SolidWorks Tips and Tricks sponsored by SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy

How to add a watermark to a drawing

At times, a watermark such as “CONFIDENTIAL” is required on a drawing print. Unfortunately, SolidWorks does not have a watermark feature. There are a few workarounds that are available, though.

Embed a Microsoft Word Watermark
To embed a watermark directly from Microsoft Word into the sheet format, begin by opening a drawing.

Right click over the sheet and pick Edit Sheet Format, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Then, pull down the “Insert” menu and pick Object.

In the Insert Object dialog box, under Object Type, pick Microsoft Word Picture, as shown in Figure 2. Then, click OK,

Figure 2

A Word document will open. In the Word document, pull down the “Format” menu and pick Background – Printed Watermark.

To insert a text watermark, click the Text watermark radio button. Then, pick the text you want from the pull down. Note that you can also type in any text that you want, as shown in Figure 3. To insert a picture as a watermark, click the Picture Watermark radio button, and then select your picture.

Figure 3

Select any additional options that you want, and then click OK. In the Edit Picture" toolbar, click Close Picture, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4

The watermark is imported into your drawing. Drag the watermark to place it where you want, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

Finally, right click over the sheet again and pick Edit Sheet to exit out of the sheet format. Remember that you can use this technique to create the watermark as part of a Drawing Document Template.

Manually Add a Watermark

In a drawing, right click over the sheet and pick Edit Sheet Format. Pull down the "Insert" menu and pick Annotations – Note. Place the note on the drawing where you want the watermark to appear. Set the formatting, including the text angle and text color. Once you set the note the way that you want it, click the green check mark button in the Note PropertyManager. Next, right click on the note and pick Make Block, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6

That's it! Right click over the sheet again and pick Edit Sheet to exit out of the sheet format. You watermark is now underneath everything on your drawing. Note that you can save your block for use on multiple drawings or for use on a Drawing Document Template.

Just for Fun: Change the Drawing Paper Image in SolidWorks 2008
By default, SolidWorks 2008 uses a crinkled piece of paper for the sheet background of a new drawing document. The actual image file for the crinkled paper is located at SolidWorks Install Directory/data/Images/drawings/sheetbackground1.bmp. You can replace this bitmap file with something else. Before you do, just make sure to save the original file so that you can change it back at any time. Once you have the original sheetbackground1.bmp file backed up, simple save your new bmp file as sheetbackground1.bmp and place it in the drawings folder. Then, in SolidWorks 2008, pull down the “Tools” menu and pick Options. In the System Options dialog box, pick Colors. In the bottom of the dialog, make sure that Use specified color for drawings paper color is not checked. If this option is checked, the color selected for Drawings, Paper Color will be used instead of the sheetbackground1.bmp file. It's that easy! Open a drawing and check out your new sheet background. Here are just a couple that I came up with. The options are endless.

Remember, this is just for looks. In other words, the sheet background image will not print. If you want a picture to print in a drawing, pull down the “Insert” menu and pick Picture. Open the picture of your choice and use the Sketch Picture PropertyManager to adjust the picture.

February 2008 Specials
Purchase SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy - Course 1: Part Creation and receive a free copy of Customizing SolidWorks For Greater Productivity. Special offer expires February 29, 2008.

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