How to Add a Professional Outlook Email Signature Quickly | How To
Having
a good professional email signature is important. An attractive Microsoft Outlook
signature helps you to make the right impression with your contacts. It can
also help them to remember your contact information, since everything is all
summed up neatly in your email signature.
You've
probably seen professional email signatures at the bottom of email messages
before—they almost resemble business cards with an
attractive logo design as well as contact details. You might have even thought
about adding one to your MS Outlook signature, but you may not be quite sure
how to do it.
There's
good news! It's easy to add a professional email signature to all your Outlook
email messages using professional email signature templates. You can set one up
so that anyone who gets a message from you gets your professional email
signature. Or, you can set up multiple signatures for the same Outlook email
account. You could use one professional email signature template for your
business email messages and switch to a more lighthearted design for your
personal emails.
In this tutorial, we'll show you how to find and download an
email signature template. Then we'll show you how to add a professional email
signature to your Outlook using a template. Finally, I'll share some
professional email signature examples and other related resources that'll help
you to better manage your email.
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In this tutorial, you'll be learning how to add an email signatures to Outlook. But this is also a great time to grab control of your Outlook email inbox. So, be sure to grab our Free eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Inbox Zero Mastery. It's packed with inbox
organization strategies and killer tips for managing all your incoming email
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Now let's move on to our main tutorial on how to add a signature in Outlook.
How
to Add a Signature in Outlook (Video)
Learn
how to add professional-looking email signatures to your Microsoft Outlook
email in this short video:
How
to Make a Signature In Outlook
If
you want to create a signature in Outlook that you can use over and over,
follow the steps below:
Step
1. Download a Professional Email Template
Before
you can add a professional email signature to your Outlook email, you need to find
the right email template for your brand. You can find attractive email templates on Envato Elements.
Envato
Elements is a great service that gives you unlimited access to hundreds of
professionally designed creative assets such as email signature templates,
WordPress themes, presentation templates, and much more! As an Envato Elements
subscriber, you'll even get access to exclusive premium video tutorials.
For
the professional email signature examples in this tutorial, I'm using the 1000 Email Signatures
template:
This cool template from Envato Elements has some
great user-friendly features, including:
All
these features and more make this signature template a great choice for a
professional email signature.
Note: To just
download a single email template without access to any other creative
resources, purchase a professionally-designed email signature
template on GraphicRiver.
Step
2. Modify the Professional Email Signature Template
Once
you've downloaded your email signature template, it's time to modify it to
include your own contact information.
If
the email signature template you've selected includes more than one template,
choose the one you'll use with Microsoft Outlook.
Next,
gather the contact information you want to include in your signature template.
The information needed will be very similar to the information you would
include on a business card, such as:
- First and last name
- Job
title - Company
name - Company
address - Email
address - Phone
number - Social
media contact information - Corporate logo
- Photo
(optional)
Once
you've gathered what you need, replace the template's default information with
your contact information. To customize your email signature temple, open the
.psd file in Adobe
Photoshop. Use
the Type tool [T] to enter your
details:
You
can also change the email signature colors, add a picture or logo, and make
other changes to the email signature—all
from within Photoshop. When you've finished making changes, save your email
signature as a .png file.
To
add hyperlinks to the online components of your contact information such as
your social media contact information and email address use a tool like Adobe
Dreamweaver to modify the .htm file.
Step
3. Copy the Email Signature Image to the Directory
Once
you've finished your email signature graphic and hyperlink files, copy the
files into the following path on your PC hard drive:
C:Users[YourUsername*]AppDataRoamingMicrosoftSignatures
*YourUsername
is the Microsoft Windows username assigned to you.
So, in this example where we're using the name Jane Doe the path would be:
C:UsersJaneDoeAppDataRoamingMicrosoftSignatures
Note: The directory path pictured in the example above is the default path where MS
Outlook email signature files are stored. If you or your system administrator
have changed this path, you'll need to use the new location where your email
signature files are currently stored.
Step
4. Open a New Email Message
Next,
open a new email message in Microsoft Outlook using the New Email
icon on the Ribbon. The New Messages window appears:
From
the ribbon on the New Messages
window select the Signature icon.
From the drop-down menu select the Signature
option. The Signatures and Stationery window
displays:
Step 5. Add a New Outlook Signature
To
add a new email signature in Outlook, make sure that you're on the E-mail Signature tab on the Signatures and Stationery window. Notice
how the Select signature to edit box
already has a signature named Primary.
