Printing numbered copies (watermark)?

[Guest]

Hello,
I need to print multiple copies of a report which will be distributed to a
certain number of (numbered) people. To avoid unauthorized copying of those
print-outs I would like to give each copy a number which can then be linked
to the recipient (since they will have the same number). To assure that the
number on the document cannot be cut off or covered with something or
whatever, I would like to have the numbering as watermarks.
Is there a way to automatically have a sequential numbering as a watermark
when printing out multiple copies of a document?

Thanks!

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you think that will stop the document being copied or duplicated, then I
am afraid you are dreaming.

However if you want to pursue this, create a one column table as a data
file - head it 'Numbers' and below spell out the required numbers one, two,
three etc, one for each copy of the document. Save the document.

With the document on screen open the merge toolbar
(http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_labels_with_word_xp.htm ) and set the
document type to 'letters'. Attach the table document you have created as
the data source.

Open the header/footer view and draw a large text box to fill the pagem set
its properties to have no border and its layout to 'behind text.

In the text box insert the mergefield Numbers. Toggle the view to show the
merge result - it should say 'one'.

Format this field to a large size eg 72 points (or your document will be
unreadable) and format the colour to a medium shade of grey.

Select and copy the field immediately after the first field, then press F4
as many times as it takes to fill the page. You should now have a page
filled with "oneoneoneoneoneone".

When you are happy with the appearance, close the header view and merge the
document to a new document (if you want separate documents you can use the
splitter add-in at http://www.gmayor.com/individual_merge_letters.htm )

You should now have a document (or documents) with uniquely numbered
watermarks.

While this was an amusing exercise, it will not stop the document being
copied. Any half decent OCR should be able to see through it and produce an
unnumbered version.


--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Guest]

Dear Graham,

of course i'm aware of the fact that also a numbered document can be copied
(d'uh! ;o) ), but atleast, should such a copy show up it can be traced back
to the original. We've tried copying pages with watermarks on the copying
machines available in our offices (using all sorts of settings) and we didn't
manage to get rid of the watermark...
Anyway, thanks a lot for your quick reply, I'll try it out straight away!

Brgds

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This suggests that you intend to distribute the documents in printed form,
and that should probably work. If you distributed them electronically, it
would require just a couple of clicks to remove the watermark.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Graham Mayor]

It wouldn't be too hard to remove it with OCR from a scanned copy either,
but it is (just) better than nothing.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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