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How to Add or Remove Watermark in PowerPoint? [EASY Guide!]

How to Add or Remove Watermark in PowerPoint? [EASY Guide!]

There are times when you want your PowerPoint presentation to show terms like “Confidential” or “Draft” on top of the slides. This can easily be achieved by adding a watermark in PowerPoint! Although PowerPoint doesn’t provide a watermark feature by default, there is a way to work around this problem.

To add a watermark in PowerPoint, click on “View”. Then, click on “Slide Master”. Select the “Master Slide”, and insert a text box using the “Insert” tab. Add the watermark text in the text box, and click on “Close Master View” to exit the master.

In this article, I will explain the process of adding a watermark in PowerPoint in a step-by-step manner with the help of visual references so you can easily follow along even as a beginner!

Plus, we shall also understand how you can remove a watermark from a PowerPoint file that you have received. That, and much more!

So, let’s get started!

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1. What is a Watermark in PowerPoint and Why Do You Need It? 

A watermark in PowerPoint is a semi-transparent text visible on the slides. A watermark is used to indicate that a slide is still a draft, contains confidential information, or simply indicate that it should not be used beyond the intended purpose.

The watermarks can be an image or a text. The most common use for watermarks is to include a message on the background of slides to emphasize it.

You can use a watermark to state its current position, for example, you can add a watermark that says “Confidential” to every slide to emphasize the sensitivity of the message, or you can put a watermark that says “Draft” to indicate that the current status of the presentation is still in development.

You can also add a subtle company logo on each slide to indicate that the presentation was made specifically by the company or for the company.

2. How to Add a Watermark in PowerPoint? 

As mentioned previously, there is no direct button that allows you to add a watermark in PowerPoint.

However, you can add a text or an image in the Master Slide of your PowerPoint presentation, and it will be added to all the slides in your presentation as a watermark.

Follow the simple steps given below, to add a watermark in the slides of your PowerPoint presentation.

Step-1: Go to “Slide Master”

The first step is to click on the “View” tab which is located in the ribbon of your PowerPoint presentation.

After you have accessed the “View” tab, click on the “Slide Master” option which is located in the “Master Views” section of the “View” tab.

Step-2: Click on “Insert”

Once you’ve clicked on the “Slide Master” viewing option, your PowerPoint view will change and you will now be able to edit the “Master Slide”.

Now, click on the “Insert” tab which is located in the ribbon of your PowerPoint presentation.

Step-3: Insert a “Text Box”

Once you’re in the “Insert” tab, select the first slide in the “Slide Master” view, which is the “Master Slide” of your PowerPoint presentation.

After that, click on the “Text Box” button located in the “Text” section of the “Insert” tab and add a text box in the “Master Slide

Step-4: Add the text to create a watermark

In this step, all you have to do is to type the text in the text box that you want to keep on the background of your presentation as a watermark and format it to fit your preference.

After that simply close the “Slide Master” view and the watermark will be added to all the slides in your PowerPoint presentation.

3. How to Add a Watermark to a Single Slide in PowerPoint?

The process mentioned above will add a watermark to every slide in PowerPoint in one go. However, there are times when you want to add a watermark to just one slide in PowerPoint. Here’s how to do that –

To add a watermark to a single slide in PowerPoint, first, select the slide. Then, click on the “View” tab and open the “Slide Master”. Click on the individual slide layout of the selected slide, and add the watermark specifically to the slide. Click on “Close Master” to exit the Slide Master.

Here’s the process explained in a step-by-step manner with pictures for better understanding –

Step-1: Select the Slide and open the Slide Master

The first step is to select the specific slide on which you would like to add the watermark text.

Then, click on the “View” tab. From the ribbon, click on the “Slide Master” option. This will open the slide master view in PowerPoint.

Step-2: Add a Text Box

The slide master should open on the specific slide used for the slide that was selected in the normal view in step 1 above. Make sure that the specific slide layout is selected on the left part of the screen first (as shown in the image above).

Then, click on the “Insert” tab. Next, click on the “Text Box” option to add a text box to the slide. Finally, drag the cursor on the slide to add the text box.

Step-3: Add the Watermark Text

Once you’ve added the text box, simply add the watermark text that you would like to display.

Once you’ve added the text, feel free to format the text by clicking on the “Home” tab and using the text formatting options present on the ribbon.

If you are unsure how to do this, check out my other article on how to format text in PowerPoint that shows everything in a detailed manner.

Alternatively, you can also match the font type, font styles, font size and the font color to the one that I’ve used by checking the values in the image above!

Step-4: Exit the Slide Master View

Once you’ve made the changes to the watermark text, it is time to go back to the normal view and exit the slide master.

To do that, first, you will have to click on the “Slide Master” tab (as shown in the image above). Then, from the ribbon, click on the “Close Master” option.

You should now return back to the normal view. You will also notice that the watermark has been added to the slide (as shown in the image above).

