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How to create an email signature in Outlook

Outlook can add a signature — your name, job title, and contact details — to the emails you send, so you don't have to type it out each time. This guide covers Outlook on the web (outlook.com and Outlook for Microsoft 365 accessed through a browser).

What you'll need: An Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 email account. A desktop or laptop browser — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

Open Outlook in your browser

Go to outlook.com and sign in if you aren't already.

Open Settings

Click the gear icon (⚙️) in the top-right corner, then click View all Outlook settings at the bottom of the panel that opens.

Go to Mail, then Compose and reply

In the Settings window, click Mail in the left-hand list, then click Compose and reply.

Write your signature

Under Email signature, type your signature into the text box. Use the formatting toolbar above it to set the font, size, and colour, or to add a hyperlink. A simple signature might read:

Jane Smith
Marketing Manager
[email protected] | 020 7946 0958

Keep the formatting plain where you can. Signatures built with unusual fonts or pasted in from Word sometimes render oddly for the person reading your email.

Choose when the signature is added

Below the text box, two tickboxes control when Outlook adds the signature automatically:

Automatically include my signature on new messages that I compose — adds it to anything you write from scratch.

Automatically include my signature on messages I forward or reply to — adds it to replies and forwards as well.

Tick whichever apply to you. Leave both unticked if you'd rather add the signature by hand on specific emails only.

Save the signature

Click Save at the bottom of the Settings panel. Your signature will now appear according to the options you chose in the previous step.

Variations

Add an image or logo to your signature

Click the image icon in the signature editor's formatting toolbar to insert a picture — a company logo, for example. Keep the file small: a large embedded image can push your emails over some recipients' attachment-size filters.

Insert the signature manually instead of automatically

If you left both tickboxes in step 5 unticked, you can still add the signature to one email at a time. While composing a message, open the Insert menu on the ribbon and choose Signature.

Setting up a signature in the Outlook desktop app

The Windows and Mac desktop versions of Outlook keep signatures in a different place — File menu › Options › Mail › Signatures — and let you create several named signatures for different accounts or occasions. This guide covers Outlook on the web only, which supports a single signature.

Troubleshooting

The signature isn't appearing on new emails

Go back to Settings › Mail › Compose and reply and check that Automatically include my signature on new messages that I compose is ticked. Outlook only adds the signature automatically where you've asked it to.

The signature looks fine to me but odd to the person I sent it to

Some email apps strip out unusual fonts, colours, or spacing when they display a message. Simplify the formatting — plain text with a single font tends to survive intact across the widest range of email clients.

I want to change or remove the signature later

Go to Settings › Mail › Compose and reply. Edit the text in the Email signature box, or delete it entirely and leave it blank, then click Save.

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