How to Create an Email Signature in Gmail and Outlook

What to Include in Your Signature

A good email signature is short and useful. Include the essentials:

• Name and job title.
• Company (or your field, if you’re self-employed).
• One or two ways to reach you: phone number or WhatsApp, and website.
• Optional: a small photo or logo and links to one or two professional social media profiles.

Avoid long quotes, multiple colors, large images, and lengthy legal disclaimers unless your company requires them.

Create Your Email Signature

1. Open the Email Signature Generator and enter your name, job title, company, and the contact details you want to include.
2. To add a photo or logo, paste the URL of an image already published online, such as a photo from your website or company profile. Email signatures work best with hosted images rather than attached images.
3. Choose a template and color, then check the preview.
4. Click Copy signature. It’s generated as HTML with tables and inline styles, which email programs are more likely to preserve.

A small, round-cropped photo looks polished. Round Profile Picture creates a 400 × 400 pixel circle, a good size for an email signature. You can resize large logos with Resize Image before publishing them.

Set Up Your Signature in Gmail (Desktop)

1. In Gmail, click the gear icon, then See all settings.
2. On the General tab, scroll down to Signature and click Create new. Enter a name for it.
3. Paste your copied signature (Ctrl+V) into the text box.
4. Under Signature defaults, choose whether to use it for new emails and replies.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. This is the step people most often forget.

Set Up Your Signature in Outlook

• Outlook on the web and new Outlook for Windows: Go to Settings (gear icon) › Accounts › Signatures. Create a signature, paste the content, set it as the default for new messages and replies, and save.
• Classic Outlook (Windows): Go to File › Options › Mail › Signatures. Click New, paste the content into the editing area, choose the default signature for new messages and replies, and confirm.
• Outlook for Mac: Go to Outlook › Settings › Signatures.

Menu names may vary slightly by version, but the option is always in your email or account settings.

What about on your phone?

• Gmail app: In your account settings, look for Mobile signature. It only supports plain text and is used for emails sent from the app.
• Outlook app: Settings › Signature. Formatting options are limited here, too.
• iPhone Mail: Settings › Mail (or Apps › Mail) › Signature.

On your phone, a short version works best: your name, job title, and phone number.

Common problems

• The image isn’t showing for recipients: The image needs to be hosted at a public URL. Some email programs also block external images until the recipient allows them.
• The formatting got messed up when you pasted it: Copy it directly from the generator preview without pasting it into a text editor first. In Gmail, use a desktop browser to set it up.
• The signature is too large: Reduce the image width. A logo that’s 150 to 300 pixels wide is usually enough.
• The signature appears twice in replies: Turn off the option to insert your signature in replies, or adjust its position relative to the quoted text.

A simple signature template

Here’s a format that works in almost any industry:

Ana Lima
Purchasing Analyst · Example Company
(555) 000-0000 · examplecompany.com

Three lines with no image will load in any email program and stay easy to read on a phone. If your company has brand guidelines, use its official template. Consistent signatures look professional and organized.

Update your signature whenever your job title, phone number, or website changes. An outdated signature can send clients to a phone number that’s no longer in service.

Frequently asked questions