§7.3.13

Watermarks

A watermark across the page—delete it, keep it in the text, or record it once?

✅ NormativeSettled. The requirement holds as written.📄 Page ruleCan be applied from the page alone.Read §7.3.13 in the RFC ↗

The requirement

A watermark MUST NOT be deleted and MUST NOT be left inside the body text. It MUST be rendered once per page that prints it, as its own element at the top of that page's content: [watermark: DRAFT].

When it applies

Diagonal or background text stamped across the page — "DRAFT", "Redline Version", "CONFIDENTIAL", "VOID".

Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.

Requirements

The watermark is its own element, not a phrase inside the text it happens to cross.
It is written as the protocol's bracket marker, [watermark: …], carrying its words exactly as printed, and placed first in the page's content — not in the middle of the paragraph or table row it physically overlaps.
A watermark printed on several lines is one marker, its lines joined with a space.
It is recorded on every page that prints it, and not carried onto a page that does not.

[watermark: Redline Version]

Why not simply drop it

A watermark says something about the whole document, and it is often the single most important fact on the page. "Redline Version" says that every figure in Struck and Replaced Values (§9.6.7) is in play; "VOID" invalidates everything underneath it. Removing it silently loses real information.

Why not leave it inline

The watermark overlaps body text physically. Rendered in place, it injects a stray phrase into the middle of a sentence or splits a table row — corrupting content that was otherwise clean.

Keeping it as a separate element gets both: the fact is recorded and the text stream stays intact. The bracket marker is the same shape as the protocol's other marks laid on a page — [seal: …], [logo: …], [signature] — see Markdown Rendering (§3.2).

✅ SampleThe rule applies

a diagonal stamp across a pay stub

THIS IS NOT A CHECK printed diagonally across the cheque-shaped lower half of an earnings statement, with NON–NEGOTIABLE beneath it. Both cross printed text; neither enters the lines they cross.

Source page

Expected output

[watermark: THIS IS NOT A CHECK NON–NEGOTIABLE]

Harrowgate Retail Solutions LLC Earnings Statement

Pay period: 04/28/2025 – 05/11/2025 Pay date: 05/16/2025

Employee	Delia M. Okonkwo	Employee ID	88213
Rate	$19.50/hr	Hours	76.00
Gross Pay	$1,482.00	Net Pay	$1,109.44
Federal Tax	$178.20	State Tax	$62.60
Social Security	$91.88	Medicare	$21.49
Retirement 401(k)	$18.39	YTD Net	$9,984.96

Pay to the order of: Delia M. Okonkwo Amount: ***One thousand one hundred nine and 44/100 dollars*** Bank: Harrowgate Retail Solutions Payroll Account — 04-2201-88213

✅ SampleThe rule applies

a watermark across a form grid

Sample in large grey letters diagonally across a mostly empty project grid, crossing cells that hold checkbox lists. Same placement: once, out of the grid, at the top of the page.

Source page

Expected output · excerpt, watermark and grid header

[watermark: Sample]

…

	1	2	3	4
…

…

Markdown

[watermark: Sample]

<!-- … -->

<table>
<tr> <th></th> <th>1</th> <th>2</th> <th>3</th> <th>4</th> </tr>
<!-- … -->
</table>

<!-- … -->

Look-alike

Two similar pages that call for different decisions. Synthetic, for teaching the boundary.

Words printed sideways or diagonally that are not body text. Where do they go?

A margin banner

Overview of Risk Ranking Symbols

One way to rank environmental impacts is…

The convention

A separate furniture block. Not a watermark.

A watermark

DRAFT

The parties agree that the term

shall commence on the effective date

and continue for twelve months.

The convention

Recorded once, out of the flow, in a watermark tag.

Look at the structure. What evidence changes the answer?

Rule id text-watermarks · text marks layout