[Update]: This article was updated on October 29, 2019.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
In the resulting window, please enter a name for your new email signature template and click Save:
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:
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.
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).
Suggested reading
Thanks for the information, now i have multiple signatures appended to my out going messages as well as reply/forward messages
I have multiple email signatures set up in my account, but I noticing that my first three signatures will auto-populate and my other two requires a manual insertion. Is there a limit on how many email signatures will automatically populate?
Figured it out! Thanks! 🙂
Hi there,
Any idea as to how many templates like this can be added in Gmail?
The most I’ve set up is 24 and it worked. I haven’t tried inserting more, but I imagine it might be difficult to manage them if there is more than 20.
Nice Trick … Thank you for share
Nikos-
Thanks so much for your clear directions and a successful outcome.
For your next challenge: Do you know how to change the date format? Not all of us live in the US;-)
My preferred format for today is 2020/07/27
Unfortunately, the date format is bound to a language setting. I don’t think you can change it to yyyy/mm/dd, but at least you can easily switch it to dd/mm by choosing English (UK) as your language. The option is available at: Settings>See all settings>General>Language.
There is no canned responses option in my gmail. Any ideas?
Hi Nikos,
Thanks for noticing! The feature’s name has been changed from Canned Responses to Templates. I’ve updated the article.
Thank you!
Very helpful – straight and to the point
Thank you very much ! this is very useful
can you us this feature on a Samsung phone?
i.e. when replying from phone.
As far as I know, the default Android’s Gmail app does not have the canned responses feature. To set up multiple signatures in Gmail you would need to use a dedicated app or to access your gmail account via browser.
Hi there,
Thanks for sharing this post,
is very helpful article.
This was very helpful!!! Took me a few minutes to figure out how to actually add the text – dumb me, I just had to read your instructions more carefully – my Mom always said, “Haste makes waste…” 😉
Thanks this was very useful and easy to understand with the help of the screenshots shared.
I have read all these wonderful replies, but I cannot find the “Lab” tab on the Settings. All the other tabs are there, but not that one! It simply isn’t there. I turned off the signature in regular settings, that has been turned on, so that isn’t the problem.
Thank you, I hope to hear from someone.
Hi Fran,
Gmail’s layout has recently changed. The canned responses option has been moved from the Lab tab to the Advanced tab. The screenshots reflect those changes now. Thank you for the mention!
Hi. This is GREAT Thank you! One problem though. I named my signatures “LA” “NYC” and “Both” and when I insert the canned response, it puts the name of the canned response in my Subject Heading. Is there a way to make it not do that?
Hi Crystal,
Canned responses should only insert their name in the subject line if you have not entered any subject yet. Please try adding a subject before choosing the canned response and the subject should not change then. Currently, it is the only solution, as canned responses do not offer much in terms of configuration.
This worked beautifully ! Thank you!
I’ve noticed that if I try to use an image file as part of my signature (I’ve tried both JPEG and GIF) when I insert the canned response into a new message a placeholder box appears for the image but not the image itself. I tried sending myself an email and the image box shows up with the broken image icon. Is this a limitation of the canned response feature that it cannot process images?
I have tested it and canned responses work with images. Please try adding an email signature taken from the Signature Generator and check if the image is broken then.
You are my hero! I have been wishing I could do this forever — and on a whim typed the question into Google and got your directions. You have just made me EXTREMELY happy! Thank you so much!!
thanks got it.
Hi, thanks for this utility. Is there a hot key for choosing and inserting a canned response?
Hi Irene,
Sorry, but while Gmail offers many keyboard shortcuts and even has a lab for editing them (Custom keyboard shortcuts), there is no hotkey for canned responses.
Thanks for this, very useful.
However, when I enter my phone numbers into my signature, then re-open the signature to check, it has made hyperlinks out of both my phone numbers. I remove them on both and save, but every time they return.
Any suggestions?
thanks
Hi Chris,
Check your settings>Chat tab and if there is an option to disable outbound voice calling, check it. The problem is, that often it is your recipient’s email client (especially on mobiles) that automatically changes numbers into hyperlinks and there is not much you can do about it. Unless you convert your phone number into an image.
Great, very useful. Solved my problem! Thank you
I cannot locate the “more options icon” you said to click. Please let me know where it can be found. Thank you.
Hi Anthony,
For more options, click the down arrow symbol in the lower right corner of the New message window. In the article, I have already modified the description to match the image better.
Thank you for pointing this out to me.
Milena
Hi! I cannot find the down arrow symbol in the lower right corner of the New Message window. All I have in the lower right corner is a vertical row of three dots and a waste basket icon. Otherwise, your article is very helpful.
Thanks!
Hi Cindy,
Of course, you need to click the dots and not the arrow, we’ll fix the description right away. Thanks for mentioning!
Thanks, this was very useful