How to produce a customized watermark on a return in Lacerte

You can print a watermark on a return, such as Draft or Do Not File when printing to either the Lacerte PDF Printer or to the Document Management System (DMS).

For more Print & PDF resources, check out our Troubleshooting page for Print & PDF where you'll find answers to the most commonly asked questions.

To produce a customized watermark on the return:

1. Select the Clients tab.
2. Select the client(s) from the client list.
3. From the Print menu, select Tax Return.
4. Select the type of return you want to print under the Return section.
   
5. Select the box, File (PDF) or Document Management System under the Return Options section.
   
6. Select Settings in the Print window.
7. Locate the File (PDF) Settings section of the Print Settings window.
8. Select the box Watermark.
   
9. The default text for the watermark is DO NOT FILE. You can change the text to Draft or to the desired text, up to 15 characters, by entering in the field provided.
10. Select OK.
11. Select OK in the Print Tax Return window.

To remove a customized watermark on the return:

1. Select the Clients tab.
2. Select the clients from the client list.
3. From the Print menu, select Tax Return.
4. Select the type of return you want to print under the Return section.
5. Select the box, File (PDF) or Document Management System under the Return Options section.
6. Select Settings in the Print window.
7. Locate the File (PDF) Settings section of the Print Settings window.
8. Clear the box Watermark.

Create custom watermarks that are lighter or angled differently:

1. Print the return from Lacerte without a watermark and use the watermark features in Adobe Acrobat Pro. In Adobe, usually you can select the Document tab, scroll down to watermark to open up the add watermark screen.
   • From there you can create your own watermark with adjustable opacity and position it to your liking.
   • You can also save watermarks you use often (such as client copy or draft).
2. Print the return from Lacerte without a watermark and use the watermark features in your printer dialog. Using the advanced features of many printers, you can create watermarks, with adjustable opacity and position.