Word 2010 : Watermark visibility on paper

Hi Peter,

How does it look in the print preview?

 

Try changing the default printer to Microsoft XPS Document writer as suggested in the following link and check if it helps:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-default-printer

 

If this works, then update the printer drivers.

 

Reply with the results to assist you better.

Thank you.

Thank you for the assistance, Guruprasad!

If you look closely, I suspect you will find it an optical illusion. A matter of perception rather than an actual change in intensity of the watermark.  ie if you compare the water mark on both pages by cutting it out, excluding body text you'll see they are the same shade.

I can't find the right type of illustration, but here are some that are in the same ballpark:
http://brainden.com/color-blindness-tests.htm

aHA, HERE IS ONE OF THE ONES i AM THINKING OF:

here is a variation of "shading illusion" - these two cubes are the SAME color!

SOURCE: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/07/optical-illusions-update.html

you may simply have to bump up the darkness of watermark to 7 or 10 %

That may very well be! They do seem to be of the same color.

I just notice that the transparency/washout box was checked. If I unchecked it, the watermark becomes somewhat stronger. How exactly does it influence the text-watermark?

"Washout" is a setting used for picture watermarks that is a specific combination of brightness and contrast. If you access the header of your document and double-click on the watermark, you can format it directly using the Picture Tools.

 

With the header open, right-click the watermark and choose Format Picture. You'll see that Brightness is set to 85% and Contrast to 15%. It is very difficult to determine this from the Brightness and Contrast buttons on the Ribbon (unless you choose Picture Correction Options..., which opens the Format Picture Dialog). In any case, you can experiment with the Brightness and Contrast until you find a satisfactory balance.

 

Text watermarks use a 50% gray shade. The action of the "Semitransparent" check box is unclear, but historically, leaving it enabled sometimes leads to watermarks missing letters. Text watermarks are edited using the WordArt Tools. If you click the dialog launcher in the Size group, you get the Format WordArt dialog, which has more controls than the Ribbon.

There is more than one way of adding Watermarks.  The "old school" method of putting something in the header is more graphically oriented.  I suspect that is what you are doing.  The "newer" method is to use the Watermark feature in Page Layout.  It is more text oriented, but also can use pictures.

I guess the question to ask is exactly how are you putting in this watermark? Is it a "special" text character or a picture?

If you are using text, try this:

To change the grey level of text watermarks go to Page Layout tab > Page Background group > Watermark drop down > Custom Watermark command > Color drop down > MORE COLORS" > "Custom" tab. You need to Switch the Color Model to "HSL".  RGB will not do what you want, easily.

Ignore H value. Set S value to zero.  You want to adjust the Luminance (brightness) value until you find a color that suits your need.  Smaller L value gets blacker.