How to add a watermark in Excel

Excel has no Watermark button, so you mimic one. In Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, choose Insert > Header & Footer, click Picture on the Header & Footer Elements tab and pick your image. It prints behind the data on every page, but shows only in Page Layout view, Print Preview and on paper.

Published October 30, 2026. Drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources linked on this page. How we write our guides.

How to show a watermark in Excel: a picture in the header

Microsoft says Excel doesn't have a built-in watermark feature (on its page about sheet backgrounds). It describes two ways to mimic one: a picture in a header or footer, which sits behind the worksheet data, or WordArt placed on top of the data. The header picture is the one that prints on every page, so it is the usual choice.

First make the picture. Microsoft says to create it in a drawing program, such as Paintbrush; its pages give a logo, or wording that marks the data as confidential or a draft copy, as examples of what the picture can show. Then, in Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows (steps checked October 2026, from Microsoft's watermark page):

1. Select Insert > Header & Footer. Excel switches the sheet to Page Layout view.
2. Click into the header box where you want the picture.
3. On the Header & Footer Elements tab, click Picture.
4. Choose where the image comes from and select it. The header now shows &[Picture].
5. Click anywhere outside the header to see the watermark.

Microsoft's page has a separate tab for Office 2016, where the same commands sit on the Design tab instead of Header & Footer Elements.

Why the watermark only shows in Page Layout view and print

Because it is a header, not part of the grid. Microsoft states that headers and footers are displayed only in Page Layout view, Print Preview, and on printed pages. In Normal view you will not see the picture, and that is expected, not a fault.

To go back to Normal view, Microsoft's sheet-background page says to select any cell, select the View tab, and then, in the Workbook Views group, select Normal. If the picture is missing in Page Layout view too, we suggest checking that the header still shows &[Picture] (that check is our advice). Microsoft also advises making sure the header or footer margin has sufficient space before you print. Our guide to a watermark that does not print covers the PDF side of the same problem.

Format Picture: size and colour of the Excel watermark

A header picture often lands too small or too strong. To change it, click the header, then on the Header & Footer Elements tab click Format Picture.

• Size. Microsoft says you can resize or scale the picture to fill the whole page; use the Size tab in the Format Picture dialog.
• Colour. Microsoft's steps are to open the Picture tab, then Color, and select an option. The page does not list the options, so try each and look at the result in Print Preview. We suggest a pale or low-contrast image to begin with, so the data stays readable. That advice is ours, not Microsoft's.
• Position. To add blank space above or below the picture, click before or after &[Picture] in the header box and press Enter to start a new line.

Microsoft warns that changes to the picture or picture format take effect immediately and can't be undone. Keep the original image file so you can start again.

Draft watermark in an Excel sheet: WordArt, and Excel for Mac

If you want text such as Draft on one place on the sheet, Microsoft's sheet-background page documents WordArt for Excel for Microsoft 365, 2024 and 2021: on the Insert tab, in the Text group, choose WordArt, pick a style and type your text. Then right-click the shape and choose Format Shape, and set the Transparency slider under the fill. Microsoft places this WordArt at one spot on the worksheet, and its page does not describe repeating it on each printed page. Microsoft adds that you can't use WordArt in a header or footer to display it in the background.

Excel for Mac works differently, and the steps are a different technique, not a variant of the Windows ones. Microsoft's Mac page says there is no Watermark button in Excel for Mac. Its method, in Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac (steps checked October 2026), is:

1. On the View tab, select Page Layout.
2. On the Insert tab, select WordArt and choose the style shown in Microsoft's screenshot (Fill - Gray-25%, Background 2, Inner Shadow, according to its image description).
3. Type your own text, such as Confidential, in place of the sample text.
4. Rotate and move the text box where you want it.
5. Control-click the text box and choose Format Shape.
6. On the Text Options tab, open Text Fill and change the Transparency slider to 50% or more.
7. To repeat it on another page, copy the text box, select a spot on that printed page, paste and reposition it.

When you are done, select the View tab and then Normal to go back.

Sheet background and Excel for the web

The Background command on the Page Layout tab looks like a watermark but is not one. Microsoft says a sheet background isn't printed, so it can't be used as a watermark. Excel for the web does not support the header picture either: Microsoft's page says the feature is not available there and points to the Open in Excel button, which opens the workbook in the desktop app.

Marking the finished file as a PDF

If the sheet is going out as a PDF, you can instead stamp the PDF itself. Our PDF watermark tool adds a text or logo watermark to every page, or only the pages you choose, in your browser. Free: up to 3 PDFs per run, every page, unlimited runs. Nothing of ours added.

For what to write on a document watermark, see Draft and Confidential watermarks, and for the same idea in Word, the Word guide.

Menu names and steps come from Microsoft's pages as read in October 2026; Excel changes its interface from time to time.

Sources

Checked October 30, 2026.

• support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/get-started/add-a-watermark-in-excel
• support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/headers-and-footers-in-a-worksheet-cae2a88c-64a7-42ab-96a4-28d2fc16ad31
• support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-a-watermark-to-a-sheet-in-excel-for-mac-f42dcf9f-be0e-4e3b-a7dd-152ed92dd6e5