1. Decorate documents with backgrounds, borders, and text effects Add a watermark or background Do you want to visually convey that a document is draft only? Or that the information is strictly confidential? You can do that with a watermark. Example shows what a watermark is. The watermark tells people something about the document. Watermarks are semitransparent in color, so they sit behind and don’t divert people’s attention from the document’s content. They are for documents that will be printed.

2. Decorate documents with backgrounds, borders, and text effects Add a watermark or background Another sort of background, shown in example, is purely for decoration and is intended for documents you’d post to a Web site. You can add all sorts of colorful backgrounds, including solid colors, gradients, patterns, textures, and even pictures. The goal is to liven up the page — but you don’t want to make it hard to read.

3. Decorate documents with backgrounds, borders, and text effects Add a watermark to a printed document Here are examples of watermarks. The ones with text are typical of what’s available in the watermark gallery in Word 2007. Once the watermark’s inserted, you can see it in Print Layout view, in print preview, or in the printed document. As this indicates, watermarks are intended for printed documents — they will not show up in the Web Layout view of the document, which is the view used if you post the document to a Web site.

4. Decorate documents with backgrounds, borders, and text effects Add a picture watermark For a custom watermark, you can use either text or a picture. These steps show how you’d create a picture watermark. On the Page Layout tab, click Watermark to open the gallery. Click Custom Watermark, at the bottom of the gallery.

5. Decorate documents with backgrounds, borders, and text effects Add a picture watermark For a custom watermark, you can use either text or a picture. These steps show how you’d create a picture watermark. Click Picture watermark, and select your picture. Use any image on your computer, or clip art in the Microsoft Clip Organizer. Your result might look something like the example shown.

6. Decorate documents with backgrounds, borders, and text effects Add a background to a Web document Use a colorful background to add boldness or flavor to Web documents. You add a background from the Page Layout tab, by clicking Page Color. From there, you can apply a solid color or click Fill Effects to choose a gradient, textured, or patterned background, as shown here. Or, you can apply a picture from your computer.

7. Decorate documents with backgrounds, borders, and text effects Add a background to a Web document Important: Don’t overpower your text with the background you choose. You want it to complement the text, not make it unreadable. Use a colorful background to add boldness or flavor to Web documents.