How to Add an Email Signature in Microsoft Outlook

In a professional environment, an email signature is more than just a polite sign-off; it serves as a digital business card. A properly formatted signature provides recipients with your job title, direct contact information, company logo, and crucial legal disclaimers, saving you the hassle of typing this information manually at the bottom of every message.

Microsoft Outlook allows you to create multiple custom signatures and configure the application to append them automatically to every new email you compose, as well as every reply you send.

How to Create a New Signature

The process of creating and formatting a signature is handled within Outlook’s Options menu, but the easiest way to access the editor is directly from the message composition window.

1. Open Microsoft Outlook and click the New Email button in the top-left corner to open a blank message.
2. In the new message window, look at the ribbon at the top and click on the Signature button (located in the “Include” group).
3. Click Signatures… from the dropdown menu. This will open the “Signatures and Stationery” dialogue box.
4. Click the New button located under the “Select signature to edit” box.
5. Type a descriptive name for this signature (for example, “Standard Corporate” or “Internal Only”) and click OK.

How to Format Your Signature text

Once you have created the signature profile, you need to add your actual contact details into the “Edit signature” text box at the bottom of the dialogue window.

You can type your information directly into the box, using the formatting toolbar above it to change the font, size, colour, and alignment. If your company has provided a standard corporate signature template, the best approach is to simply copy that template and paste it directly into this editing box.

To add a company logo or a professional headshot, click the picture icon (the small square with a monitor) located on the right side of the formatting toolbar. You can then select an image file from your computer to insert it into the signature.

How to Automate Your Signature

Creating the signature is only half the process; you must now instruct Outlook when to use it. You can set different signatures for new messages and replies.

1. In the same “Signatures and Stationery” window, look at the top-right corner under the Choose default signature section.
2. Ensure the correct Email account is selected in the dropdown menu. This is important if you manage multiple email addresses in Outlook.
3. Click the dropdown menu next to New messages and select the name of the signature you just created.
4. Click the dropdown menu next to Replies/forwards. You can choose to use the same signature, a shorter version, or select “(none)” if you prefer not to append a signature to ongoing conversation threads.
5. Click OK at the bottom of the window to save your settings.

To verify your settings, close the blank email you opened in Step 1 and click New Email again. Your newly formatted signature should instantly appear at the bottom of the blank message, ready to send.