How to Add an Email Signature in Apple Mail
Set up a professional signature with your logo and links in Mail on your Mac, add a text signature on your iPhone and iPad, and fix the problems that trip most people up.
Checked against Apple's Mail User Guide for macOS 27, September 2026
Table of Contents
Need a signature first?
Free Signature GeneratorBefore You Start
A clean signature makes every email you send look like it came from a real, established business. Apple Mail handles signatures well once you know about one hidden checkbox that quietly wipes out your formatting. We set these up for clients all the time, so this guide covers the Mac step by step, plus iPhone and iPad, iCloud Mail and the fixes for the problems we see most often.
The short version
On your Mac, open Mail and choose Mail, then Settings, then click Signatures. Select your email account, click the + button and name the signature. Uncheck Always match my default message font, paste your signature into the right column, then pick it in the Choose Signature menu. On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, Apps, Mail, Signature.
What you'll need:
A Mac with Mail set up
Signatures with a logo, colors and links are made in Mail on a Mac. On iPhone and iPad, Mail signatures are text only.
Your signature, ready to paste
Build one free with our Email Signature Generator, or type it straight into Mail.
Your email account added to Mail
Mail keeps signatures per account, whether it's iCloud, Gmail, Outlook or your business email. Add the account first if it isn't there yet.
Don't have a signature yet?
Our free Email Signature Generator builds an Apple Mail-ready signature with your logo, contact details and social links in about two minutes. No signup. It's the same tool we use for client signatures.
Open Mail Settings
Open the Mail app on your Mac. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click Mail (next to the Apple menu), then click Settings.
Shortcut:
Press Command + comma while Mail is open. On macOS Monterey and older, this menu item is called Preferences instead of Settings. Everything else in this guide works the same.
Click Signatures
A settings window opens with a row of buttons across the top. Click Signatures. You'll see three columns: your email accounts on the left, their signatures in the middle, and a preview on the right.
Pick Your Account and Add a Signature
In the left column, click the email account you want to sign (not All Signatures). Then click the + button under the middle column and type a name, like "Main signature." The name only shows up in Mail's Signature menu; the people you email never see it. Mail fills the right column with your name and email address to start. You'll replace that in the next step.
Select an account first
If All Signatures is selected when you click +, Apple says you need to drag the new signature onto an email account before you can use it. Selecting the account first saves that step.
Paste Your Signature
Pasting a finished signature is the easiest way to get a logo, colors and links that look right. The order matters here, so follow these in sequence.
In the Email Signature Generator, fill in your details and click Copy Signature. (Using a different tool? Copy the finished, visible signature, not its code.)
Back in Mail, uncheck Always match my default message font under the right column. Then click in the right column, press Command + A to select the placeholder text, and paste with Command + V. Your logo, colors and links should look just like the preview.
Uncheck the font box before you paste
While Always match my default message font is checked, Mail swaps your signature's fonts for your default message font (Helvetica 12 unless you've changed it), and the design falls apart. It's the number one Apple Mail signature problem we fix for clients.
Prefer to build it in Mail?
Type in the right column and use the Edit and Format menus in the menu bar to add links and change fonts, colors and alignment. Drag an image into the column to add a logo, or drag your card from the Contacts app to drop in your details. Paste the finished signature, never HTML code: Mail has no code view for signatures.
Choose Your Default Signature
At the bottom of the window, open the Choose Signature menu and pick your signature. It's set per account, so repeat this for each account you send from. Then decide on Place signature above quoted text: checked puts your signature right under your reply, unchecked puts it after the original message.
No Save button needed
Mail saves your changes as you go, so just close the settings window. Have more than one signature on an account? The Choose Signature menu can also rotate through them At Random or In Sequential Order.
Send Yourself a Test
Press Command + N for a new message and your signature should already be there. Send it to a second email address you own (or a coworker), then reply to it as well. Check that:
Your logo or photo shows up (not as an attachment or a broken image)
Your phone number, email and website links work
The fonts and colors match your design, not plain Helvetica
It still looks right when you open the email on your phone
Switch signatures on the fly
Want a different signature on one email? While you write, click the Signature menu in the message header and pick another one, or choose None.
You're All Set!
