One way to personalize your email or promote your corporate identity is with email signatures. Often I find people either don't know how to create or edit these signatures in Outlook. This is unfortunate as the Signature area is a useful feature that can be used for many scenarios.

Before going into detail, I should provide a cautionary note. Although this article will show you how to create a signature in Outlook, your employer may discourage the practice. Some companies want everyone to use the standard signature. As example, I have one client whose emails always include the following signature:

Warning: All e-mail sent to this address will be received by the corporate e-mail system and is subject to archival and review by someone other than the recipient. Confidential, Internal, Non-Public and Not for Distribution.

Uses for Email Signatures

While this Outlook feature is called a "Signature", you might think of it as an email container for reusable text or images. You can name this container and use it for all your emails or apply the signature when needed. As example, I use a specific signature when I send an email with a digital signature. The purpose is to alert users they may see an attached file that is unrecognizable by some email programs. Other signature uses include,

• Promoting brand identity
• Providing standard corporate contact info
• Alternate contact information
• Alerting readers to various awards or memberships
• Displaying corporate logo
• Favorite sayings or quotes

For this article, the signature we'll create will display a facsimile signature for John Hancock. Although we grabbed a copy of his signature for this article, you can create your image by saving a graphic file (.bmp, .jpg or .gif) of your signature using a scanner. The size of our graphic was 165 pixels by 50 pixels

To create a signature in Outlook,

1. From the Tools menu, select Options. The Options dialog will appear.

2. Click the Mail Format tab

3. Click the Signatures button at the bottom on the dialog.

4. In the Create Signature dialog, click the New button.

5. Type a name for your new signature.

6. Click the Next > button.

7. Right-click in the Signature text box.

8. Select Insert Image from the pop-up menu.

9. In the Picture dialog, click the Browse button.

10. In the Picture files dialog, navigate to the image file you would like to use.

11. Highlight the image file and click Open.

12. In the Picture dialog, click the OK button. Your image will appear.

13. Add any other text as needed.

14. Click the Finish button.

15. Click the OK button.

Your signature is created and you should be back at the Options dialog. If you look in the signatures section, you'll see Outlook has assigned your new signature to new messages. This means each time you create an email, this signature will appear at the bottom of the email.

On Demand Email Signatures

Some people prefer to use signatures as the exception and not the rule. This is particularly true if the signature is used for special scenarios. For these situations, we recommend you change the Signature setting.

To change the Signature setting and insert as needed,

1. Navigate to the Mail Format tab.

2. In the Signatures section, change the Signature for new messages to .

3. Click the OK button.

4. Click the New button to create an email.

5. Type your email message

6. From the Insert menu, select Signature.

7. From the side menu, select the Signature you wish to use.

8. Edit your email as needed.

There are a couple of caveats about including images in emails. The good news is that you can click the image in your email message and resize it if needed. The bad news is not everyone displays images in emails. Some people prefer email in text only format. In these cases, your image will not be seen.

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• Email Signatures for the Occasion