Adding a Diagonal Watermark with a PostScript Printer

A watermark is light printing that appears behind your normal text. With a PostScript printer, you can easily add a watermark to your documents by adding the Print field code to either your header or footer. Every page that uses the header or footer will show the watermark.

For instance, the following command, when placed in a field, will print the word DRAFT in a 100-point font at a 45-degree angle in the center of your document.

Print \p page " /Wmark (DRAFT) def /WSize 100 def /Wrot
45 def wp$x wp$right sub wp$left add 2 div wp$y wp$top
sub wp$bottom add 2 div translate Wrot rotate
/Helvetica-BoldOblique findfont WSize scalefont setfont
.7 setgray 3 setlinewidth Wmark stringwidth pop 2 div
neg WSize .4 mul neg moveto Wmark true charpath stroke "

The information shown above should be entered exactly as shown, but as a single paragraph. In other words, don't press Enter within the text. Simply position the insertion pointer within the header or footer, then press Ctrl+F9 to insert a set of field braces. The information shown above is placed within the braces, as a single paragraph.

The font used is bold italics Helvetica; if you do not have that font in your printer, you can change the font in the code. You can also change the angle at which the watermark is printed by changing the number 45 on the first line, or you can change the word that is printed by changing the word DRAFT on the first line.

Remember that this works only with a PostScript printer. If you are using a non-PostScript printer or a non-PostScript printer driver with a printer that will understand multiple languages, then the field won't work at all. If your printer doesn't use true PostScript, but instead emulates the language, the field may not work as desired.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10271) 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: Adding a Diagonal Watermark with a PostScript Printer.