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How to add an email signature in Outlook

In new Outlook and Outlook on the web, open Settings, go to Accounts and then Signatures, choose Add signature, name it, paste your signature, tick the boxes to use it for new messages and replies, and choose Save. In classic Outlook for Windows, the same settings are under File, Options, Mail, Signatures.

Checked against Outlook’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 — no code to handle.

Create your signature

New Outlook and Outlook on the web

New Outlook for Windows and Outlook in a browser (including Outlook.com) share these steps.

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Go to Accounts, then Signatures.
  3. In new Outlook, if you have more than one account, choose the one this signature is for.
  4. Choose Add signature and give it a name.
  5. Click into the editing box and paste (Ctrl+V, or ⌘V on a Mac).
  6. Use the checkboxes at the bottom to use it for new messages and for replies and forwards.
  7. Choose Save.

Classic Outlook for Windows

The long-standing desktop app for Windows, which Microsoft's help calls classic Outlook.

  1. Choose File, then Options, then Mail, and choose Signatures.
  2. In the E-mail account drop-down, pick the account the signature is for.
  3. Under Select signature to edit, choose New and name it.
  4. Click into the Edit signature box and paste (Ctrl+V).
  5. Under Choose default signature, set it for New messages and for Replies/forwards.
  6. Choose OK.

Classic Outlook shows photos and buttons with square corners, for you and for anyone who reads your email in it. A new signature isn't added to an email you already had open — start a new one to see it.

Outlook for Mac

  1. From the Outlook menu, choose Settings, then Signatures.
  2. Add a new signature (or rename the one called Standard), click into it and paste (⌘V).
  3. Close the Signatures window.
  4. Back in Signatures settings, under Choose which signature appears, pick your account and set it for new messages and for replies or forwards.

Legacy Outlook for Mac keeps its defaults under Choose default signature instead.

The Outlook app on iPhone and Android

  1. Open Settings, and under Mail tap Signature.
  2. Type or paste your signature. To give each account its own, turn on Per Account Signature.

Microsoft doesn't document whether the app keeps a pasted signature's formatting. If yours loses its design there, a short text signature is the dependable choice — esigna can copy a plain-text version for you.

Troubleshooting

If something looks wrong

Recipients see a “download pictures” bar instead of my photo

That's the recipient's setting, not a fault in your signature. Classic Outlook blocks automatic picture downloads from the internet by default, and Outlook for Mac doesn't download internet pictures by default either. Your photo and logo appear once the recipient chooses Download Pictures or adds you to their Safe Senders list.

I see code instead of my signature

It was pasted as plain text, which drops in the signature's HTML code. Delete it and paste again with a normal paste (Ctrl+V, or ⌘V on a Mac).

The design is gone from the emails I send

New emails are set to plain text, which drops formatting and pictures. In new Outlook for Windows: Settings, then Mail, then Compose and reply — under Message format choose HTML, then Save. In classic Outlook: File, then Options, then Mail — under Compose messages, set Compose messages in this format to HTML.

My signature isn't added to replies

It's only set for new messages. In new Outlook and on the web, tick the box for replies and forwards in Signatures settings. In classic Outlook, set Replies/forwards under Choose default signature.

My signature is missing on another computer

With a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account, Outlook for Windows stores signatures in your mailbox, so they appear wherever that account is set up. When that first switches on, only the signatures you'd set as defaults are copied across — the rest stay under Signatures on this device. Accounts from other providers keep signatures on each computer, so add it there.

Photos and buttons look square in classic Outlook

esigna rounds them with a style classic Outlook for Windows doesn't apply, so they show square there — for you and for anyone who reads your email in classic Outlook.

FAQ

Outlook signature questions

Does Outlook support HTML signatures?

Yes. Paste a copied, formatted signature into the signature box, as above. For classic Outlook, Microsoft's own advice for a richer signature is to build it elsewhere — it names Word — and paste it in.

Do I need to set up my signature in each version of Outlook?

Plan on it. Microsoft suggests managing your signature through your Microsoft account so supported versions of Outlook can share it, but also says that if you use both Outlook and Outlook on the web, you need to create it in both. The phone app has its own setting too. Add it wherever you send from, and check it's there.

Will my Outlook signature sync to my other devices?

In Outlook for Windows, signatures on a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account are stored in your mailbox and appear on every device where that account is set up. Other accounts keep them on each computer. Microsoft doesn't say they reach Outlook for Mac or the phone app, so check those.

Why is my photo square in classic Outlook?

esigna rounds photos and buttons with a style classic Outlook for Windows doesn't apply, so they show square there, including for anyone who reads your email in classic Outlook.

Sources

Every step above was checked against Outlook’s own help pages on September 24, 2026. Menus move; if yours differs, these are the pages to trust.

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