Furthermore, you will also see that the watermark is present only on this slide.

Caveat to this method

There is only one small caveat to this method. Since you have added the watermark to a specific slide layout, the watermark will be visible everytime you use that slide layout.

This means, if you create a new slide but use the same layout, the watermark will now be visible on that slide as well!

The only way to solve this problem is to go back to the slide master view, and create a copy of the said slide layout in use. From the copy of the slide layout, delete the watermark and rename the slide layout.

If you are unsure of how to do this, check out my other article on Slide Layouts in PowerPoint which will help you understand these nuances in further detail.

4. How to Use Picture as a Watermark in PowerPoint? 

The process of adding a picture as a watermark in your PowerPoint presentation is very similar to adding text as a watermark.

Follow the simple steps described below –

Step-1: Open the Slide Master View in PowerPoint

As before, the first step is to open the slide master view in PowerPoint.

To do that, click on the “View” tab, and click on the “Slide Master” option from the ribbon.

Step-2: Insert an Image by Clicking on the “Pictures” button

The next step to inserting a picture as a watermark is to select the “Pictures” button in the “Insert” tab. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step-3: Click on “This Device” 

After you have opened the drop-down menu, simply click on the “This Device” option, which is the first option in the menu (as shown in the image in step 2).

This will open a pop-up window on your screen.

Step-4: Select your preferred image

From the pop-up window, click on the image that you want to insert as a watermark and then click on the “Open” button.

This will immediately insert the image in your “Master Slide

Step-5: Resize and position the image

In the last step, all you have to do is to format the image and position it to your preference. After that, the image will be added to all the slides in your PowerPoint presentation as a watermark.

5. How to Edit a Watermark in PowerPoint? 

To edit a watermark in your PowerPoint presentation, all you have to do is to go to the “Master Slide” by following the steps described earlier in this article.

Then, locate the slide layout in which the watermark is present. Once you’ve identified the watermark, make the desired changes in the text box containing the watermark.

Once you are done, the watermark on all the slides will change accordingly.

6. How to Remove a Watermark in PowerPoint? 

Again, to remove a watermark from your PowerPoint presentation, all you have to do is to go to the “Master Slide” of your presentation as described earlier in this article.

Then, select the text box of the watermark, and click on the “Delete” key on your keyboard.

This will remove the watermark from your “Master Slide” and also all the other slides in your PowerPoint presentation.

If, however, the watermark is present only on a single slide then you will have to locate the slide layout containing the watermark and delete the watermark by clicking on it and pressing the “delete” button on the keyboard.

7. How to Add a Watermark That Can’t be Removed

Any watermark can be removed from PowerPoint unless you have implemented one of 7 ways to protect your presentation that I decribed in one of my earlier articles.

But, adding a watermark as a background image to the slide can make it really difficult for someone to remove it!

To add a watermark in your PowerPoint presentation that can’t be removed, you have to insert the watermark as an image in the background of your “Master Slide”.

Go to the “Master Slide” following the instructions described earlier in this article and follow the steps given below.

Step-1: Click on “Format Background”

The first step of the process is to “Right-click” on the thumbnail of the “Master Slide” from the slide navigation pane of the “Slide Master” view.

This will open a drop-down menu. From the drop-down menu, click on the “Format Background” option. This will open the “Format Background” sidebar to the right of your screen.

Step-2: Click on “Picture or Texture Fill”

From the “Format Background” sidebar, click on the “Picture or Texture Fill” option which is the 3rd option in the sidebar.

Step-3: Click on the “From a File” button

In the “Picture or Texture Fill” option, click on the “Insert” button. This will open a pop-up window on your screen. From the pop-up window, click on the “From a file” button (as shown in the image in step 2).

This will open yet another pop-up window.

Step-4: Insert the Background image

After you open the pop-up window by clicking on the “From a file” option, simply select the image that you want to add as a permanent watermark and then hit the “Insert” button located at the bottom right corner of the pop-up window.

After that, the image will be added to the background of your “Master Slide” and the watermark can not be edited.

You can also use the logo as an image to add to all your slides in PowerPoint. Sometimes, this can also act as an indication that the specific presentation is for a particular organization.

To add a logo in the footer of your PowerPoint presentation, you have to use the “Header and Footer” option which is located in the “Text” section of the “Insert” tab in your PowerPoint presentation.

I’ve covered this topic in great detail in another article. Make sure you check out how to edit footer in PowerPoint. In the said article, I’ve provided detailed steps on how to add a logo to the footer of a PowerPoint presentation. So, make sure you check it out!

9. How to Add Background Graphics in PowerPoint?

In PowerPoint, you can add pictures, textures, and more from the “Format Background” option.

To learn more about how to add background graphics in your PowerPoint presentation and the different ways you can use it to spice up your presentation, check out my dedicated article on how to format background graphics in PowerPoint!

Credit to drobotdean (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited).