Watering your documents

Q: Is there an easy way to insert a prominent disclaimer on each page of a Word 2010 document that reads “For Management’s Eyes Only”?

A: Word 2010, 2007 and 2003 provide a watermark solution that likely meets your needs. To use this feature in Word 2010 and 2007, click the Page Layout tab, and from the Page Background group, select Watermark, Custom Watermark. Select the radio button labeled Text watermark, and enter the phrase “For Management’s Eyes Only” in the box labeled Text. Select a font size and color, click the Apply button, and click OK.

The resulting watermark appears on each page of your Word document as a semitransparent phrase positioned behind your text, as shown below.

Advanced watermark tip: The watermark image that Word displays is actually an object inserted in the header with Behind Text formatting. You could achieve the same result by inserting a text box, graphic image or WordArt into the header, then right-clicking on the object, selecting Wrap Text, Behind Text and repositioning the object into the body of the document as desired. Compared to Word’s Watermark tool, this approach provides greater control over the size, format and rotation of the watermark image.