How to create and apply a Signature in Outlook for Microsoft 365 (Desktop)

Outlook 2016 2013 2010 2007 2003
Using a Signature at the end of each email message is a good way to provide personalized information about the sender. The Signature typically presents formatted text that identifies the sender and also provides contact information. Often, the Signature includes the sender's company name, job title, legal disclaimer, company or personal slogan, photo, etc. It may even include the electronic business card as part or all of the email signature.

In Outlook, you can set up several different signatures for different purposes. For example:

  • You can create a signature that contains more information to send with initial email messages and a signature that contains less information to send with replies and forwards:
    Example of Signature in Outlook 365
  • You can create a formal business signature for correspondence with customers, a regular business signature for intra-office correspondence, and a personal signature for messages sent from another account.

Attention! Many people receive email on mobile phones and other devices that do not always recognize unusual formatting. So, it is best to use a simple signature. In addition, it is a good idea to use a short signature. It's not always fun to receive a signature that is longer than the message itself, or to receive obscure catchphrases or memes in every incoming message.

Create a new Signature in Outlook

To create a new signature (see also how to change the Stationery in Outlook), do one of the following:

  • On the File tab, click Options:
    Options in Outlook 365

    In the Outlook Options dialog box, on the Mail tab, click the Signatures button:

    Signatures in Outlook Options 365

    Note: You can easily open the Mail tab in the Outlook Options dialog box by right-clicking the Mail icon in the Navigation bar and choosing Options... in the popup menu:

    Mail Options in new Navigation bar Outlook 365   or    Mail Options in Navigation bar Outlook 365

    See more about customizing the Navigation bar in Outlook.

  • Open a new message. On the Message tab, in the Include group, click Signature, and then click Signatures...:
    Signatures in Simplified ribbon Outlook 365

    It can also look like this (if you use the Classic ribbon instead of Simplified; see more about customizing ribbons):

    Signature button in Classic ribbon Outlook 365

    or

    Signature button in Classic ribbon 2 Outlook 365
  • On a message window, on the Insert tab, in the Include group, click Signature, and then click Signatures... (see examples in the apply a signature).

In the Signatures and Stationary dialog box, on the E-mail Signature tab:

  • If needed, select the appropriate account from the E-mail account dropdown list:
    E-mail account options in Outlook 365
  • Click the New button:
    New signature in Signatures and Stationery dialog box Outlook 365

    In the New Signature dialog box, type the signature name you prefer, then click OK:

    New Signature dialog box in Outlook 365
  • Under Edit signature:
    • Type any additional text you want to include, such as your name, the company name, and contact information.

      You can enter more information in this box besides text, such as images, an electronic business card, a logo, etc.

      Example of a new signature in Outlook 365
    • You can format the text of the e-mail signature in the same way that you format the text of your message. If you want to apply formatting that is not available from the buttons at the top of the Edit Signature section, such as padding, text wrapping around pictures, and graphics, you can:
      • Create and format your signature in the E-mail Compose window or in another Microsoft application, such as Word or PowerPoint,
      • Copy the signature, and then paste it into the Edit Signature section.
  • Click Save:
Save a new signature in Outlook 365

Assign automatic Signature

In the Signatures and Stationery dialog box, on the E-mail Signature tab, under Choose default signature, you can assign the signature you created to all new messages and all replies and forwards:

  • To assign a signature to all new messages, from the New messages dropdown list, select the signature you need.
  • To assign a signature to all response messages you send from the selected account, from the Replies/forwards dropdown list, select the appropriate signature:
    Choose default signature in Signatures and Stationery dialog box Outlook 365

    If you want to turn off inserting any signature in new messages or your replies and forwards, select (none).

Click the OK button to apply the choices.

Modify or delete a signature

To edit, rename, or delete a signature (see how to add social links to your e-mail signature), open the Signatures and Stationary dialog box (see above how to open this dialog box).

In the Signatures and Stationary dialog box, on the E-mail Signature tab:

  • If needed, select the appropriate account from the E-mail account dropdown list.
  • In the Select signature list, select the signature you need to modify or remove.

To edit the selected signature, under Edit signature, make changes for the selected signature, then click the OK button to apply changes:

Signatures and Stationery dialog box in Outlook 365

To rename the selected signature, click the Rename button, then change the name in the Rename Signature dialog box and click OK:

Rename Signature dialog box in Outlook 365

To delete the selected signature, click the Delete button. In the Microsoft message, click OK to delete the signature:

Information message in Outlook 365

Apply a Signature manually

If you set a signature as the default in the Signatures and Stationary dialog box, it will be automatically added to the appropriate message type (new messages and/or replies and forwards).

To add a signature to a message manually, on the Message or Insert tab:

  • If you use the Simplified ribbon (see more about customizing ribbons), click the Signature, then select the signature you want to insert:
    Insert signature in Simplified ribbon Outlook 365
  • If you use the Classic ribbon, in the Include group, click Signature, then select the signature from the dropdown list:
    Insert signature in Classic ribbon Outlook 365  or   Insert signature 2 in Classic ribbon Outlook 365

Outlook inserts the selected signature at the end of the message, replacing any existing email signature.

To remove an email signature from a message

Select and delete the signature content on the message as you would any other message content.

To backup and restore Outlook signatures

If you need to transfer your Microsoft Outlook settings to a new computer or a different Windows profile, you must perform a manual backup.

The easiest way to transfer signatures is to use HTML signatures in Outlook's signature settings, as described earlier.

In addition to this approach, you can copy files created by Outlook.

To copy, share, or transfer the email signature files, follow these steps:

   1.   In Outlook, do one of the following:

  • On the File tab, click Options, then in the Outlook Options dialog box, open the Mail tab.
  • Right-click the Mail icon in the Navigation bar and choose Options... in the popup menu.

   2.   Hold the Ctrl button, then in the Outlook Options dialog box, on the Mail tab, click the Signature... button.

Outlook opens the Signatures folder of Windows Explorer, where Outlook keeps the signatures:

Signatures in Windows 10 Explorer

Usually, this folder is in the following location:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

Each signature created via Outlook will exist in 3 different formats:

  • Plain Text (txt),
  • HTML (htm),
  • Rich Text (rtf).

Additionally, each signature has a folder with the same name - these folders also contain images.


To restore signatures, you can simply copy them from the backup to the Signatures folder. Once the signatures are restored, they are available directly in Outlook in the Signatures and Stationery dialog box. However, if you have assigned them to a specific account by default, you must reassign them.

See also this tip in French: Comment créer une signature.

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