How to Create and Add a Signature in Outlook

When sending a formal email message, you should always include a closing section to conclude the message and add your contact information.

Since writing this section from scratch whenever you have a new email to send would get old very quickly, it’s a good idea to create and add a custom signature to your messages automatically. Luckily, Microsoft makes this easy.

How to Create a Signature in Outlook

Before you can add your own custom sig, you have to create it. Outlook signature templates can save you a lot of time by providing you with a convenient starting point that you can easily customize to fit your needs.

While you can edit your signature template in Microsoft Word or a similar word processing software, we recommend you copy the sig and paste it in the Outlook signature editor instead.

By editing this directly in Outlook, you can avoid all kinds of annoying formatting issues later down the road.

Here’s how to add a new sig in the desktop version of Outlook on Windows:

1. Launch the application.
2. Switch to the Message tab.
3. Click Signature and choose the Signatures option.
4. Choose New under Select signature to edit.
5. Paste your sig into the text edit box and click OK.

Here’s how to add a new one in the desktop version of Outlook on Mac:

1. Launch the application.
2. Open the main menu.
3. Select the Preferences option.
4. Click Signatures.
5. Click the Plus button.
6. Paste your sig into the text edit box.

Unfortunately, Outlook doesn’t make it possible to directly add an HTML signature, but there are articles that explain how to add an HTML signature to Outlook by creating an empty placeholder sig and then replacing the contents of it with your HTML.

Learning how to change a signature in Outlook is similarly easy, and you can make as many changes as you want, as often as you need.

Now that you have your email sig in the Outlook signature editor, you can further customize it by adding an image and hyperlink or by including an electronic business card.

How to Add an Image to an Outlook Signature

1. Open the editor by following the instructions provided in the previous section of this article.
2. Select the sig you want to edit (and click Edit if you’re a Mac user).
3. Click the Image icon and insert your image.
4. Select the inserted image and edit it to fit the sig as best as possible.
5. Close the signature editor.

Keep in mind that even a single image can greatly increase the size of your email message, so make sure to use only well-optimized images.

How to Add a Hyperlink to a Signature in Outlook

1. Open the Outlook signature editor by following the instructions provided in the previous section of this article.
2. Select the sig you want to edit (and click Edit if you’re a Mac user).
3. Select the piece of text that you want to turn into a hyperlink.
4. Click the Hyperlink button.
5. Specify the website you want to link to and confirm.

We recommend you link to your personal website if you have one, your social media profiles, and you can also turn your email address into a hyperlink for extra convenience.

How to Create a Business Card Signature in Outlook

Outlook lets you add an Electronic Business Card to your email signature, which then makes it possible for any recipient to right-click the card and save the information it contains to their contacts list.

1. Open the signature editor by following the instructions provided in the previous section of this article.
2. Select the sig you want to edit (and click Edit if you’re a Mac user).
3. Enter the text that you want to include in the sig in the text edit box.
4. Place the cursor where you want to add the card and click Business Card.
5. Click a contact name on the Filed As list and confirm.

Unfortunately, the option to add an Electronic Business Card to an Outlook signature is available only in the Windows version of Outlook.

How to Add a Signature in Outlook

Now that your signature is ready, it’s time to add it to your emails, and you can do so either automatically or manually.

Insert Your Signature Automatically

Let’s take a look at how to automatically insert a signature in Outlook on Windows:

1. Launch the application.
2. Switch to the Message tab.
3. Click Signature and choose the Signatures option.
4. Select the signature you want to automatically insert.
5. Select the email account you want to associate with the sig under Choose default signature.
6. Select your preferred sig in the New messages list. You can also include the sig in your replies and forwards.

To automatically insert an email sig using the Mac version of Outlook:

1. Launch the application.
2. Open the main menu.
3. Select the Preferences option.
4. Click Signatures.
5. Select the email signature you want to automatically insert under Choose default signature.

If you ever get tired of your current sig, then changing the existing is just as easy as creating and adding a new one.

Insert Your Signature Manually

Here’s how to set up a signature in Outlook on Windows manually to add it to one message:

1. Launch the application and compose a new message.
2. Click the Signature button in the Message tab.
3. Select your sig.

If you’re on a Mac, follow these instructions instead:

1. Launch the application and compose a new message.
2. Open the Draft menu and click the Signatures option.
3. Select your sig.

The sig you created earlier using an signature template should now be included in the email draft.