Watermarks in Columns

Gerald is creating some flyers in Word. The page is in landscape orientation, and he's configured the page to have two columns so that he can create two flyers on the same page. Gerald would like a watermark to appear on each of the two flyers, but Word insists on centering the watermark on the entire page instead of centering it in each column. He wonders if there is a way to get the watermark on each flyer like he needs.

There are all sorts of tricks that you can apply to get the watermarks where you want. For instance, you could hop out of Word and into a graphic editing program to "double up" your watermark in that program. Then, place the doubled image into Word as a watermark.

You could also simply insert two copies of the watermark graphic into the header area of the page. Modify the attributes of each graphic so that they are sized and positioned where you need them.

Another option is to not use columns at all but use a single-row, two-column table and place the information (including the watermark graphic) into each of the two cells. The graphic can be placed behind the text so it appears as a watermark. If you don't want to use the table, you could instead use two side-by-side text boxes to the same effect.

Perhaps the best solution, however, is to simply change how you are creating your flyers. The best (and easiest) solution I've found is to use these steps:

1. Use Word to create a single flyer in portrait orientation. Make sure you insert your watermark as desired, and that it appears on the page as you want.
2. Press Ctrl+A to select the flyer, then press Ctrl+C. It is now stored in the Clipboard.
3. At the end of the flyer insert a page break.
4. With the insertion point after the page break (and therefore on the next page), press Ctrl+V. This pastes the flyer content to the new page. The watermark should still appear behind this second page, as well.
5. Press Ctrl+P. Word displays the Print settings on the File tab of the ribbon.
6. Using the very last drop-down list under Settings, choose to print two pages per sheet.
7. Print as you normally would.

What happens at this point is that your two pages are scaled smaller and Word uses landscape orientation to print the two pages, side-by-side, on a single sheet of paper. If you don't want scaling in your output, then there is another approach. Before you start to create your flyer, do the following:

1. Display the Page Layout or Layout tab of the ribbon.
2. Click the small icon at the lower-right of the Page Setup group. Word displays the Page Setup dialog box.
3. Make sure the Margins tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog box.

4. Using the Multiple Pages drop-down list, choose 2 Pages Per Sheet.
5. Set either portrait or landscape orientation, as desired. (The portrait- or landscape-oriented page will be split in half by the setting you chose in step 4.)
6. Click OK.
7. Create your flyer (and insert your watermark) as you normally would.

If you follow these steps, you'll still need to create two copies of your flyer, but the watermark will be scaled and positioned on each copy automatically. Other elements are handled properly, as well, such as page borders, page numbering, and other page features.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8924) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Watermarks in Columns.