Add or remove a sheet background

In Microsoft Office Excel, you can use a picture as a sheet background for display purposes only. A sheet background is not printed, and it is not retained in an individual worksheet or in an item that you save as a Web page.

Important Because a sheet background is not printed, it cannot be used as a watermark. You can, however, mimic a watermark by inserting a graphic in a header or footer.What do you want to do?

Add a sheet background

Remove a sheet background

Mimic a watermark in Excel

Add a sheet background

1. Click the worksheet that you want to display with a sheet background. Make sure that only one worksheet is selected.
2. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Background.

   

3. Select the picture that you want to use for the sheet background, and then click Insert.

   The selected picture is repeated to fill the sheet.

Notes:

• To improve readability, you can hide cell gridlines and apply solid color shading to cells that contain data.
• A sheet background is saved with the worksheet data when you save the workbook.

Remove a sheet background

1. Click the worksheet that is displayed with a sheet background. Make sure that only one worksheet is selected.
2. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Background.

   

Mimic a watermark in Excel

Watermark functionality is not available in Excel. If you want to display a graphic on every printed page (for example, to indicate that the information is confidential), you can insert the graphic in a header or footer. This way, the graphic appears behind the text, starting at the top or bottom of every page. You can also resize or scale the graphic to fill the page.

1. Click the worksheet that you want to display with a watermark. Make sure that only one worksheet is selected.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Header & Footer.

   

3. Under Header, click in the Left section, Center section, or Right section box.
4. On the Design tab of the Header & Footer Tools, in the Header & Footer elements group, click Picture , and then find the graphic that you want to insert.

   

5. Double-click the graphic to insert it in the header section box.
6. To resize or scale the graphic, click Format Picture in the Header & Footer elements group, and then, in the Format Picture dialog box, select the options that you want on the Size tab.

Notes:

• Changes to the graphic or graphic format take place immediately and can't be undone.
• If you want to add blank space above or below a graphic, click before or after &[Picture], and then press ENTER to start a new line.
• To replace a graphic, select &[Picture], in the Header & Footer Elements group, click Picture , and then click Replace.
• Before printing, make sure that the header or footer margin allows enough space for the custom header or footer.
• To delete a graphic, select &[Picture], and then press DELETE.

See also:

• Apply or remove cell shading