, the brand name and the amount of cotton fiber, if any, in the sheet. Through the use of a special roller called a “dandy roll”, the watermark is impressed inside the paper early in the manufacturing process. All of Southworth Company’s cotton fiber papers are watermarked signifying their fine quality and distinction.” – Southworth’s Website

There is also such thing as digital watermark, i.e. a photographer/studio name in a digital image, or a copyright, or other notices, that hide underneath texts or graphics.

Today, a co-worker was working on a legal document and wanted to know how to place a huge “DRAFT” imprint diagonally across and underneath the text on each page of her document. I showed her how to do it: and for those of you who are curious how to make it, here are the steps.

To place Watermark:
The watermark commands are available only in normal, print layout, and outline views.
On the Format menu, point to Background, and then click Printed Watermark.
To insert a text watermark, click Text Watermark, and then select or enter the text that you want.
Select any additional options that you want, and then click Apply.
To view a watermark as it will appear on the printed page, use print layout view (print layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.)

To Remove Watermark:
On the Format menu, point to Background, and then click Printed Watermark.
Click No watermark.

Hope that’s another pointer you can keep in your “that’s nifty” box of knowledge.

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