[Update]: This blog post was updated on November 19, 2024 to include information about new deep link types.
Are you using Microsoft Teams? Advertised as “the ultimate messaging app for your organization”, in most cases it allows employees to communicate and collaborate with high efficiency. If you are using it as a primary means of communication, it is vital to direct your co-workers to this channel. So, is there an easy and efficient method to link to Teams? There is! The secret is to use the so-called deep links.
[Update]: The problem with the new Outlook seems to be fixed. While drag-and-drop still works, you should also be able to set up your email signature with a simple copy-and-paste.
Setting up email signatures can be a headache. Especially in the new Outlook for Windows. Fortunately, there is a simple way to do this. I’ll show you how to add a professional email signature to the new Outlook. This method works every time and once you see it, you won’t believe how easy it is.
A professional email signature adds a human touch to your digital communication. It needs to look good and provide alternative ways to reach you. It’s a good sign that people want to know who they’re talking to. It means you’re on the right track. And to show them who you are, you might want to add a link to your LinkedIn profile. You could also add a marketing banner to let them know about a promo offer you’re running. A photo and logo helps too, so that they know they’re not having conversations with an AI.
But why am I mentioning this? Well, to have a professional email signature which includes those elements, you need to have it coded in HTML, so that it works in all email clients used to view your emails.
The easiest way to design a working email signature
HTML code for email signatures is not quite the same as the code used for websites. Email clients have a different parsing engine and trying to use the same methods you’d use for developing websites usually ends in failure.
That’s why it’s easiest to use a dedicated tool, designed to work with email signatures.
To design a signature in the generator, choose any signature template and fill it in with your data. The steps are really easy and if you run into any issues, its user’s manual has all the answers.
The generator works with all email clients. To use it with the new Outlook for Windows, choose New Outlook as your platform. When you’re happy with your design, click Apply your signature.
And here’s how to add a signature, because this part isn’t as obvious. You might want to minimize the generator for the time being.
Add a signature to the new Outlook for Windows
Since the new Outlook entered the Global Availability phase, you should be able to simply copy-and-paste the email signature from the generator to Outlook settings. Follow the instructions below to drag-and-drop your email signature only if the default method doesn’t work.
When you have the signature ready, it’s time to open signature settings in the new Outlook.
Starting from the Outlook’s main window, the quickest way to open signature settings is to start creating a new email:
Next, go to Message > Signature > Signatures
Once in the signature settings, add a new signature’s name. Now, it’s best to open Outlook and the signature generator side by side. I’m using the + key combination for an easy and even screen split, but you can use your second display (if you have it). Now, select the signature in the generator and drag & drop it into the signature settings in Outlook. Since it’s easier shown than written, see this short video:
Note: Alternatively, you can click and hold the signature, alt + tab to the settings (while holding) and release the mouse button in the signature editor.
Save your changes, (optionally) choose the new signature as the default one and then save again. You can’t choose the new signature as the default one until you save it first.
Why not copy and paste the signature?
Since the new Outlook entered the Global Availability phase, the signature formatting issue should be fixed. The images below show how email signatures behaved when you used drag-and-drop vs when you used copy-and-paste.
Can you see the difference? It’s the same signature.
Dragged & dropped:
Copied & pasted:
Other methods
It’s not the only way to get your automatic email signature working. But it’s by far the easiest. I’ll list the other methods, but mainly to show why the method above is superior.
Switching to classic Outlook and adding the signature there. Copy & paste always worked there, but you’ve switched to the new Outlook for some reason, right? Jumping between those two versions adds some hassle.
Creating the signature from scratch in the signature editor. While it’s always an option, I’ve never actually seen people doing it, unless they only want to add their first and last name.
You don’t have to use the signature generator. Designing a signature in Word and using it in the new Outlook is an option you’re welcome to try. I never recommend it, though. Copy and paste gives similar results to what you see above. And if you drag and drop, signatures from any word processor come with some curious formatting. It will reveal itself once you send out your emails.
You can design your signature in Canva, Photoshop, etc. and use an image instead of an HTML signature. While your formatting will be intact, you’ll lose dark-mode compatibility, easy editing, ability to copy anything and optimal signature size. Also, there’s no point in adding any social buttons, since you can only add one link to the whole image.
There is one more method, which makes a lot of sense if you design email signatures for the whole company.
How to add a professional email signature for the whole company?
The only easier method of setting up an email signature is when you don’t have to set it up at all. And yes, you and every other user can have a signature without having to get near the signature settings. Here’s how:
[Update]: This article was first published on March 15, 2016. It’s been updated to reflect the current steps required to set up an email signature on respective platforms.
Back in the day, when Exchange 2016 was released, OWA was replaced with a brand new and shiny Outlook on the web, known from Office 365 (or Microsoft 365, as the name also changed in the meantime). Since then, Outlook on the web went through some visual upgrades, but there wasn’t another name change (yet). What’s interesting is that despite the same name used for both on-premises (Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019) and cloud environments, those Outlook versions are a bit different. Even though both clients are similar when it comes to setting up signatures, there are some noticeable differences. One of them is the path to the email signature editor.
[Update]: This blog post was updated on July 09, 2021.
