How to Change Your Email Signature in Outlook

Where to find and edit your signature in Outlook

Your signature block lives in Outlook's settings, not in your email itself. The path depends on which version you use. In Outlook on the web (the browser version), go to Settings in the top right, select Mail, then Compose and reply. In Outlook desktop for Windows, open File, then Options, then Trust Center, then Trust Center Settings, then Email Security, then Signatures. On Mac, open Outlook, then Preferences, then Signatures.

Once you reach the signatures section, you'll see a list of your existing signatures and a button to create a new one. You can have multiple signatures — one for work, one for personal email, one for a specific project — and choose which one to use when you compose each message.

Key Takeaways

• Your signature settings are in Outlook's preferences or settings menu, not in the email compose window itself.
• You can create multiple signatures and pick which one to use for each email you send.
• Outlook can automatically add your signature to new messages and replies, or you can insert it manually each time.
• If you change your signature, the new version applies only to emails you send going forward, not to messages already sent.

Creating a new signature from scratch

When you click the button to create a new signature, Outlook opens a text box where you type or paste your content. You can use plain text or format it with bold, italics, font size, and color. You can also insert a logo or image by clicking the image icon in the formatting toolbar.

Type your name, title, phone number, company name, website, or any other information you want to appear at the bottom of your emails. Keep it concise — most people scan signatures quickly. A signature that runs more than five lines often gets skipped.

Setting which signature appears automatically

After you create a signature, Outlook asks whether to use it automatically. You can set one signature to appear on all new messages and a different one for replies and forwards. For example, many people use a full signature with their phone number on new emails but a shorter version on replies to keep threads from getting cluttered.

If you have multiple email accounts in Outlook, you can assign different signatures to each account. This is useful if you manage both a work inbox and a personal one — your work signature appears automatically when you compose from your work address, and your personal signature appears for your personal address.

Editing or deleting an existing signature

To change a signature you've already created, go back to the signatures section and click the one you want to edit. Make your changes in the text box and save. The updated version will appear on all new emails going forward.

If you no longer need a signature, select it and click Delete. Outlook will stop using it immediately, but any emails you already sent with that signature remain unchanged — Outlook doesn't alter messages that have already left your inbox.

Inserting a signature manually instead of automatically

If you don't want Outlook to add your signature automatically, you can turn off that setting and insert it by hand when you need it. In the compose window, go to the Insert tab (or Insert menu on Mac) and look for Signature. Click it and choose which signature to add to that specific email.

This approach works well if you send some emails that don't need a signature — quick replies to colleagues, internal messages, or notes — and want to keep those clean. You insert the signature only when you're sending something that needs your full contact information.

Troubleshooting signatures that don't appear

If you've set a signature to appear automatically but it's not showing up, check that you turned on the automatic setting in the right place. In Outlook on the web, make sure you saved your changes after selecting the signature. In desktop Outlook, restart the application after making changes to signatures — sometimes the change doesn't take effect until you close and reopen the program.

If your signature appears in the compose window but not in the sent email, check whether your email account is set to plain text format instead of HTML. Outlook can't format signatures in plain text mode, so they may not display as intended. Switch to HTML format in your account settings if you want your signature to look the way you designed it.

Adding images and links to your signature

Beyond text, you can include a company logo, a headshot, or a banner image in your signature. Click the image icon in the formatting toolbar, select the file from your computer, and Outlook inserts it. Keep images small — a logo under 100 pixels wide and under 50 kilobytes in file size loads quickly and doesn't bloat your email size.

You can also add clickable links to your website, LinkedIn profile, or phone number. Highlight the text you want to turn into a link, click the link icon, and paste the URL. For phone numbers, use tel: followed by the number (for example, tel:+1-555-0123) so it opens the dialer on mobile devices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I have different signatures for different folders or contacts?

Outlook doesn't let you assign signatures based on which folder you're in or which person you're emailing. You can only set signatures by account and by message type (new vs. reply). If you need a signature for a specific client or project, you'll need to insert it manually each time or create a separate email account for that work.

What happens to my signature if I change my password?

Your signature is stored separately from your password, so changing your password has no effect on it. Your signature will continue to appear in your emails exactly as you set it up.

Can I use HTML code in my signature?

Outlook's signature editor doesn't accept raw HTML code — you format using the toolbar buttons instead. If you need advanced formatting, you can create your signature in HTML elsewhere, copy the rendered result, and paste it into Outlook, though the formatting may not transfer perfectly.

Does my signature take up extra storage space in Outlook?

Your signature is stored in your account settings, not in your mailbox, so it doesn't count against your storage limit. However, each email you send with the signature does include it, so very large signatures with big images can add slightly to the size of your sent folder over time.

Can I schedule my signature to change on a certain date?

Outlook doesn't have a built-in scheduler for signatures. If you need to change your signature on a specific date — for example, when you get a promotion or change departments — you'll need to manually update it on that day. You can set a calendar reminder to do this.