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How to quickly remove watermark in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

If the file you copy or import from other sources have been insert watermark, and in this case, you want to remove the watermark from the sheet. Here are some tricks can help you to quickly remove watermark from sheet in Excel.

Remove watermark with Go To Special function

Remove watermark with Header & Footer function

Insert/remove watermark with Kutools for Excel good idea3

Remove watermark with Go To Special function

If the watermark is inserted as Art Word, you can use the Go To Special function to find the Art Word, and then press Delete button to remove this type of watermark.

1. Firstly you need to switch to Page Layout view to view the watermark, click View > Page Layout. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing how to switch to Page Layout view in Excel to view the watermark

2. Then click Home > Find & Select > Go To Special. See screenshot:
A screenshot of Excel's Go To Special option

3. In the Go To Special dialog, check Object option, then click OK to close the dialog.
A screenshot of the Go To Special dialog

4. Then you can see the Art Word watermark have been selected, press Delete button to remove the watermark. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing a watermark being selected and removed in Excel using the Delete key

Tip: With this method, the other objects, such as pictures, shapes will be also removed.

Remove watermark with Header & Footer function

If the watermark is inserted as header/footer, you need to do as below steps:

1. Firstly, you need to go the Page Layout view by clicking View > Page Layout.

2. Then click Insert > Header & Footer to show headers and footers. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing how to access the Header & Footer view in Excel to remove a watermark

3. Then you can see there is a text “&[Picture]” in the header or footer, delete this text, and then, the watermark of the whole sheet has been removed. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing the watermark code &[Picture] in the header and being removed

Insert/remove watermark with Kutools for Excel

Actually, if you have Kutools for Excel – a handy add in tool with more than 300 utilities, you can quickly insert or remove watermark as quickly as possible.

Kutools for Excel, equipped with AI 🤖, offers over 300 handy features to simplify your tasks.

After free installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:

1. Enable the sheet you want to insert watermark, and go to Page Layout view by click Page Layout button in the status bar. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing how to enable Page Layout view in Excel

2. Click Kutools > Insert > Insert Watermark. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing the Insert Watermark option on the Kutools tab on the ribbon

3. In the Insert Watermark dialog, you can import a picture as watermark or specify a text with the formatting you want. See screenshot:
A screenshot of the Insert Watermark dialog for adding a picture watermark A screenshot of the Insert Watermark dialog showing the customization options for inserting a text watermark

4. Click Apply or Ok, and the watermark has been inserted.
A screenshot showing the applied watermark in Excel using Kutools

Remove watermark

Enable the sheet you want to remove its watermark, and click Kutools > Delete > Delete Watermark. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing the Delete Watermark option on the Kutools tab on the ribbon

Demo: Quickly Insert And Remove Watermarks In Excel

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