Microsoft Adds New Dynamic Watermarking Feature to Enhance Data Protection in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft has introduced dynamic watermarking for Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• This security feature displays the reader’s email address and timestamp on the file content to prevent unauthorized sharing and data leaks.
• Dynamic watermarks won’t appear in exported Office files or certain experiences like PowerPoint Live.

Microsoft has announced the public preview of dynamic watermarking for Microsoft 365 apps, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This new security feature allows administrators to configure sensitivity labels that display the reader’s email address and a date/timestamp directly on the file content, providing an additional layer of protection against unauthorized sharing and data leaks.

Microsoft Purview Information Protection provides sensitivity labels to help IT admins classify and secure their organization’s data. These labels restrict access to sensitive files and prevent users from performing unauthorized actions. However, the sensitivity labels don’t stop users from taking pictures of sensitive files or presentations shared online or during in-person meetings.

Microsoft’s new dynamic watermarking feature helps organizations prevent data leaks and unauthorized sharing within their organizations. “Dynamic watermarking is already supported in Teams meetings (), and each participant will see their own email address overlaid on the meeting video or shared content. This deters participants from taking unauthorized screenshots or pictures of the meeting content,” Microsoft explained.

How to enable dynamic watermarking for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

To apply a sensitivity label with dynamic watermarking in Microsoft Word, users will need to follow the steps mentioned below:

• Click the Sensitivity button on the ribbon and select a label from the dropdown list.
• Once the sensitivity label is applied, the tiled watermarks will appear across the file content in a couple of minutes.
• These watermarks will show the email address associated with the account the customer is using to access the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file.

It’s important to note that users attempting to open watermarked files on Microsoft 365 clients that don’t support this feature will see an “access denied” message. Additionally, dynamic watermarks will not appear in Office files exported to other formats. Microsoft also states that users won’t be able to see the watermarks in certain experiences, such as PowerPoint Live.

Currently, the dynamic watermarking feature is available in public preview for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 customers. However, IT admins must first enable this setting on a sensitivity label for end users in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. Microsoft 365 E5 customers will have exclusive access to this security feature once it becomes generally available later this year.