Some of the most confidential data is presented in a PowerPoint deck and one method to imply that there is confidential data is to add a watermark to the slides. Oftentimes, we need reminders that a document is “Internal Only,” a “Draft,” or “Not for Distribution,” and adding a watermark is a helpful alert your audience.

Watch the video above or follow these steps below.

First, we will begin by adjusting the slide master:

1. Click the View tab.
   • Select Slide master.
2. Select the top slide.
3. Go to the Insert tab.
   • Add a text box in middle of the slide.
   • Type in text you want to be watermarked.
   • Resize, rotate, and adjust the text as you see fit.
4. Now to make the text look faded and more like a watermark, select the Format tab.
   • Click the pop out menu for Format Shape. A menu will appear on the right.
   • Click the Text options icon in the format shape menu.
   • Under Text Fill and Outline, you can adjust the transparency of the text here.
     • Adjust the text transparency as you see fit.
5. Close the master view in the top menu bar.
6. Now, the watermark should be visible on text heavy slides.

Reviewed and working in 2021