When it comes to Office 365 email signatures, you may want to have different variants for different purposes. It is a common practice to create two signatures for the same sender – one with full contact details and graphics, and one with less details and less or no graphics. The first signature applies only when you send your first email. The next signature is added only when continuing a conversation within the same email thread. Such a setup keeps email threads readable, but with necessary contact details always at hand.
Surprising as it may be, the native Office 365 signatures defined via mail flow rules cannot help you here. Office 365 makes email signatures land at the bottom of an email thread and lets you only use the same email signature design for new messages, replies and when you forward an email. In this article, you will find out how to have such signatures added automatically in Office 365 by using a third-party email signature manager, CodeTwo Email Signatures 365.
Email signature management – sounds a bit technical. Simply speaking, it is a perfect way to make sure every email sent outside the company is professionally branded and gets just the right promotional content. The problem is that corporate identity, marketing campaigns, promotional banners – those aspects are typically handled by the marketing team. At the same time, Microsoft 365 management, by default, is an IT-handled task. Global email signatures fall into this category. How is this a problem? Normally, central email signature management means that either:
The IT department gains additional responsibilities. Not only can it overburden IT, but it also means that marketing needs to outsource their own projects, instead of doing them on their own.
Marketing needs to get additional permissions to the Microsoft 365 tenant. This option might be even worse because it creates a considerable compliance risk. A wrong configuration of a mail-flow rule can cause problems with sending and receiving emails and force the admin to intervene in order to fix the mail flow.
That is why I would like to present a simple method to manage Microsoft 365 signatures behind IT’s back. Don’t worry, although the title sounds a bit like a hacking tutorial, there is no nefarious activity included. In fact, it is a win-win situation for both the marketing and IT team. The solution is defining access rights to the Microsoft 365 email signature tool. But before showing you how it should be done, I’ll first show you how the Microsoft 365 signature management looks like when the problematic, native, approach is taken.
Black Friday is almost there. This year’s most awaited shopping spree before Christmas is happening on November 25. As there is still some time left, now it is a great chance to let your potential customers know about your offer and discounts. One of the most convenient ways to do so is by automatically adding marketing banners to every email sent outside of your organization.
To do it smoothly and professionally, you can use a third party application such as CodeTwo Exchange Rules or CodeTwo Email Signatures 365, which will help you create eye-catching email signatures with marketing graphics before the mad rush begins.
Note: CodeTwo Exchange Rules is the best option for your company if you use the Exchange Server as your email platform. However, if you are using Office 365 to send and receive your emails, choose CodeTwo Email Signatures 365.
[Update]: This article was updated on May 25, 2020.
Have you ever wondered how to make your email signature more attractive? Here’s an idea – add a video! It is as easy and quick as adding a link to your social media page. It will help you boost your company’s brand identity, while simultaneously promoting the video itself. The best thing is that it can greatly increase traffic and it won’t cost you a dime! And don’t forget that you can measure how much traffic your video attracts with Google Analytics (learn how to track campaigns in email signatures).
Email signature marketing is one of the easiest and most inexpensive methods of promoting your brand and advertising your products online. But do you know how to measure its effectiveness seamlessly? The most efficient way is to use UTM parameters for your links in email signatures and see the results in Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about website traffic, traffic sources and conversions. Continue reading →
[Update]: This post was updated on December 10, 2019.
Old versions of Office 365 OWA email signature editor didn’t have a built-in functionality like a button or easily accessible HTML source for adding images to email signatures. Luckily, it was very easy to overcome that limitation. Here is what you needed to do:
Upload your image to a web location (I used the one located here).
Open the web location, right-click the image and select Copy or any similar option in your browser (for example, Copy image in Firefox and Chrome, or Copy image to clipboard in Opera). Note: It’s important that you copy the image and not only its URL.
Open the Office 365 OWA email signature editor, navigate to the part where you want to insert the image and press Ctrl+V on your keyboard. With the new versions of Outlook on the web, you can just click the image icon in the signature editor to insert the image from your computer:
If your signature looks as expected, click the Save button on the top of the settings window.
Now, open a new message to verify your Office 365 email signature. Note: When creating the email signature, you can enable the Automatically include my signature on new messages that I compose option to always automatically add signatures to new messages. Or you can manually insert the signature using the Insert signature button in the message editor if you leave the above option unchecked.
Before you start sending out emails, make sure to test if your signature works correctly.
Hyperlink your signature image
To add a hyperlink to the image in your email signature, left-click on the image and when it is highlighted/selected, click the Insert hyperlink icon and provide a hyperlink URL.
Linked images
When you apply the above solution, what you effectively get is a so called ‘linked image’. The problem with linked images is that they tend to get blocked by popular email clients. Go to the Images in email signatures – linked or embedded? article to learn more about the pros and cons of using them.
To globally add email signatures for Office 365 users, you don’t have to learn how to manage Office 365 transport rules. CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 is an easy to use alternative. Benefits include:
+ 
key combination for an easy and even screen split, but you can use your second display (if you have it). Now, select the signature in the generator and drag & drop it into the signature settings in Outlook. Since it’s easier shown than written, see this short video:
