Create a SolidWorks Drawing Watermark

For whatever reason, watermarks are sometimes necessary, even on drawings. Since SolidWorks has no watermark feature, and does not allow the user to change the order of drawing entities, a workaround is necessary. Here’s a method I recently discovered.(I am currently using SolidWorks 2007 SP3.1.)

 

  1. Open the drawing.
  2. Edit Sheet Format
  3. Use Annotation Note to create and place the text that will become the watermark.
  4. Edit the properties of the Note to adjust its font, angle, size, etc as desired.
  5. Highlight the Note and change its color using the Line Color function.For best results, assign a very light color to the Note.
  6. Right Mouse Button click on the Note and select Make Block and accept.
  7. Edit Sheet.

 

The Note will now appear underneath all other objects on the Drawing Sheet. This tip is based on the SolidWorks Forum discussion which can be found here:http://forum.solidworks.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=1989&enterthread=y

*UPDATE*

I have written an article detailing a more advanced method that will link the text of the watermark directly to a custom property here: Create a SolidWorks Drawing Watermark (with linked value).

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UPDATE for SolidWorks 2013

SolidWorks 2013 now has the ability to set any annotation note on the sheet format to appear underneath all drawing elements to act as a watermark.  The method mentioned above is no longer necessary to achieve the desired results. Please see SolidWorks 2013 What’s New – Display Note Behind Sheet.

Author: fcsuper

As a drafter, mechanical designer and CAD engineer, I've been in the mechanical design field since 1991. For the first 8 years of my career, I was an AutoCAD professional. I utilized AutoLISP and many other AutoCAD customization features to streamline drafting activities for 6+ drafters and designers. I authored several custom functions, one of which was published in the March 1997 issue of Cadalyst Magazine. Since 1998, I've been used SolidWorks non-stop. I've worked to utilize the SolidWorks' user environment to simplify drafting and design activities for 20+ engineers. I've created this website to provide current information about SolidWorks from a variety of contributors. More recently, I am now employed by Dassault Systemes as SOLIDWORKS Sr. Product Definition Manager to improve drawing, annotation and MBD related areas.

7 thoughts on “Create a SolidWorks Drawing Watermark”

  1. seems like they should be able to add this since they can add an out of sync watermark.

    I’ll add watermarks to pdf versions of the drawings so I don’t have to remove it from each sheet in solidworks.

    Another option in 2008 would be to add it as a background image and then print background.

  2. Yeah, I know. Time to ER it.

    Also, I thought about adding the 2008 option, but wasn’t sure if printing the drawing with the background image was possible. Also, the image isn’t carried with the drawing, say if the status changed, you are still stuck with that same image unless you continuously make global changes back and forth.

  3. I suppose you could link the dawing watermark to a document property. That might make things a little less tedious

  4. BTW, thank you to Albert for giving me the idea to figure out a way to link the value of the watermark to a custom property.

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