How to add an email signature in Apple Mail

On a Mac, open Mail, choose Settings, then Signatures. Select your account, choose + to add a signature and name it, untick “Always match my default message font”, paste your signature into the right-hand column, then pick it in the Choose Signature menu. On iPhone and iPad, go to Settings, Apps, Mail, Signature.

Checked against Apple Mail’s help pages on September 24, 2026.

Before you start

Copy your signature first

Make it in esigna’s free Editor and choose Copy signature (on a template page, Copy HTML). That puts the finished design on your clipboard as formatted text, so every step in these guides is a normal paste, with no code to handle.

Rather ask than click? Make your signature in ChatGPT.

Create your signature

Mail on your Mac

In Mail, choose Mail, then Settings, then click Signatures.
Select your email account in the left column.
Choose + below the middle column and type a name for the signature.
Untick “Always match my default message font”, so the signature keeps its own fonts instead of your default message font.
Click into the right-hand column, select what's there (⌘A) and paste (⌘V).
Pick the signature in the Choose Signature menu, so new messages from that account include it.

Tick “Place signature above quoted text” to keep it above the message you're replying to. With Mail turned on in iCloud Drive's options, your signatures reach your other Macs too.

Mail on iPhone and iPad

Apple says Mail signatures on iPhone and iPad can only be text, so a design may not keep every detail here. esigna opens your signature on the phone, ready to copy, and the plain-text version is there if the design doesn't hold.

In esigna, choose Copy signature, then iPhone, and scan the code with your iPhone's camera. On the iPhone itself, tap Open on this iPhone instead.
On the page that opens, tap Copy signature.
If your iPhone is in Dark Mode, switch it to Light Mode while you paste (Settings, Display & Brightness, Light). Pasted in Dark Mode, the words turn white for the people you email. Switch back after if you like: they look dark in a new email on the iPhone, but arrive as you made them.
Open the Settings app, tap Apps, then Mail.
Tap Signature, under Composing. With more than one account, tap Per Account.
Tap the text field, delete what's there, and paste.

Shaking the iPhone and tapping Undo right after pasting sometimes restores formatting that dropped. Apple documents neither a pasted design nor that, so send yourself an email to check it. If the design doesn't hold, choose Plain text in the Copy window instead, email it to yourself and copy it from that email.

iCloud Mail on the web

Apple describes the signature on iCloud.com as plain text, so use esigna's plain-text version here too.

Go to icloud.com/mail and sign in.
Choose the Settings button at the top of the Mailboxes list, then Settings.
Choose Composing, scroll down, tick “Add a signature”, and paste the plain-text version.

Troubleshooting

If something looks wrong

The fonts changed after I pasted

“Always match my default message font” is ticked, so Mail swaps in your default message font. Untick it in Signatures settings, then paste the signature again.

My photo, logo and icons are empty boxes in Signatures settings

In esigna's tests, with Mail's default privacy settings, pictures kept on the web were empty boxes in Signatures settings but showed in a new message and in the email that arrived. If they're missing from new messages too, Block All Remote Content may be on: see “My photo shows as a placeholder”.

My photo shows as a placeholder

Mail is set to block remote content, and esigna keeps your photo and logo on the web. With Block All Remote Content turned on in Mail's Privacy settings, pictures hosted on the web wait until you choose to load them. Recipients with the same setting see them once they do.

The signature doesn't appear in new messages

It isn't the account's default yet. Select the account in Signatures settings and pick the signature in the Choose Signature menu. A signature made under All Signatures has to be dragged onto an account first.

FAQ

Apple Mail signature questions

Can Apple Mail use an HTML signature?

On a Mac, yes: paste a copied, formatted signature into Signatures settings, as above. On iPhone, iPad and iCloud.com, Apple documents signatures as text only.

Does my Mac signature sync to my iPhone?

Apple documents syncing signatures between Macs through iCloud Drive. Set the iPhone's and iPad's signature separately, in the Settings app.

Can I use a different signature for each account?

Yes. On a Mac, each account in the left column gets its own signatures and its own default. On iPhone and iPad, tap Per Account under Signature.

Sources

Every step above was checked against Apple Mail’s own help pages on September 24, 2026. If a menu has moved since then, go by these pages.