That's your default Outlook signature. If you haven't set up an email signature
already, it may be blank.
Click
the New button beneath the Select signature to edit box. The
system prompts you to create a name for your new Outlook email signature:
In
this example I'm setting up a business email signature for MS Outlook, so I
type in the business name: AnyTown
Consulting. Then, I click the OK
button. Now you'll see the signature name you just typed (in this case, AnyTown Consulting) above your (default) Primary email
signature:
Note: You can also use the Delete button below the Select
signature to edit field to remove an email signature you no longer wish to
use. Or, use the Rename button to
rename a signature.
Step
6. Modify Your Email Signature
On
the Signatures and Stationery
window, make sure that email signature you're changing is selected in the box
below the Select signature to edit
field. Next, click in the box below the Edit
signature field where you want your signature to appear:
Click
the Insert Picture icon. An Insert Picture window appears, allowing
you to select a graphic file for the signature you want to use. You'll want to
select the .png email signature file you changed and saved earlier. When you find the
file, click the Insert button.
You'll see the email signature in the Edit
signature box:
Step
7. Add a Text Signature
It's a good idea to add a text email signature beneath your professional email signature graphic image. Having text in your MS Outlook signature is helpful when
your email is received by an email system that doesn't accept graphics.
As
a minimum, your text email signature should include the following:
- First
and last name - Title
- Company
- Phone
- Email
address
With this text information your email recipient will be able to respond to your email should they wish to do so.
Type
your text email signature information right below the graphic email signature. (Use the scroll
bar to move down in the window.):
Click
the OK button to save your changes
to your email signature.
The
next time you open a new email message, the Outlook email signature you created
is automatically added to the bottom of your message:
Type
your message as usual, then send it.
Step 8. Add Another Email Signature
As I've mentioned earlier, you can have multiple signatures set up in Outlook email. This is especially convenient if you use the same email for business and personal emails. You may wish to have a second, more light-hearted and fun, email signature for friends and family.
To create another email signature, go back up to Step 5 and walk through the process again. Be sure to give your second email signature a different name from your first.
One you're ready to send an Outlook email message with the second email signature, click the Signature icon in the New
Message window Ribbon. A drop-down menu appears. Click on the name of the email signature you want to use. Then send your message.
If you're using more than one email signature with MS Outlook, it's a good idea to get into the habit of checking your email signature each time you send a message to make sure that you're using the correct signature. You wouldn't want to accidentally use your fun email signature for a business email message or your business email for a fun message to friends or family.
More
Premium Email Signature Templates
In
this tutorial, we focused on using a single email signature template bundle
from Envato Elements, but there are more email
signatures available from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver
that you may wish to use for your Outlook email. Here are just a few of them:
1. 360 Professional Email Signature Templates
This
flexible bundle of professional email templates from Envato Elements includes
360 individual HTML files. Choose from between 30 different layout options and
12 different color styles. You can easily personalize these templates with your
own logo, photo, and information. There's also HTML help documentation to help
your customization go more smoothly.
2. Modern Email Signature Template
If
you're looking for a sleek, modern professional email signature template with
plenty of useful features this could be it. Here's just some of the features
you'll find in the Modern Email Signature Template:
- Uses smart objects
- Includes
well-documented HTML help files - Choose
between 11 E-signature variations with 11 HTML files - And
more!
3. 301 Email Signature Template
The
301 Email Signature template is all about options. Choose between 43 different layout
options and seven different color variations. In this template you'll find a
wide variety of signature designs from email signature templates that include
photos to text only email signatures to email signatures that focus on social
media. One of them is right for you.
Learn
More About Email Signatures
The
email signature you use will leave an impression with your reader. For business
contacts, you'll want to make sure to use a professional email signature and you've just learned how to do that.
To
learn more about how to properly end an email and more about email signatures,
study these tutorials:
To
find even more professional email signature templates that you could use with
MS Outlook, take a look at this article:
Email
12+ Professional Email Signature Templates: With Unique Designs
Sean Hodge
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Add
a Professional Email Signature to PowerPoint Today
In
this tutorial, I provided step-by-step instructions for you on how to add an
email signature to Microsoft Outlook. I've also shared some of our best email
templates that you may wish to consider using. I've even listed some other
resources to help you create the best email signatures you can as well as to
help you get more from your inbox.
You've
just discovered how easy it is to add an email signature to all your Outlook
email messages by using a professionally-designed email signature template! Why
not get started with upgrading your email signature with a template from Envato
Elements or GraphicRiver
today?