Adding a Watermark to an Excel Spreadsheet

The video guide shows how you can add an image to a page by inserting it in the header or footer. By re-sizing the image, it can occupy the same space as the spreadsheet's content and act as a watermark.

This presupposes that the image is faint and will not obscure the spreadsheet content. If your image contains black then it has the same effect as having a black fill in a cell, which means you will not be able to read black text over the top. As the watermark image will not move with the content of the spreadsheet, it is not practical to use a watermark image that is not washed out in appearance.

The good news is that Excel can transform the image itself. In the video's Format Picture menu, you can select the Picture tab and then select Washout as the image's color in the Image Control sub-menu. The practical effect is to increase the brightness of the image to 85% and reduce the contrast level to 15%. Increasing the brightness reduces the depth of colors whilst decreasing the contrast prevents lighter colors disappearing entirely. If you don't like Excel's automatic Washout settings, you can try adjusting the brightness and contrast to achieve an acceptable appearance.

There is also a question is how best to position a watermark on a printed page. Excel's header and footer function let you add an image in three positions at the top of the page, and three positions at the bottom. If you do not want your watermark to meet the top or bottom edge, or only want the watermark to appear behind content, you can increase the header and footer margin to match or exceed the spreadsheet's top and bottom margin. If you intend to put page numbers at the bottom of your watermarked sheet, you would have to adjust the header margin to avoid the page numbers migrating upwards on the printed sheet.

By Ed Bolton, founder of Excel4Business Ltd. Last reviewed October 2026.