How to Add a Professional Outlook Email Signature Quickly

Having a good professional email signature is important. An attractive Microsoft Outlook signature helps you to make the right impression with your contacts. It can also help them to remember your contact information, since everything is all summed up neatly in your email signature.

You've probably seen professional email signatures at the bottom of email messages before—they almost resemble business cards with an attractive logo design as well as contact details. You might have even thought about adding one to your MS Outlook signature, but you may not be quite sure how to do it.

There's good news! It's easy to add a professional email signature to all your Outlook email messages using professional email signature templates. You can set one up so that anyone who gets a message from you gets your professional email signature. Or, you can set up multiple signatures for the same Outlook email account. You could use one professional email signature template for your business email messages and switch to a more lighthearted design for your personal emails.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to find and download an email signature template. Then we'll show you how to add a professional email signature to your Outlook using a template. Finally, I'll share some professional email signature examples and other related resources that'll help you to better manage your email.

Guide to Inbox Zero Mastery (Free eBook Download)

In this tutorial, you'll be learning how to add an email signatures to Outlook. But this is also a great time to grab control of your Outlook email inbox. So, be sure to grab our Free eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Inbox Zero Mastery. It's packed with inbox organization strategies and killer tips for managing all your incoming email more efficiently.

Now let's move on to our main tutorial on how to add a signature in Outlook.

How to Add a Signature in Outlook (Video)

Learn how to add professional-looking email signatures to your Microsoft Outlook email in this short video:

How to Make a Signature In Outlook

If you want to create a signature in Outlook that you can use over and over, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Download a Professional Email Template

Before you can add a professional email signature to your Outlook email, you need to find the right email template for your brand. You can find attractive email templates on Envato Elements.

Envato Elements is a great service that gives you unlimited access to hundreds of professionally designed creative assets such as email signature templates, WordPress themes, presentation templates, and much more! As an Envato Elements subscriber, you'll even get access to exclusive premium video tutorials.

For the professional email signature examples in this tutorial, I'm using the 1000 Email Signatures template:

This cool template from Envato Elements has some great user-friendly features, including:

A smart catalog to help you find the email signature that's right for you
Alternative fonts Lato, Montserrat and Raleway for HTML files
A help file document so you can get started quickly
And more!

All these features and more make this signature template a great choice for a professional email signature.

Note: To just download a single email template without access to any other creative resources, purchase a professionally-designed email signature template on GraphicRiver.

Step 2. Modify the Professional Email Signature Template

Once you've downloaded your email signature template, it's time to modify it to include your own contact information.

If the email signature template you've selected includes more than one template, choose the one you'll use with Microsoft Outlook.

Next, gather the contact information you want to include in your signature template. The information needed will be very similar to the information you would include on a business card, such as:

First and last name
Job title
Company name
Company address
Email address
Phone number
Social media contact information
Corporate logo
Photo (optional)

Once you've gathered what you need, replace the template's default information with your contact information. To customize your email signature temple, open the .psd file in Adobe Photoshop. Use the Type tool [T] to enter your details:

modifying contact information — You can modify your contact information in Adobe Photoshop.

You can also change the email signature colors, add a picture or logo, and make other changes to the email signature—all from within Photoshop. When you've finished making changes, save your email signature as a .png file.

To add hyperlinks to the online components of your contact information such as your social media contact information and email address use a tool like Adobe Dreamweaver to modify the .htm file.

Step 3. Copy the Email Signature Image to the Directory

Once you've finished your email signature graphic and hyperlink files, copy the files into the following path on your PC hard drive:

C:\Users\[YourUsername*]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

*YourUsername is the Microsoft Windows username assigned to you.

So, in this example where we're using the name Jane Doe the path would be:

C:\Users\JaneDoe\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

Note: The directory path pictured in the example above is the default path where MS Outlook email signature files are stored. If you or your system administrator have changed this path, you'll need to use the new location where your email signature files are currently stored.

Step 4. Open a New Email Message

Next, open a new email message in Microsoft Outlook using the New Email icon on the Ribbon. The New Messages window appears:

Outlook New Messages window — To change an email signature template start by opening the MS Outlook **New Messages** window.

From the ribbon on the New Messages window select the Signature icon. From the drop-down menu select the Signature option. The Signatures and Stationery window displays:

You can add, delete, or rename an email signature from the Signatures and Stationery window.

Step 5. Add a New Outlook Signature

To add a new email signature in Outlook, make sure that you're on the E-mail Signature tab on the Signatures and Stationery window. Notice how the Select signature to edit box already has a signature named Primary. That's your default Outlook signature. If you haven't set up an email signature already, it may be blank.

Click the New button beneath the Select signature to edit box. The system prompts you to create a name for your new Outlook email signature:

signature name prompt — Since you can have several emails set up on MS Outlook, use a name that describes this signature.

