Draft Watermark

[VegasNath]

I have a requirement to add a draft watermark to excel files but I am unsure as to how to achieve this. My recent attempt was to save a draft.jpg image from the net to disk and then insert the image as a background. However, this does not appear in print preview. Also, the draft is a small image that is repeated right accross the sheet, I would like one large draft accross each page. Is this possible?

[HansV]

This is for Excel 2007:
- Activate the Insert tab of the ribbon.
- Click Header & Footer.
- Click in the center header.
- Click the Picture button, and select draft.jpg.
- Click Format Picture.
- Resize the picture to the desired size.
- Activate the Picture tab of the Format Picture dialog.
- Select Washout from the Color dropdown.
- Click OK.

[VegasNath]

Thanks, I think this will take a bit of trial and error to get it right. Is there any way to have the watermark show on screen in normal view?

[HansV]

Nope. Only in Page Layout view and in Print Preview.

[VegasNath]

Ok, Thanks.

To achieve the best of both worlds, I have set a background image which shows in normal view, and also an image in the header which appears in print preview. The background image is smaller and shows repeatedly in normal view which is ok. However, I am struggling to get a decent size to the header image to fit the length and breadth of each page. I tried duplicating it in the footer also, but it ended up in a mess. Would you have any tips to achieve a better result? Either a better size or a duplicated print per page?

[HansV]

You should create a picture that fits the page - for A4 that's 21.0 cm wide by 29.7 cm tall, with 96 dpi (the default Windows setting) that corresponds to about 793 by 1122 pixels. Center the text in this picture.
The picture should be in the header only.

[VegasNath]

Thanks Hans.