How to Add an Email Signature in Outlook (New, Classic and Web)

An email signature in Outlook takes a couple of minutes to set up, but the steps depend on which Outlook you use. This guide covers the three versions most people meet on Windows and the web: the new Outlook for Windows, classic Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web. They all do the same job, and the buttons differ. The steps below follow Microsoft’s own support article for each one. You also need to decide the one setting people often miss: whether the signature is added to new messages only, or to replies and forwards as well.

Which Outlook do you have?

Look at the top of the window. Classic Outlook has a File tab at the left of its ribbon. The new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web have no File tab, and both put their settings behind a gear icon. If the steps for one version do not match your screen, try the next one.

New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web

These two use the same steps:

1. Select Settings (the gear icon).
2. Go to Accounts, then Signatures.
3. If you have several accounts in the new Outlook, choose the account the signature is for.
4. Select Add signature (the plus icon) and give the signature a name.
5. Type and format your signature in the editing box.
6. Use the check boxes at the bottom: New messages adds the signature automatically to new emails, and Replies and forwards adds it to replies and forwards. Leave both empty if you would rather insert it by hand.
7. Select Save.

To insert a signature yourself while writing, open the Message tab in the compose window and choose Signature, then pick the one you want. In the new Outlook the same option sits in the Insert group.

Classic Outlook for Windows

1. Open a new email message.
2. On the Message tab, choose Signature, then Signatures.
3. In the E-mail account drop-down, choose the account.
4. Under Select signature to edit, select New and type a name.
5. Under Edit signature, write and format your signature.
6. Under Choose default signature, set the New messages drop-down and, separately, the Replies/forwards drop-down. Each can be a signature or (none).
7. Select OK.

With these steps, the signature you have just created is not added to the message you opened in step 1. Insert it by hand through Message, then Signature.

What to put in a signature

Shorter is better, because the signature is repeated under every message. A practical layout:

Asha Verma
IT Support Engineer, Example Co.
[email protected] | +91 98765 43210
example.com

• Use your real name, role and one or two ways to reach you. Skip long legal text unless your employer requires it.
• Keep logos small. Large images make the message heavy, and many mail programs hide images until the reader allows them, so the signature should still make sense without the picture.
• If you add a link, check that it opens the right page. Click it from a test email to yourself.
• Use plain, readable fonts and colours. Stylish formatting often looks different on the other person’s screen.

Common problems

The signature does not appear on replies

The defaults for Replies and forwards (or Replies/forwards in classic Outlook) are separate from the default for new messages. Set both.

I have several accounts and the wrong signature appears

Signatures are tied to an account. In the settings, pick the right account first, then set its defaults. In classic Outlook, change the E-mail account drop-down before you edit anything.

The signature looks different to the recipient

Mail programs display formatting in their own way. Test by sending a message to yourself, and to a second address on another service if you can.

Sources

• Microsoft Support: Create and add an email signature in Outlook