How to set up multiple signatures in Gmail

By default, Gmail (or Google Mail) allows for applying only one signature to your new email messages or replies. Although this solution seems to be sufficient when private correspondence is taken into account, it is not necessarily a desirable scenario in case of business communication.

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How to set up multiple signatures in Gmail

If you have already had a chance to work with Microsoft Outlook, you perhaps noticed that it offers a convenient option of using multiple signatures that can be selected depending on a situation. In this article, you will find out how to achieve a similar effect in Gmail.
The tricky part of the setting is that you need to activate a Gmail extension called Templates. This feature evolved from Canned Responses, which later became “Canned Responses (Templates)”. How are canned responses different from templates? Apart from the cooler name, templates are pretty much the same.

As soon as this advanced feature is active, you will be able to create and save as many new signatures as you need.

Note: If you are using a signature that automatically appears in your every new email, it is better and more convenient to switch it off before you start using the Templates function.
Let see how to find the Templates (Canned Responses) option in Gmail settings and how to switch it on.

Activating Templates

To activate the Templates feature, log in to your Gmail account and go to Gmail settings (gear icon) located on the top right corner of the main Gmail account window:

Canned responses Gmail - settings

In the Settings view, access the Advanced tab located on the right-hand side of the window as presented below. Next, go to the Templates section and click Enable:

How to set up multiple signatures in Gmail - templates

Once the option has been enabled, save the changes:

Creating templates

Ok, now you can create your first canned response (or Template, if you like). To create it, you need to go to the main view of the Inbox and click the Compose button to open a new message window.

Compose a new message
In the new message window, compose your signature. You can make use of available formatting tools to make your signature more attractive or you can use one of those free email signature generators to simplify the process.

Once your signature is ready, click the three dots (next to the trash bin icon) to show up more options (step 1 in the picture below) and then Templates>Save draft as template>Save as new template.

Gmail email signatures - new template

In the resulting window, please enter a name for your new email signature template and click Save:

How to set up multiple signatures in Gmail - new template

That’s it! Now you can check whether your “canned response” has been created properly. To check it, click the More options icon and select Templates again – you should see your newly created signature on the list:

Insert email signature template in gmail

Now you can repeat this procedure as many times as you need. Once all your templates have been prepared, you will be able to a select one of them each time you compose a new email message.

Insert email signature template in gmail 2

To remove a template from the list, simply click on the selected response under the Delete template section and in the resulting window confirm that you want to remove it (in the screenshot above, there are three sections: Insert, Save and Delete).

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