How to Add a Signature in Outlook

Most professionals today include a signature with their emails. This lets the recipients know exactly who they’re communicating with. Some signatures are personalized for individuals and others follow a company format.

If you’re interested in learning how to add your own signature on Outlook, you’re in the right place. This article will explain everything you need to know.

Steps to Add Your Signature in Outlook

If you want to create a signature to add to the end of your emails, as well as selecting it as your default signature, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s a relatively simple process. Here’s how to add your signature in Outlook:

1. Log into your Outlook account.
   
2. Click on “View Settings.”
   
3. Select “Compose and Reply,” which will take you to the Email signatures screen.
   
4. Click on “New signature,” and give it a name.
   
5. Type your signature below in the editing area.
   
6. Press “Save.”
   
7. Under “Select Default Signatures,” click on your newly created signature and apply it to new messages and for forwarded messages.
   
8. Press “Save” again to confirm the change.
   

Customize Your Outlook Signature

Once you’ve set up and saved your signature, you can customize it in bottom of the editing box to suit your personal preferences. You’ve got a range of options to personalize your signature to make it unique for your recipients. Be sure to experiment with the options available to make your signature stand out.

Not all of the options are present on this list so try them all out for yourself to see if they suit your preferences. Note, if you’re confused about what icon represents a function, hover your cursor over it for its name to appear on screen.

Insert Pictures Inline

You might want to add a company logo or picture to your signature. This option lets you scroll through downloaded images on your device to incorporate it into your signature. Once you choose an image and click “Insert,” you can resize it to your liking.

Font and Font Size

By clicking on the Font option, a dropdown box will appear on screen and list all available fonts. To the right of the “Font” option is the “Font Size” icon. By tapping on this function button, a similar dropdown list will appear and allow you to choose the size of your signature’s font.

Bold, Italic, and Underline

You can also bold, italicize, and underline some or all of your signature. To do so, just highlight the text you want to change and simply click the function button to get the desired effect, and the changes will be seen immediately.

Conversely, if you want to do the opposite and undo any of these effects, just highlight the text and press the desired function button again.

Hotkeys:

• Bold: Ctrl + B
• Italic: Ctrl + I
• Underline: Ctrl + U

Highlight and Color

If you’d like to highlight some important information on your signature, use the “Highlight” function. To highlight text, first press on the down arrow to the right of the “Highlight” function button and choose the color you want to use. Then drag your cursor over the text you’d like to highlight and press the “Highlight” function button.

Once completed, the background of your selected text will be your desired color while your font color will remain the same.

Your font color will always automatically be black. To change this, press the down arrow on the “Font Color” function button, choose your desired color, then begin typing your signature. If you’ve already begun typing, highlight the typed text and press the “Font Color” button again and your font color will change.

You can use both of these functions together to create a uniquely colored and eye-catching signature.

Bullet Points and Numbering

To create a list of bullet points or add a numbered list for shorthand information, press the corresponding function buttons. If your information is already present, highlight the text and press the “Enter” button on the keyboard where necessary to split information and add bullet points or numbers to your list.

Hotkeys:

• Bullet points: Ctrl +
• Numbering: Ctrl + /

Indent Left or Right

Using these function buttons will move your text closer or further away from the left margin on your screen. To make use of this function, just highlight the text you’d like to move and press “Indent Right” to move text several spaces to the right. Conversely, if you want your text to be closer to the left margin, press “Indent Left.”

Quote

This function adds a quote style line to highlighted text to make specific information stand out, whether to reiterate important information from yourself or someone else. To perform this function, highlight the text you want to quote and press the “Quote” function button.

Align Left, Right, and Center

These three options will move all the text to either side or the middle of your screen to suit your preferences. This can be useful for several reasons, but center or right aligning can be more aesthetically pleasing than the default left alignment.

Pressing either function button will automatically align your text without needing to highlight anything.

Add or Remove Hyperlink

Add a link within your signature by highlighting text and pressing the “Hyperlink” button. From here, you just have to type or paste the URL into the box that appears and click “OK” to embed your link. You’ll know this is successful as the text will now be underlined in blue.

Hotkey:

• Add Hyperlink: Ctrl + K

If you want to remove your hyperlink, highlight the blue underlined text, press the 3 dots (…) on the bottom right of the editing box, and click “Remove Hyperlink.”

Undo and Redo

Undo your last action by pressing the 3 dots (…) and clicking the “Undo” button.

• Undo Hotkey: Ctrl + Z

Conversely, if this was done by accident you should press the “Redo” button, which is found to the right of the “Undo” key.

• Redo Hotkey: Ctrl + Y

Change Case

Pressing this button will bring up a dropdown list of options to change highlighted or future written text to a certain case. This includes “lowercase,” “UPPERCASE,” “Capitalize Each Word,” and the default “Sentence case.”

Make sure to press the save button once you’re finished customizing your signature to save your changes.

Tips and Best Practices for Creating Effective Signatures on Outlook

Once your signature is ready to add to future correspondence, make sure your finished product is suitable for the situation or recipient you’re contacting. Here are some tips and best practices for creating an effective signature on outlook.

Keep Your Signature Simple

Keep your signature concise and to the point. Use only one image relevant image and avoid adding too much text or your recipients may overlook your hard work.

Include Only Essential Information

For a business-based signature, keep your information largely limited to your name, title, company title, company logo, and contact information to maintain a professional look to your emails.

Use Consistent Branding

When representing a company, stick to same fonts and colors to remain uniform with its identity.

If you own your own business or are using a personal email, you can include your pronouns, how to pronounce your name, links to your social media, or any other key information to allow your recipients to get to know you better.

Create Additional Signatures

Outlook allows you to create as many signatures as you’d like but pressing “New Signature” in the “Compose and Reply” screen. Make a signature specifically for the first time you email someone so they know exactly who you are. Alternatively, you can also have a shortened signature for replies and forwarded messages for people you’re already acquainted with.

You can assign specific signatures in the “New Messages” and “Replies/Forwards” drop down menus within the “Compose and Reply” screen on Outlook.

Test Your Signatures

Send test emails to yourself or colleagues to ensure that your signature appears as expected and that any hyperlinks are functioning correctly.

Signing Off on Outlook Signatures

Creating a signature on Outlook is an easy process that gives a professional touch to your emails. Better still, there are customization options to make a well-designed signature on Outlook and add another layer of sophistication to your electronic correspondence. Experiment with the custom options available to make a professional and memorable signature to leave a lasting impression on your recipients.

Have you ever added a signature in Outlook? If so, did you use any of the customization options featured in this article? Let us know in the comments section below.