In a world where quality image branding and professionalism are essential to growth and productivity, it becomes vital that every contact we make with the outside world strikes a lasting positive impression. Emails can leave a powerful impression on people about our personality, company standards, and professionalism. Including Email signatures in your emails can go a long way in promoting your brand, and establishing legitimacy.
Gmail (Google) and Outlook (Microsoft) rank amongst the top email service providers in the world with the former being the largest, having over 1.8 billion users worldwide.
In this article, we shall be outlining a step-by-step guide on how to add email signatures in Gmail and Outlook for both PC and mobile.
How to add a signature in Gmail
On PC
Adding a signature in Gmail using PC is very easy and takes only a few minutes. You will need an internet connection and a good web browser (Preferably Google Chrome).
Steps:
- Open Google Chrome Web browser
- Go to gmail.com and sign in to your Gmail account.
- Click on Settings at the top right-hand corner. Click on “See all settings” and you will be taken to the settings page.
- Under “General” Scroll down till you find the section titled “Signature”. Click on the “Create new” tab.
- On completing step 4, an empty box will pop open where you can name your new signature. Name your signature and click “Create”
- Craft out your signature in the empty box beside your signature name. You can add your name, Picture, contact, etc. All the basic text formatting tools are included here, so feel free to tweak your signature the way you like.
You can also use Email Signature Generator (Highly recommended) to craft out your signature. Check out any of the following websites to generate FREE beautiful and editable email signatures. You can select from a variety of templates in generating your email signature.
Follow the instructions provided to craft a nice-looking signature. Copy the signature and head back to insert it in Gmail.
- Under “Signature defaults” select your signature name “FOR NEW EMAILS” and also “ON REPLY/FORWARD” (if necessary). You’ll find a checkbox, tick it if you want your signature placed before quoted text in replies.
- Once you are pleased with the new signature you have just created, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “save changes”.
- To see how your new signature looks like on emails, create a new email by clicking on “Compose”. You’ll find out that your signature has been included. Below is an image to show you how my signature looks in my mails.
So that’s how you add email signatures in Gmail.
On Mobile
You can also use your mobile phone to insert a signature in Gmail (Gmail App).
The only downsides to it are that you cannot include pictures and you do not have text formatting options.
Steps:
- Open your Gmail application
- Tap on the tab (three horizontal lines) on the top-left-hand corner. A page will pop up with several options.
- Scroll right down to the bottom till you see the “settings” option, tap on it.
- In the settings, tap on your email address (the one you wish to add a signature). A page will open with several options
- Scroll down until you see “Mobile signature”, Click on it. An interface will open for you to type in your signature.
- Type in your signature. You can tweak it the way you want to; you can include emojis, be creative with alphabets, symbols and numbers.
- Once you are through typing in your signature, click “OK”.
So that’s how to add a signature in your Gmail using the mobile app.
How to add a signature in Outlook
On PC
To create a new email signature on Outlook using PC, we shall be outlining two methods. Method 2 gives you more flexibility in customizing your email signature.
Method 1
Steps:
- Open Microsoft outlook.
- Click on the home tab within the mail view.
- Click on the “New Email” option or use the shortcut “Ctrl N”. A new message interface will be opened.
- Click on the “Message” tab. Still in the message view, search through the horizontal ribbon for the “signature” tab (towards the middle of the ribbon).
- Click on “Signature”.
- A prompt titled “signature and Stationery” is opened, we shall be doing all our signature creation within this interface.
- Under “Email account” select the email you wish to associate the signature with.
- Under “select signature to edit”, you will find a box where you can give your signature a name. If you have created signatures in the past on outlook, you will find the names in the box. If you have not created any previous signature, click on the “New” tab on the right-hand side to name your new signature. A smaller interface will pop open where you can type.
- Type in the name of the signature and click “ok”. You have named your new signature.
- Under “Edit signature”, you’ll see a box opened where you can craft out your new signature. There are formatting options available for you to tweak your new signature. If you wish to include a picture, look through the formatting options ribbon for the tab with the option to insert a picture (It is located after the “Business Card” section) and click on it. Locate the picture on your computer, click it and click “insert”.
- Once you are through crafting out your signature, click on the “save” button below the box.
- At the bottom under “Choose default signature” there are two options; New messages and Replies/Forwards.
- Under “New messages” select the name of the new signature you have just created. Doing this will make your new signature visible whenever you create a new email.
- Under “Replies/forwards” select the name of your new signature if you want it to appear in your replies and forwarded emails.
- Click on “Ok”.
You have just created a basic email signature in Outlook. You can verify if the process was well done by creating a new mail. Click on “New Email”, you should find your new signature in the mail.
Note: If you use multiple emails, the new signature created will only apply for the email you associated it with during step 7. You can always use the new signature created for other email accounts by clicking on the “Signature” tab and then the name of your signature created.
Method 2
If you wish to add more pictures in your signature, be more flexible and creative with your use of this method instead:
Steps:
- Open Microsoft outlook
- Click on the home tab within the email view
- Click on the “New Email” option or use the shortcut “Ctrl N”. A new message interface will be opened.
- Build your signature on the Message interface using the tools therein. You can insert the contents of your signature in a table, you can add multiple pictures, etc. You have the freedom to build it including any feature you like.
- Highlight and copy the signature you just built in step 4.
- Follow through from step 4 to step 15 in Method 1. In step 10 simply Paste your copied signature into the box and click “insert”.
You can insert links to your social media and also include business cards in your signature. You can also add hyperlinks on social media icons if you prefer a cleaner signature.
You can also use Signature Templates to craft out your signature. Once you get the desired templates, edit them to your taste, copy them for use in step 10 of method 1.
To get some amazing signature templates, check out the following websites:
On Mobile
Steps:
- Open the Outlook app on your mobile phone
- Tap on the tab (three horizontal lines) on the top-left-hand corner. A drawer will slide open with several options.
- Look down to the bottom left of the drawer, you will see the settings button. Click on it.
- In the settings interface, click on “Signature”. The signature interface will open up
- Type in the signature that you wish to use for your emails.
- Click on the checkmark at the top right hand of the screen to complete the process.
In conclusion,
Take your time to design a professional and compelling email signature for yourself, the benefits therein are worth the efforts involved. I hope the methods outlined above work for you!
