can I create a watermark that is a merge field?

[rllewis]

I have a 10 page doc. I want a watermark on each page that changes
each time I print the doc. I'd prefer to use the recipient's name as
the watermark, but I'd settle for a unique number. Is there an easy
way to do this? I'm trying to make sure that the recipient does not
copy or distribute the doc.

 

[CyberTaz]

First let's clarify one thing - If you intend to provide the recipient with
a printed or digital copy of the file there is *no way* you can prevent them
from doing with it what they wish Your best bet is to (use a watermark if
you prefer &) provide a PDF rather than a doc - hard copy or soft. If you're
dealing with highly confidential files that need to be secured and are
concerned about tampering by the recipient you also should look into Digital
Signatures for soft files.

All that having been said:

What you want to do can be accomplished by inserting a field in the
Header/Footer. Take a look in Word's Help on IncludeText, Ref, and StyleRef
fields - as well as Bookmarks. using the recipient's name is probably easier
than any sort of numbering. It actually sounds like you would want to be
creating a *Template* for generating new documents for which there is a
great deal of expert guidance available. Post back if you need directions
for more information.

 

[John McGhie]

As Bob says, there is no "good" way to do this.

Steganography is your friend...

The problem with a watermark is that anyone who knows about Word's watermark
feature can remove it (easily...). You can make it a little more difficult
by:

1) Insert a section break in the document

2) Place the watermark in the header of the first section

3) Password protect just that section of the document against editing.

If you make the section really small (one paragraph), it won't show. Then
although they will be able to remove the Watermark from the subsequent
sections, they can't remove it from the one you have protected.

Another way to do this is to embed a "Document Variable" in the document.
Look these up in the VBA help. They have the benefit that unless you know
it is there and what it's called, it is very difficult to find it, and it
can only be modified by VBA.

Sorry: You can't update document variables using a mail merge or any other
kind of field: you have to do it with a macro.
Bob says, a digital signature is the only way to go. The signature is
automatically invalid if the document has been copied or altered in any way.

PDF is difficult to change, but not impossible; and it's easy to copy.

Protecting yourself from the office photocopier is much more difficult.
Most black and white photocopiers have a "cut out colour". If you include
text in that colour (usually, red or green...) it will vanish on the copy.

Sadly, colour photocopiers don't have a cut-out colour.

In all the best spy novels, this is usually done by varying the spacing or
font of selected letters in such a way that it is practically undetectable
unless you know what to look for.

For example, if you are making 20 copies and there are 47 words in the first
paragraph:

A) In copy one, change the first word-space to an en-space. Or, change the
font of the first letter to something so similar you can only detect the
change with a magnifying glass.

B) In copy 2, change the second word space for an en-space, or the font of
the second letter...

Etc...

Or, if you really want to be tricky, make ALL the word-spaces en-spaces, but
set the colour of the correct space to "white". So you have 46 spaces whose
colour is "Automatic" and the indicator space whose colour is "white".

If you want to know who emailed their copy to the Washington Post, search
for the "white" space

Sorry: You cannot pass "formatting" into merged copies, only letters will
be transferred by the merge process. You need to do this by hand...

Sadly, as Bob says, the rules of this game are that if they can read it,
they can copy it: if necessary, they can re-type it. All you can do is make
that difficult for them.

Cheers

I have a 10 page doc. I want a watermark on each page that changes
each time I print the doc. I'd prefer to use the recipient's name as
the watermark, but I'd settle for a unique number. Is there an easy
way to do this? I'm trying to make sure that the recipient does not
copy or distribute the doc.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[rllewis]

Sorry guys, I guess I'm not clear. It's easy for me to create a
watermark in a doc of someone's name which I enlarge and place behind
the text of each page. I'm ok with that level of security. The
problem is that I have to change the watermark manually for each
person and then reprint the doc. I'm looking for a way to create a
list of names and have Word Merge place the names in the watermark for
me. I tried putting the merge field in the watermark text field, but
it didn't take it. Thanks.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

The thing is--Word has a text layer and a drawing layer, and anything
that floats behind the basic text is in the drawing layer. Many of
Word's advanced text features--for instance, an automatic TOC,
cross-references, etc--can't see anything in the drawing layer. So I'm
not sure what you mean by "didn't take" but I would not be surprised if
the merge system just skipped over the drawing layer entirely---and with
it, skipped your watermark.

If you'd settle for putting the name in the header or footer, I think
that might work better. Those are in a different text stream, but still
in the same text layer (though I have not tried merging to the header
myself).

 

[rllewis]

In the Insert Watermark dialogue, there is a field where you can type
in the watermark text. The default text is "ASAP." When I try to drag
a merge field into that watermark field, it will not drop there. I
tried copying and pasting the merge field, and while it did paste, it
simply printed the name of the merge field as the watermark, instead
of the data in the excel file that the merge field referred back to.

 

[John McGhie]

Yeah. A "watermark" is not a "field". It's a floating WordArt that has its
anchor in the header or footer.

I never realised Word 2004 had a wizard to make one: I always make them
manually And that's what you need to do, to carry this off, because you
can't use a WordArt object for this task.

1) So create a watermark in the old-fashioned way by placing an object in
the header. I would use a text box, but it doesn't really matter what it
is: you could also use a table, but you can't get a table to go behind the
text easily.

2) In the text box, type some text and format it the way you would like it
to appear in the watermark.

3) In the middle of the text you just formatted, insert a Field of type
StyleRef. It will need the name of a style as a parameter. You can use any
style you like that is in the document, other than one that you want to
print. I used the style "Note Heading". Make sure you ENABLE the "Preserve
formatting..." checkbox so the field holds the formatting you just applied.

4) Now delete the text you typed surrounding it. The purpose of putting
the text in was so you could format the content of the text box. You can
also get rid of the box surrounding the text box and set it behind the text
at this stage.

5) When you insert the field, it will show an error message "No text of
that style in the document". If it doesn't, use a different style: you need
one that is not used yet

6) Now close the Header/Footer view and create a paragraph somewhere that
will not show (say, at the bottom of the document). In it, place the merge
field that will draw in the name you want to use in the watermark.

7) Format that paragraph, and only that paragraph, with the style you
specified in the StyleRef field.

8) Use Format>Style>Modify... To change the StyleRef style so that its font
is either white or Hidden.

Now run your mail merge. In the body of each merged document, the name will
not show. But it will show in the watermark.

There you go. That will work...

Cheers

In the Insert Watermark dialogue, there is a field where you can type
in the watermark text. The default text is "ASAP." When I try to drag
a merge field into that watermark field, it will not drop there. I
tried copying and pasting the merge field, and while it did paste, it
simply printed the name of the merge field as the watermark, instead
of the data in the excel file that the merge field referred back to.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]