Shared Email Templates for Microsoft Outlook

How to set signatures

Note. Signatures 1.0 are deprecated. For information on Signatures 2.0, visit the following pages:

Company-wide signatures

Team-wide signatures

Personal signatures

With well-structured and easy-to-customize signature templates in Shared Email Templates for Outlook, you can automatically add informative signatures to your personal and team email messages.

To open a quick Signatures cheat sheet, click the button below.

Download cheat sheet

How to create a signature

  1. To start working with signatures, click the Signatures icon on the Shared Email Templates pane in your Outlook:
    Here's the Signatures icon.

    You will see folders for your personal signatures (My Signatures) and team ones. There will be an individual folder for each of your teams.

  2. To create a signature, select the necessary folder and click the New Signature button at the bottom of the add-in pane:
    Click the button.

    Note. To create a signature for an encrypted team, you'll need the team password.
    The team password is needed.
  3. After you click the New Signature button, the Shared Email Templates web app will open in your default browser to offer signature templates. Choose any you like and click Next:
    Select a signature template.

    Tip. You can create a signature using your own HTML code. Just click Custom HTML in the lower-left corner of the Choose signature template window.
  4. In Signature preview, decide:
    • What messages your new signature will work for by default (if any).
    • What sections the new signature should have.

    Clear the checkboxes next to the items you don't need.
    Here's the signature preview.

    Tip. You can always add or remove sections with the Signature options icon available in the Edit mode.
    Click this icon.
    Tip. To automatically fetch Azure AD properties from your Microsoft account, select the Use Azure AD properties checkbox.
    Use Azure AD properties.
  5. When you're done, click Finish.
  6. Customize the signature template by inserting the necessary data, images, and links.
    Create a new signature.

    • You can add a photo that is stored on your OneDrive, in your SharePoint, or in your device. You can also use a photo URL. Just click the photo frame in Signature preview and select the corresponding option:
      Add a photo to your signature.
    • If necessary, add a banner, a button, or a promo in a similar way:
      Add your banner, button, or promo.
    • To insert a link, right-click the necessary section and select Link:
      Add a link.
      Then enter a URL, text to display, and a title:
      Fill in the fields.
      Click OK.
  7. When your new signature is ready, name it and click Save.
Note. You can also create a new signature right in the Shared Email Templates web app. Just sign in, switch to the Signatures view mode, click the More menu next to the folder of interest, and select the New Signature option. Alternatively, you can select the necessary folder and click the New Signature icon on the left sidebar.
Add a new signature via the web app.

Here's the New Signature icon.

How to edit a signature

On the Shared Email Templates pane in your Outlook, all your signatures are grouped in folders on the Signatures tab.

To edit, copy, move, or delete a signature, select it and click the corresponding action button:
Edit, copy, move, or delete a signature.
You can also use the options that are available in the More menu:
Here's the More menu.
To start editing the signature of interest, opt for Edit in Browser in the dropdown list:
Select the Edit in Browser option.
Or, click this button:
The Edit in browser button
The signature will become available for editing in the Shared Email Templates web app in your default browser.
Edit a signature in your browser.

Tip. To modify the structure of the signature you're editing and change the type of messages it works for by default, click the Signature options icon. The Signature options sidebar will appear. Make the necessary changes and click Close.
Click this icon.

Change the settings and structure.

When you're done with editing your signature, click Save.

Note. You can also edit your signatures right in the Shared Email Templates web app. You just need to sign in, select the signature you want to modify, and click Edit. The signature will open in the Edit mode. Alternatively, you can choose the Edit option from the More menu that is next to each signature.
Edit a signature with the Edit icon in the web app.

This is the Edit option you need.

How to set a default signature

A default signature is automatically inserted in an email message along with a template.

  • A personal signature that is defined as a default one will be automatically added to the message body when you paste any of your personal templates (My Templates) into an email message.
  • If there's a signature defined as a default one for any of your teams, it will automatically appear in the message body when you paste a template from the corresponding team folder.

To set a default signature, follow the steps below:

  1. On the Signatures tab of the Shared Email Templates pane in your Outlook, select the folder of interest:
    Choose a folder.
  2. If you need a default signature for new email messages only, pick a signature from the dropdown list in the For new messages box:
    Set a default signature for new messages.
  3. If necessary, set a default signature for replies and forwarding messages in the same way:
    Pick a default signature for replies and forwarding emails.

Default signatures are marked as follows:
Different types of default signatures

  1. A signature that is used by default for new email messages.
  2. A signature that is used by default for replies and forwarding emails.
  3. A signature that is used by default for all email messages.
Tip. If any of your templates requires not a default signature but a special one, you can easily integrate it into the template with the help of the ~%Insert macro:

  • Open the template of interest in the Edit mode.
  • Place the cursor below the text of your template and click the Insert macro icon.
    Here's the Insert macro icon.
  • Type "signature" in the Select macro search box and select Insert Signature.
    Insert Signature
  • Pick the necessary signature from the list of those available in the Select signature dialog box.
    Choose the signature you need.
  • Click OK.
  • Save your template.

Responses

Chrisjomar Sta. Maria says:
April 24, 2023 at 6:04 am

Can I use signatures in my mail merge campaigns? I've been trying to insert my office signature as a macro into my message body template but it says that:

The template contains invalid macros that will not be processed:
~%Insert{"field":"signature","property":"Office Signature"}

For context, my office signature is laid out as a two-column table with the logo of my company on the left column, and my contact details on the right column.

I also tried an alternative of simply copy-pasting the logo, but the logo does not show up in the sent emails when I check my test email recipients.

Thank you!

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