Every email you send from Mail on your Mac now carries your signature. Read on for your iPhone and iPad, iCloud Mail on the web, multiple signatures, and quick fixes if something looks off.
Mail on Your iPhone or iPad
Your iPhone and iPad have their own Mail signature, separate from the one on your Mac. Apple is clear that it's text only, so no logo, colors or layout. Out of the box it says "Sent from my iPhone" (or iPad).
iPhone and iPad
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Apps, then Mail.
- Tap Signature (below Composing).
- Choose All Accounts for one signature everywhere, or Per Account for a different one on each address.
- Tap the text box and type your signature.
On iOS 17 and earlier, go to Settings, Mail, Signature.
Our advice
Keep it to three or four short lines: your name, business, phone number and website. That reads cleanly on any screen and still tells people how to reach you. Your full signature with the logo stays on the Mac.
Note: this covers Apple's Mail app. If you use the Gmail app or the Outlook app on your phone, they have their own signature settings.
iCloud Mail on the Web
Sometimes send from iCloud Mail in a browser at icloud.com/mail? It has one more separate signature, and it's plain text only.
- 1
Go to icloud.com/mail and sign in.
- 2
Click the settings button at the top of the Mailboxes list and choose Settings.
- 3
Click Composing, scroll down, check Add a signature and type your signature.
Multiple Signatures, Accounts and Macs
More than one signature
Click + again to add as many as you like to an account. A popular setup: a full signature with your logo as the default, and a short one (name and phone) you pick from the Signature menu when you reply.
The same signature on several accounts
Click All Signatures in the left column, then drag a signature from the middle column onto each account that should use it. Then set it in each account's Choose Signature menu.
More than one Mac
If iCloud Drive is turned on with Mail selected in its options, your signatures appear on your other Macs automatically. Otherwise, set them up on each Mac.
Setting up a whole team?
Sanden Solutions builds matching signatures for small business teams and installs them in Apple Mail, Gmail and Outlook for you. Get in touch and we'll take it from there.
Troubleshooting
The problems we run into most often when setting up Apple Mail signatures for clients, and how to fix each one.
My fonts and colors changed after pasting
Uncheck Always match my default message font under the right column. While it's checked, Mail replaces your signature's fonts with the default message font from Fonts & Colors settings.
Then select everything in the right column and paste your signature again so it picks up the original styling.
My signature doesn't appear on new emails
Check the Choose Signature menu at the bottom of the Signatures pane. If it says None, pick your signature. It's set per account, so check each account you send from.
Created the signature while All Signatures was selected? Apple says you must drag it onto an email account in the left column before you can use it.
My logo shows up as an attachment
An image you drag into the signature from your Mac is sent inside every email, and some recipients' email apps list it as an attachment.
A logo loaded from a public web address avoids that. When you upload a logo to our Email Signature Generator, it hosts the image for you, so the signature you paste already uses a web address.
My logo is missing or shows as a broken image
The image has to live at a public web address that anyone can open. If it sits on your Mac or behind a login, the people you email can't load it.
Some email apps also hold back pictures until the reader chooses to show them. That's a privacy setting on their side and nothing in your signature can override it. Send a test to another address you own to see what recipients see.
My signature lands in the wrong place in replies
Check Place signature above quoted text at the bottom of the Signatures pane to put it right under what you typed. Uncheck it to put your signature after the original message instead.
Emails from my iPhone still say "Sent from my iPhone"
Your iPhone has its own signature setting. Open Settings, tap Apps, then Mail, then Signature, and replace the text (see the iPhone and iPad section above).
I want to paste HTML code
Mail on the Mac has no HTML view for signatures, so pasted code shows up as raw text. Copy the finished, visible signature instead and paste that. In our generator, that's the Copy Signature button, not Copy HTML Code.
My logo looks wrong in dark mode
Many people read email in dark mode, and some email apps change colors to match. A logo with a transparent background and dark lettering can nearly vanish on a dark screen.
The safe choice is a logo on a solid white or light background, or a version that reads well on both light and dark.
Still stuck? Apple keeps its own reference in Change Signatures settings in Mail on Mac.
Frequently Asked Questions
Need a Signature Worth Pasting?
Make a professional Apple Mail signature in about two minutes with our free Email Signature Generator. Add your logo, contact details and social links, then copy and paste. No signup, no watermark.