Background images in Word

Whether your image will print all the way to the edge of the paper depends entirely on your specific printers.  Most business document printers will leave a small unprinted border around the page. You require a special "Photo" printer that is specifically designed to cover the full page.

Here are a couple of articles about adding pictures to the background of your document within that limit.

Background- How to apply/insert ba1ckground image to only one page in Word?
https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/word/4525-word-apply-background-to-one-page.html
In general, you can insert background image to all pages of a Word document easily by clicking Design (or Page Layout) > Page Color. However, in some cases you may just want to apply background image to only one page, how could you deal with it? This article will introduce a workaround to solve it at ease.
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Background- Adding a Background to Your Document
https://wordribbon.tips.net/T006279_Adding_a_Background_to_Your_Document.html
One of the ways you can make your document fancy if it is destined for a Web page is to add a background. Simply follow these two simple steps.
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You need to insert the images into the Header of the document, with the layout set so that they are behind the text.  You will then be able to size\located them as required.

Note however, as Rohn007 points out, depending upon your printer, the output may not extend right to the edge of the paper.

A pdf version of a document when viewed on screen however should show the images extending to the edge of the paper.

Thank you for this. Unfortunately this doesn't help. We need it to be for multiple pages - so its not just one page.

I am using the standard procedures for adding backgrounds - ie Watermark or insert background.

The image is a full page image, and when I use the watermark this seems to cause a problem with headers.

When I use insert background, it inserts the image I have shown previously but it looks like the below. Its as though the image size is too big, but its not - I have checked it in several editors.

Neither of those articles is exactly right for the request, although the first one is closer.

The full solution is this:

• Open the Header pane. (This will make the background apply to all pages in the current section or the whole document, rather than just one page as in the cited article.)
• Insert a rectangle from the Insert > Shapes menu. Drag its edges to the edges of the page.
• On the Shape Format ribbon (which is visible when the shape is selected), click the Shape Fill button; click Picture in the menu, and select the file that holds your background graphic.
• Click on the picture in the rectangle, which makes the Picture Format ribbon visible. There, click the Send Backward button and choose Send Behind Text.
• On the Header & Footer ribbon, click the Close Header and Footer button and save the template.

A couple of things you can't change: As Rohn mentioned, most printers won't print all the way to the edges of the page, regardless of what you see on the screen. Also, when you're viewing the document on the screen, the background will be faded when the header pane is closed, and the document body will be faded when the header pane is open. Neither of them looks exactly like what will be printed, but the print preview will be accurate.

Thank you Doug - when you say insert image - I need this to be on every page - so could you explain a bit more what method for insertion of the image you are suggesting, thanks?

We will have multiple users adding content to documents opened with this template ( as well as header and footer content), so I really need the image to be inaccessible to them.

(In reality I want this to work the way a background from a slide layout does in PPT).

Thanks

Hi,

Thanks for this Jay.

First up, sorry, yes I realise printers will impact margins and that edges may not print. Our readers don't print these so that isn't an issue.

Second, your solution description makes sense to me, and I take on board what you are saying about the lighter colour. However I am still concerned the users who are adding content to these documents will be able to access the shapes, since they well may also be adding header and footer content.

I have seen tutorials online where adding a full page image as a background works, and the instructions are to make the image the size of the page. I have done this, so I feel like it should be possible?

Thanks

Locking access to things in Word documents is not easy.

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Even if you put the image in the template the document is based on, the user can remove it.

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The only option that may help is "Protecting" the document. But that is not a feature I've worked with.  Hopefully one of the others will comment on this idea.

Hi Cassie,

I've shared the sample template created at my end and provided you in a private message. Can you check the template and let us know whether it meets your requirement?

Best Regards,

Chitrahaas

Hi Cassie,

Please update us after testing the provided template. 

Thanks,
Chitrahaas