Let me provide an answer myself: the btex ... etex doesn't seem to work. This code: \startuseMPgraphic{draft} draw "DRAFT" infont "phvb" scaled 9 rotated 57 withcolor .85white ; currentpicture := currentpicture ysized (\overlayheight-3cm) ; \stopuseMPgraphic \defineoverlay[draft][\uniqueMPgraphic{draft}] \setupbackgrounds[page][background=draft] will do what I want: provide a "watermark" for my document (or, as Hans writes, an "annoying text"). However, when I try the same with draw btex draft etex I don't get any output. Could you please verify if this is the case in your version of ConTeXt as well? Here's what I have (it's a vanilla teTeX implementation): ConTeXt ver: 2003.9.19 fmt: 2003.9.30 int: english mes: english MetaPost (Web2C 7.5.2) 0.641 Best Thomas