Watermarks in Excel are a great way to protect and secure your data. They allow you to add a watermark to the background of a workbook. This prevents others from photocopying your spreadsheet without getting caught. There is a downside, however, as watermarks do not appear when you share it as an online file. In addition to this, there are many people who use spreadsheets as their calendar or planner. These watermarks can get in the way of their events and appointments.
There is a way for you remove these watermarks from your Excel files using one of several methods that will be outlined in this tutorial.
Remove a Watermark by using the Third-Party Tools
Sometimes, watermarks are added using third-party tools, and therefore, they are not certainly removed using the methods discussed above. In this case, we are required to try third-party tools to remove the watermarks in Excel. Although there are several tools, most of them use the same algorithm. Therefore, we can try any of the popular third-party tools to perform this task.
Here, we are using the ‘Kutools for Excel‘, one of the popular extensions/tools. It allows us to perform various advanced tasks in Excel with ease. The extension also allows us to insert or remove watermarks in Excel. This particular extension comes with a 60 days demo period; therefore, we can try its features for 60 days from the installation date. After that, we have to purchase this extension for future use.
The following steps can help install this extension and further use it for removing the watermark in Excel:
- First, we must go to the official website of Kutools (which is www.extenoffice.com) to download this extension on our computer. To quickly download this extension, we can use the direct link (given below) and access the download page: Link- https://www.extendoffice.com/download/kutools-for-excel.html
- After that, we need to click on the option ‘Click Here to Start Download‘, and the download will start.
- Once the download has been completed, we need to launch the setup file (KutoolsforExcelSetup.exe) to begin the installation. After we launch the setup, we must allow admin permission to start copying the required files on the computer.
- dmin permission to start copying the required files on the computer.
- On the next screen, we must accept the terms in the ‘User License Agreement’ and click on the ‘Install‘ button.
- After clicking on the ‘Install’ button, the installation will start. It may take some time, depending on the system performance and the storage availability.
- Once the installation has finished, the extension will be added with Excel. We can also launch Excel with Kutools by selecting the checkbox and clicking on the ‘Finish‘ button.
Besides, we can uncheck the box to finish the installation and open an Excel file directly after installing Kutools. The extension and its features will be listed there automatically after the installation.
- After the extension has been successfully installed, we need to open an excel file from which we want to remove a watermark. Next, we are required to click on the tab ‘Kutools‘. From the Kutools options, we are required to click on the ‘Delete‘ and then select the option ‘Delete Watermark‘ from the ‘Editing’ group.
- Once we click on the ‘Delete Watermark‘ option from the list, the watermark is instantly removed from the Excel worksheet. We can then save a copy of the file to avoid doing the same steps later. Besides, this method works for both text watermarks and image watermarks.
How to Remove Watermark in Excel Sheet?
Once you have learned how the watermark is added to the file, we have the following ways that can be used to remove a watermark from every excel sheet of the workbook in Excel:
- Remove Watermark by Deleting Background in Excel
- Remove Watermark with ‘Header & Footer’ function in Excel
- Remove Watermark with ‘Go to Special’ function in Excel
In the below examples, we will show how to remove different kinds of Watermarks in MS Excel:You can download this Remove Watermark Excel Template here – Remove Watermark Excel Template
#1 – Remove Watermark by Deleting Background
If the watermark is an image that repeats many times on each page, then that watermark is added as a background. It can be deleted in the following way:
In this case, there is a sheet background applied to the worksheet. The sheet background can be removed as follows:
- Click on the ‘Page Layout’ tab and select ‘Delete Background’ in the Page Setup section, and the watermark will be removed.
- Now, on deleting the background, we see as below that the watermark gets deleted. Compare the below screenshot with the screenshot above, and we will see that the watermark sign is gone from the background.
#2 – Remove Watermark with ‘Header & Footer’ Function
If the watermark is an image that repeats on every page, but only once on each page, then, in this case, that watermark is inserted as ‘Header & Footer’ in Excel. A Header & Footer image can be removed as follows:
Below are the steps to remove watermark with header and footer function –
- Click on the ‘Page Layout’ view by clicking on ‘View’ and select ‘Page Layout.’
- Then click on the ‘Insert’ tab and select ‘Header u0026 Footer’ in the Text section
- Now delete the ‘u0026[Picture]’ text that appears in the Header u0026 Footer’ section. Then click anywhere else on the spreadsheet, and the watermark will be gone.
- Now, on deleting the’u0026[Picture],’ we see as below that the watermark gets deleted.
- Click anywhere else on the spreadsheet to see that the watermark has been removed.
Note: We might have to click in each section of ‘Header u0026 Footer’ to view the text, as it can be hidden by large images.
#3 – Remove Watermark with ‘Go to Special’ Function
If we have a watermark that is a WordArt object, then it can be removed as follows:
In this case, we can use the ‘Go-To Special’ function to find the WordArt (object) and then press the ‘Delete’ button to remove the watermark.
- To view the watermark, click on the ‘Page Layout’ view by clicking on ‘View’ then select ‘Page Layout.’
- Now go to “Home” and click “Find & Select” and select “Go to Special.”
- A ‘’Go To Special’ dialog box appears
- Checkmark the ‘Objects’ option and then click ‘OK.’
- We see that the WordArt watermark has been selected
- Now press the ‘Delete’ button to remove this selected watermark and click anywhere else on the spreadsheet to see that the watermark has been removed.
Note: With this method, other objects like pictures and shapes will also be removed. So it should be used with caution. When creating Word Art Watermarks, one should use semi-transparent colors and use a light gray fill for the art.
Remove a Watermark by Deleting a Background
In case the watermark is repeating again and again on each page many times, it is more likely added as an image in the background. More specifically, the watermark is added by navigating to the ‘Page Layout’ tab and then selecting the option of ‘Background’. These types of watermarks are so easy to remove.
Following are the steps to remove a watermark in Excel that is added as a sheet background:
- First, we need to open a specific excel file using the MS Excel software.
- After that, we must click on the ‘Page Layout‘ tab from the top navigation menu.
- Next, we need to click on the ‘Delete Background‘ option, as displayed in the following image:
- After clicking on the ‘Delete Background’ button, the watermark will be removed from all the worksheet pages.
It is important to note that the ‘Delete Background’ button in the ‘Page Layout’ tab will only be visible when the watermark is added as a background. In case the ‘Delete Background’ button is not present, it means that the watermark is added using any other method. Additionally, when we click on the ‘Delete Background’ button, the button option will change to ‘Background’ from the ‘Delete Background’.
Conclusion
Many people use Excel for storing and calculating information. You can create spreadsheets, tables, or simple diagrams using the program. Additionally, Microsoft Office offers a selection of templates to give you additional ideas and layout options.