This quick guide will help you to add watermark in LibreOffice Writer.
Watermarking is a way of inserting any graphic or text in all the pages of a Writer document to make sure that the document is not copied or distributed, and it can be marked with a watermark for easy identification. E.g. you might want to insert [DRAFT] or [SAMPLE] or [DO NOT COPY] or [FOR PREVIEW ONLY] as a transparent background for all the pages in a Writer document.
There are various ways to do it, but below are two processes which I feel are the easiest and simple to implement a watermarking. The first process uses simple text as a transparent background. The second process uses an image as background.
Table of Contents
Steps to Add Watermark in Writer – Using Text
- Open LibreOffice Writer document.
- From the menu, click Format > Watermark
- In the Watermark window, enter the text which you want as watermark. Also choose, font, colour, and angle of the text (default angle is 45 deg). Press OK.
- You can see the Watermark is added in your Writer document.
To remove the text watermark, open the Watermark dialog from the Format menu and simply remove the text and click ok.
Steps to Add Watermark in Writer – Using Image
- Before you begin, you need an image showing the text DRAFT or SAMPLE or any text you want. You can get lots of such images via a simple Google search (search in google with “watermark png”).
- Open the LibreOffice Writer document where you want to implement the watermark.
- From the Menu click Format > Page.
- In the Area tab > Bitmap section – under Bitmap list click on the Add/Import button.
- Select image for Watermark and click Open. Give any name for the external bitmap name window.
- While the uploaded image is selected in the bitmap list, under Options and Style choose Custom Positioning/Size and Position as Center.
- On the Transparency tab, select the Transparency Mode as Transparency 50%.
- Press Ok.
- Now you can see the Watermark has been added to all the pages in your Writer document.
To remove the watermark or to modify, follow the same steps above via Format > Page from the menu.
Summary
There are other ways to insert watermark in LibreOffice Writer but I feel that the above two processes are the easiest ones and can be quickly implemented for all the pages in your document.
Drop a comment using the comment box below if you require any further assistance.
Hi, I’ve been struggling for months to implement a watermark in Libre Office 5.1. Howver, the instructions pointed me to button that didn’t exist or had been removed from earlier versions and the help files not updated. Following your instructions I have now successfully added watermarks to the required documents. Thank you for providing such clear and concise instructions.
Kind regards
Rev Dr. Rob Murphy
Glad that the instructions helped!
Good explaination. Thanks.
Only 1 remaining issue. The watermark is in backgroud, not as overlay.
As in your example, we use it for Draft or Preliminary. But now images and test/table backgrounds are placed in front.
I would suggest that watermarks can be made as top layer.
Well, that is possible in a different way. But that is not purpose of watermark. You can insert an non-transparent image in the document and change the Wrap = Through.
Hi, thanks for this helpful post. Is there any way to make the watermark image extend beyond the margins (to the edges of the page)?
thanks for sharing.
is that the same for newer version office ?
thanks for sharing.
is that the same for newer version office ?
Works great, right up until you try to save it in any other format than .odt, then the image disappears! Any suggestions on how to save it as a .doc or .docx file?
No. Image option is not compatible with .docx. You can either use the TEXT method as described. Or, save it as .odt file and open in Word. Word can also open the .odt files.
Thank you.
Because of this article, I can finish my thesis.
Whoever you are. Thank you