Recently the world of Exchange was on the edge of their seats waiting for Exchange 2016 to come out. Now, those who already had some time to play with it must have noticed that Exchange 2016 brings some interesting innovations. One of the changes is related to OWA as well, which is now replaced with a brand new and shiny Outlook on the Web that brings some new features to provide you with even better experience.
If you haven’t had a chance to set up a new email signature in your Outlook on the Web yet, just follow the steps below to learn more.
Note: Now, by signing in to any Microsoft email account, you are actually signing in to Outlook on the Web.
Set up an email signature in Outlook on the Web
- Log in to your Outlook on the Web account and go to the Mail app. Below you can see two examples of the apps view: in Office 365 and Exchange 2016 OWA.
And Exchange 2016 OWA: - Then, go to the settings (it’s a gear icon at the top right-corner of the screen) and click Mail (Office 365) or Options (Exchange 2016).
- On the left pane, extend the Mail section, then Layout and select Email signature.
- To make signature appearing in every new email message, check the Automatically include my signature on new messages I compose box. Then, compose your email signature using available formatting tools. You can also compose your signature within an email signature generator and then paste it to Outlook on the web’s editor.
- Once your signature has been created, hit the Save button so that all changes take effect.
- Go back to your main Mail view and click the plus icon next to the New button or click the arrow and select Email message.
- Your signature should be already applied to a newly opened message.
That’s it! Now you do not have to waste time on creating a signature every time you write a new email. Your signature will be already there.
If you want to change your email signature just follow the above steps again.
Central email signature management
While the method above is a quick and easy way to set email signatures in OWA, it has some drawbacks (For more information on this topic see Problems and risks of email signatures set up by end users). If you want to ensure that every mail is well-branded and includes all the details you require, you should manage email signatures centrally, from one place. See the links below to learn how to do this natively.
- How to set up email disclaimers on Exchange Server
- How to create company-wide email signatures and disclaimers in Office 365
Limitations of the native email signatures solution
The native methods of central email signature management can help you unify email signatures in your organization. Sadly, this approach is still not perfect, as it lacks some significant features. To mention a few:
- Placing the signature directly under the latest reply or forward,
- Including inline images in email signatures (so that they do not show as attachments),
- Viewing email signatures in the Sent Items folder,
- Including individual users’ photos,
- Removing empty lines from signatures (e.g. if a user misses an attribute)
If you are looking for a solution which overcomes all those limitations, you have to use a third party tool, like CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 (for Office 365) and CodeTwo Exchange Rules (for Exchange Server).
Suggested reading
How do I add a signature in Windows 10 mail programme Outlook?
Hi Göran,
To set up a signature in Windows 10 Mail app, follow the steps below:
1. In the Windows Mail app, go to Settings (the cog icon)>Options.
2. Then, go to the Signature section where you can compose your email signature. Make sure the Use an email signature option is ON.
3. Your signature should appear automatically while creating a new email message.
However, as far as I know, the signature editor in Windows 10 Mail app does not allow formatting or adding images.
Hope this helps!
What you said is correct Milena. I have the Windows 10 Mail app and adding images in the signature is not allowed. I don’t know why they removed such a nice feature.
How do I include logo, that is “moving”. I have the signature in .html file
Hi Marie,
Do you mean an animated logo? If that is the case, add the logo the way you would add a standard picture. It is easiest done using the signature editor, like in the instructions above. Just click insert pictures inline and point to the location of your animated gif file.
In Office 365 webmail, can I use an automatic signature only sometimes when I choose, rather than “always when replying” or “always when composing”?
Hi Michael,
You can add the signature only sometimes if you like. To do so, do not check any of the options you mentioned. Then, while composing an email, click the … symbol next to the discard button and choose Add a signature from the list. It is not automatic, but it will give you a chance to add the signature only when you want.
Is it possible to set up multiple email signatures because I can only seem to set up one
Hi Ross,
Outlook on the Web lets you set up only one email signature at a time. To set up more, you can connect your account to Outlook.
How to make the social media linkage work If I just copy/paste your signature template to the web outlook?
Hi,
The easiest way would be to highlight a social icon the same way you would highlight a chunk of text. Then, click More < Insert hyperlink in the editor’s ribbon and insert links to the according social media profile. Repeat for the rest of icons and you are done. You can also use the email signature generator if the template you have chosen is also in the generator.
Thank you. This was very helpful.
I followed these instructions and it looks great on my end when I start a new email. When someone gets the email the photos come up as gibberish text making the body of the email extremely long.
How can I insert a banner with a link to an intranet/internet page in the signature in outlook365. Simply copying it is not working.
Thank you.
Hello Johan,
Do you mean that when you paste the banner it does not appear or that clicking the banner in a signature does not lead you to the page?
If there is no link on the banner, highlight the banner and click the Insert hyperlink button and enter the URL of your choice.
If the banner does not appear altogether, use the Insert picture option first, and then follow the step I mentioned above.
Dear Sir
Kindly note that i make my signature from other web and now its make big problem for me , i cant delete there signature due its automatically shown and even i make new outlook email its also show ,
really i need your help , its make big problem to me with my boss
Could you explain what you mean by “the other web”? If you are using Outlook and there is a signature which shows automatically, you should be able to turn it off in the settings. Go to File > Options > Mail > Signatures and turn the problematic signature off. If it is in OWA, follow the path in the article above and unmark the options which automatically add the signature. If neither of those solutions works, please specify which email client you use.
When changing email signature the chosen formatting such as bold/italics/colours are not showing despite them being saved in settings? How do I fix this?
To make sure I understand you correctly – in the signature editor, you can see all the formatting changes, whereas in the email message, you cannot? It might mean you are composing your messages in plain text format. Please check if there is the Switch to HTML option available under the More actions button.
I am having an issue with inserting my logo and my social media buttons. I am copying it from my desktop Outlook and pasting into my boss’ O365 version but it does not work, it just shows as strange boxes in that spot. I tried the “insert hyperlink” suggestion above but that does absolutely nothing. Any suggestions?
Hi Kathy,
The Insert hyperlink option will not help you with graphics – it is used to add hyperlinks. If you copy the signature from Outlook signature editor, you might want to try copying the signature from an actual email. If this does not work, simply use the Insert pictures inline option in the OWA signature editor to replace those strange boxes with actual pictures.