How to Add an Email Signature in Outlook
Set up a professional Outlook signature with your logo and links in new Outlook, Outlook on the web and classic Outlook, and fix the problems that trip most people up.
Checked against Microsoft's current Outlook help, 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. The tricky part with Outlook is that Microsoft makes several versions, and the signature setting lives in a different place in each one. We set these up for clients all the time, so this guide covers every version, the phone app, Microsoft 365 accounts and the fixes for the problems we see most often.
The short version
In new Outlook or Outlook on the web, click the Settings gear, then Accounts and Signatures. Click Add signature, name it, and paste your signature. Tick Set default for new messages and Set default for replies and forwards, then click Save. In classic Outlook, go to File, Options, Mail, Signatures instead.
What you'll need:
A computer
Signatures with a logo, colors and links are set up in Outlook on a computer or in a web browser. The phone app only has a short text signature.
Your signature, ready to paste
Build one free with our Email Signature Generator, or type it straight into Outlook.
Know which Outlook you have
It takes five seconds to check, and it decides which steps you follow. See the next section.
Don't have a signature yet?
Our free Email Signature Generator builds an Outlook-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.
Which Outlook Do I Have?
Microsoft's own test is simple: look for a Settings gear in the top right corner of Outlook. If it's there, you have new Outlook (or you're in Outlook on the web). If it isn't, you're using classic Outlook.
New Outlook for Windows
Settings gear in the top right, and ribbon tabs named Home, View and Help. Follow steps 1 to 6.
Outlook on the web
Outlook in your browser: outlook.office.com for work or school accounts, outlook.live.com for Outlook.com and Hotmail. Same steps 1 to 6.
Classic Outlook for Windows
No Settings gear, and a File tab that opens Options. Jump to classic Outlook.
On a Mac? See Outlook for Mac. On your phone? See Outlook on your phone.
Open Outlook's Settings
Open new Outlook, or sign in to Outlook on the web in your browser. In the top right corner, click the Settings gear. The Settings window opens over your inbox, and everything in steps 2 to 5 happens inside it.
Same steps on the web
Microsoft uses the same signature settings in new Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web and Outlook.com, so these steps work in all three. A signature you create in one shows up in the others.
Go to Signatures and Click "Add signature"
In the Settings window, click Accounts on the left, then Signatures. If you have more than one email account in Outlook, choose the right account first. Then click + Add signature.
Tip: Already have a signature? It's listed on this page. Click the pencil icon next to it to edit it instead.
Name It and Paste Your Signature
A signature editor opens. Pasting a finished signature is the easiest way to get a logo, colors and links that look right.
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 Outlook, type a name in the box at the top, like "Main signature." Only you see it. Then click inside the big box below and paste: Ctrl + V on Windows or Cmd + V on a Mac. Your logo, colors and links should look just like the preview.
Paste the signature, not the code
Outlook's signature box is a visual editor, not an HTML editor. If you paste HTML code (text that starts with something like
<table), your emails will show that raw code. For Outlook, use
Copy Signature, not Copy HTML Code.
Prefer to type it yourself?
Use the Format text tab above the box for fonts, colors and links, and the Insert tab to add a picture such as your logo. Keep it lean: a logo loaded from a web address (like the ones our generator hosts) keeps the signature small and loads fast for the people you email.
Choose When It's Added, Then Save
Under the editor, tick Set default for new messages and Set default for replies and forwards. Then click Save.
Don't skip the replies box
Leave Set default for replies and forwards unticked and your signature shows up on brand-new emails but not on replies. It's the most common reason people think their Outlook signature "stopped working."
Check Your Defaults
You're back on the Signatures page. The two dropdowns at the top, Default for new messages and Default for replies and forwards, should now show your signature. You can change either one here at any time, for example to use a shorter signature on replies. Close Settings with the X when you're done.
Made it on the web?
Signatures you create in Outlook on the web also appear in new Outlook for Windows. If it isn't there yet, close the Outlook app completely and open it again.
Send Yourself a Test
Click New mail and your signature should already be in the message. 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 signature appears on your reply, not just the new email
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 Signature on the ribbon (on the Insert or Message tab, depending on your version) and pick another one.
You're All Set!
Every new email you send from Outlook now carries your signature, and so do your replies if you ticked that box. Read on for classic Outlook, Outlook for Mac, your phone, Microsoft 365 accounts and quick fixes if something looks off.
Classic Outlook for Windows
Classic Outlook is the traditional desktop app that comes with many Microsoft 365 plans and Office. It keeps signatures in its own Signatures and Stationery window.
- 1
Click File, then Options. In Outlook Options, click Mail, then the Signatures... button next to "Create or modify signatures for messages." (Or, in a new email, click Signature on the Message tab, then Signatures.)
- 2
On the E-mail Signature tab, click New, type a name (like "Main signature") and click OK.
- 3
Click inside the Edit signature box and paste your signature with Ctrl + V.
- 4
Under Choose default signature, pick your email address in E-mail account, then choose your signature for New messages and for Replies/forwards.
- 5
Click OK.
Test with a fresh email
Classic Outlook doesn't add the new signature to an email that was already open while you set it up. Close that one and click New Email to see your signature.
Does it follow you to other computers?
