Put a Subtle Background on Your Word Document

It's easy to add a subtle background to your Word document, no matter what photo or graphic you choose.


First, paste your photo into the Word document and ensure it sits behind the text:

1. Right-click on the graphic
2. Select Format Picture...
3. Select the "Layout" tab
4. Select Behind text
5. Click OK

Once you get the graphic placed where you want it on the page, right-click on it and select Format Picture... again. Then click on the "Picture" tab to get the following:




Under "Image Control", change the color to "Washout", which basically cranks up the brightness and reduces the contrast to the point that your image looks more like a watermark.

If this doesn't work with the printout, then I'd recommend using the "Watermark" feature in Word 2003. This webpage describes how to use it to great effect:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA010563291033.aspx?pid=CL100636481033