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How do I delete a watermark my document does not acknowlege is there?

Anonymous
2011-04-26T17:47:42+00:00

The word 'draft' was inserted as a watermark in the document a month ago.  Now we are ready to finalize and cannot remove the word 'draft.'  I am able to add and delete new watermarks in the document.  But for whatever reason this watermark is permanent.

I have also tried just copying the text to another blank document and the 'draft' watermark copies with the text.

I did notice that the document has a new extension .docm instead of .doc or .docx.  There are no micros in this document so I do not know how the extension changed.

Any ideas?

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  1. Stefan Blom 339.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-04-26T18:20:01+00:00

    On a page where you see the watermark, double-click the header to activate it. You should now be able to select the watermark (which is nothing more than a picture or WordArt anchored to the header paragraph) and delete it.

    When you are done, exit the header/footer area by double-clicking the main body of the document.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-07-11T17:46:21+00:00

    Here I hope is a more complete answer... even if you don't think there is a graphic (because you do not see re-size handles or a graphic anchor)... go ahead and follow the instructions... they work. Its simply a matter that MS Word when dealing with headers and graphics do NOT respond as you would necessarily expect.

    Watermarks are stored as part of the header in each section and may vary from section to section in Word. Removing watermarks should be easy (use the Remove Watermark function in the watermark drop down list in the Page Layout ribbon. Its not to be. So:

    1. Double-click inside each section’s header containing a watermark to open it.
    2. Move your cursor over some of the letters in the watermark until it turns into a 4-way arrow (NOTE, it may NOT turn into a 4-way arrow... if not, proceed over the offending watermark anyway... in most cases while Word does not indicated the watermark is selected it really is and the rest of these instructions will work).
    3. Click to select the watermark (you’ll see colored selection handles around the watermark text when it’s selected)  (NOTE, it may NOT show colored selection handles around the watermark... if not, proceed after clicking once on the offending watermark anyway... in most cases while Word does not indicated the watermark is selected it really is and the rest of these instructions will work).
    4. Press the Delete key to remove the watermark.
    5. Repeat for all other sections that have a stubborn watermark that you can’t remove.

    ALTERNATE WHEN THE WM DOES NOT APPEAR TO SELECT OR DELETE: For those whom the Header>Click on the WM>Delete does not work… try using a <RIGHT-CLICK and select CUT> instead of a left click followed by backspace or delete. I had the persistent problem, wrassled it in a dozen ways with no success… did everything described above to no avail… but “cutting” in lieu of deleting/backspaceing, etc. DID WORK.

    AND: Even if the WM still appears to be there, save and close your document and open it back up. Using the above, I have been able to successfully delete even the most stubborn watermarks... every time! And I've had this over, and over, and over and....

    Two more thoughts… if none of the above works (in which case you may not be doing something exactly right.. but instead of getting (more) frustrated, try either of the following “inelegant solutions”:

    A. Go into the header and select the WM and change the text fill to white… if on white paper/background it will work remembering you didn’t really get rid of it.

    B. MS Word also has under the MS Suite “logo” a Prepare>Inspect Document feature that when run, will identify if there are watermarks and offer to remove them. Problem is, it will remove headers and footers at the same time.

    Hope this helps.

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2017-05-30T23:13:38+00:00

    Maybe it's anchored to the footer.

    Have you used the Select Objects facility, accessible via the Select dropdown in the Editing section of the Home Tab of the Ribbon to try and select the Watermark,

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-11T14:55:22+00:00

    Well, it worked! (ie, selecting the image and deleting)

    But I am using Word 2010, and shouldn't this be fixed by now?

    This blog is for Word 2003, written in 2011, and we still have to find these workarounds!

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-08-11T16:38:35+00:00

    There's really nothing to "fix." If the watermark wasn't inserted via the Watermark dialog, it can't be removed that way.

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