With a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com mailbox, recent versions of classic Outlook (version 2303 and later) save signatures to your mailbox, so they appear on your other computers too. POP and IMAP accounts, such as email from your web host, keep signatures on that one computer, so set them up on each PC.
Outlook for Mac
- 1
In the menu bar, click Outlook, then Settings. Under Mail, click Signatures.
- 2
Add a new signature (or rename the one called Standard), then paste your signature into the editor with Cmd + V.
- 3
Under Choose which signature appears, pick your account and set the signature for new messages and for replies and forwards. With several accounts, repeat this for each one.
Using Apple's own Mail app instead of Outlook? Follow our Apple Mail signature guide.
Outlook on Your iPhone or Android Phone
The Outlook app has its own signature setting, separate from the one on your computer, and signatures you create in Outlook on the web don't carry over to it. Out of the box, the app signs your emails with "Get Outlook for iOS" or "Get Outlook for Android."
iPhone and Android
- Open the Outlook app.
- Tap your profile picture in the top left, then the Settings gear.
- Under Mail, tap Signature.
- Type your signature.
- Have several email accounts in the app? Turn on Per Account Signature and enter one for each.
Our advice
Keep the app signature short: your name, business and phone number. A logo and layout from your desktop signature usually won't carry over, and a few clean lines look better on a small screen anyway.
Note: this only covers the Outlook app. If you read your Outlook email in the Gmail app or Apple's Mail app, those apps use their own signature settings.
Microsoft 365 Business Notes
Using Outlook with your own business domain through Microsoft 365? The steps above are the same for each person. A few extras are worth knowing:
Signatures follow the mailbox: with a Microsoft 365 account, signatures are stored with your mailbox, so new Outlook, Outlook on the web and recent versions of classic Outlook all pick them up. Microsoft still notes that some people need to create the signature in both the desktop app and the web, so check both after you set it up.
Company-wide disclaimer: an administrator can add standard text to every outgoing email with a mail flow rule in the Exchange admin center. It's great for a legal disclaimer, but it's the same text for everyone, so it doesn't replace personal signatures.
More than one address: if you have several accounts added to Outlook, choose the account at the top of the Signatures page before you add a signature. Each account keeps its own signatures and defaults.
Setting up a whole team?
Sanden Solutions builds matching signatures for small business teams and installs them in Outlook for you. Get in touch and we'll take it from there.
Troubleshooting
The problems we run into most often when setting up Outlook signatures for clients, and how to fix each one.
My signature is missing on replies
New Outlook and Outlook on the web: open Settings, Accounts, Signatures and set Default for replies and forwards. Left on No signature, Outlook only signs brand-new emails.
Classic Outlook: in Signatures and Stationery, choose your signature in the Replies/forwards dropdown. Classic Outlook also won't add a new signature to an email that was already open while you created it, so start a fresh one to test.
People see a blank box or "download pictures" instead of my logo
Outlook, like many email apps, blocks pictures from the internet until the reader chooses to download them or marks you as a safe sender. That is a privacy setting on their side, and nothing in your signature can override it. Once they trust you, your logo shows every time.
Make sure the image lives at a public web address that anyone can open. A logo stored only on your computer or behind a login can't load for anyone else. Logos you upload to our Email Signature Generator are hosted for you.
My logo shows up as an attachment
Classic Outlook can send signature pictures inside the email itself, and some recipients' apps then list them as attachments. Microsoft also warns that signatures built with VML code can turn pictures into attachments.
Keep the logo small, use one hosted at a web address, and if a pasted picture misbehaves in classic Outlook, delete it and add it again with the Image button in the Edit signature toolbar.
The formatting disappeared when I pasted
Your emails may be set to plain text, which strips colors, links and pictures. In new Outlook, go to Settings, Mail, Compose and reply and choose HTML under Message format. In classic Outlook, go to File, Options, Mail and set Compose messages in this format to HTML.
Copy the finished signature, not its code, and paste it straight into Outlook. Pasting into Notepad first strips all the formatting.
My signature looks a little different in classic Outlook
Classic Outlook uses Microsoft Word to display email, so spacing and line heights can shift slightly compared with your browser. Send yourself a test and check it in the inbox you care about most.
Signatures built from simple tables, like the ones from our generator, hold up best in classic Outlook.
I can't find Settings, or there's no Signatures option
No Settings gear in the top right corner means you are using classic Outlook. Use File, Options, Mail, Signatures instead (see the classic Outlook section above).
In new Outlook and Outlook on the web, signatures live under Accounts, not Mail. Older guides that say Mail, Compose and reply are out of date.
A signature I made on the web isn't in the desktop app
New Outlook for Windows picks up signatures from Outlook on the web, but it can need a restart first. Close Outlook completely and open it again.
Classic Outlook only syncs signatures for Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com mailboxes. For POP and IMAP accounts, such as email from your web host, set the signature up on each computer.
Emails from my phone don't have my signature
The Outlook app on iPhone and Android uses its own signature setting, and signatures from Outlook on the web don't carry over to it. Set it up in the app (see the phone section above).
My logo looks wrong in dark mode
Many people read email in dark mode, and Outlook can adjust 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? Microsoft keeps its own instructions in How to add and change an email signature in Outlook.
Frequently Asked Questions
Need a Signature Worth Pasting?
Make a professional Outlook 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.