In this example I'm setting up a business email signature for MS Outlook, so I type in the business name: AnyTown Consulting. Then, I click the OK button. Now you'll see the signature name you just typed (in this case, AnyTown Consulting) above your (default) Primary email signature:

You just added a new Outlook email signature.

Note: You can also use the Delete button below the Select signature to edit field to remove an email signature you no longer wish to use. Or, use the Rename button to rename a signature.

Step 6. Modify Your Email Signature

On the Signatures and Stationery window, make sure that email signature you're changing is selected in the box below the Select signature to edit field. Next, click in the box below the Edit signature field where you want your signature to appear:

insert email signature image — Click the Insert Picture icon to insert the modified professional email signature you customized earlier.

Click the Insert Picture icon. An Insert Picture window appears, allowing you to select a graphic file for the signature you want to use. You'll want to select the .png email signature file you changed and saved earlier. When you find the file, click the Insert button. You'll see the email signature in the Edit signature box:

new professional email signature image — Your new professional email signature displays in the Edit Signature box.

Step 7. Add a Text Signature

It's a good idea to add a text email signature beneath your professional email signature graphic image. Having text in your MS Outlook signature is helpful when your email is received by an email system that doesn't accept graphics.

As a minimum, your text email signature should include the following:

First and last name
Title
Company
Phone
Email address

With this text information your email recipient will be able to respond to your email should they wish to do so.

Type your text email signature information right below the graphic email signature. (Use the scroll bar to move down in the window.):

Click the OK button to save your changes to your email signature.

The next time you open a new email message, the Outlook email signature you created is automatically added to the bottom of your message:

message with Outlook email signature — When you've saved a signature in Outlook your signature information appears at the bottom of each email that uses that signature.

Type your message as usual, then send it.

Step 8. Add Another Email Signature

As I've mentioned earlier, you can have multiple signatures set up in Outlook email. This is especially convenient if you use the same email for business and personal emails. You may wish to have a second, more light-hearted and fun, email signature for friends and family.

To create another email signature, go back up to Step 5 and walk through the process again. Be sure to give your second email signature a different name from your first.

One you're ready to send an Outlook email message with the second email signature, click the Signature icon in the New Message window Ribbon. A drop-down menu appears. Click on the name of the email signature you want to use. Then send your message.

If you're using more than one email signature with MS Outlook, it's a good idea to get into the habit of checking your email signature each time you send a message to make sure that you're using the correct signature. You wouldn't want to accidentally use your fun email signature for a business email message or your business email for a fun message to friends or family.

More Premium Email Signature Templates

In this tutorial, we focused on using a single email signature template bundle from Envato Elements, but there are more email signatures available from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver that you may wish to use for your Outlook email. Here are just a few of them:

1. 360 Professional Email Signature Templates

This flexible bundle of professional email templates from Envato Elements includes 360 individual HTML files. Choose from between 30 different layout options and 12 different color styles. You can easily personalize these templates with your own logo, photo, and information. There's also HTML help documentation to help your customization go more smoothly.

2. Modern Email Signature Template

If you're looking for a sleek, modern professional email signature template with plenty of useful features this could be it. Here's just some of the features you'll find in the Modern Email Signature Template:

Uses smart objects
Includes well-documented HTML help files
Choose between 11 E-signature variations with 11 HTML files
And more!

3. 301 Email Signature Template

The 301 Email Signature template is all about options. Choose between 43 different layout options and seven different color variations. In this template you'll find a wide variety of signature designs from email signature templates that include photos to text only email signatures to email signatures that focus on social media. One of them is right for you.

Learn More About Email Signatures

The email signature you use will leave an impression with your reader. For business contacts, you'll want to make sure to use a professional email signature and you've just learned how to do that.

To learn more about how to properly end an email and more about email signatures, study these tutorials:

To find even more professional email signature templates that you could use with MS Outlook, take a look at this article:

24 Professional (HTML + PSD) Email Signature Templates: 2022 Designs

Sean Hodge

08 May 2022

More Helpful Email Tips and Strategies

Don't forget to sign up to the Tuts+ Business newsletter and grab our free eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Inbox Zero Mastery. It's packed with inbox organization strategies and killer tips for managing all your incoming email more efficiently.

Add a Professional Email Signature to PowerPoint Today

In this tutorial, I provided step-by-step instructions for you on how to add an email signature to Microsoft Outlook. I've also shared some of our best email templates that you may wish to consider using. I've even listed some other resources to help you create the best email signatures you can as well as to help you get more from your inbox.

You've just discovered how easy it is to add an email signature to all your Outlook email messages by using a professionally-designed email signature template! Why not get started with upgrading your email signature with a template from Envato Elements or GraphicRiver today?