An email signature is a nice way to let the recipient know about your social media presence, contact information, or role in a company. Email providers like Outlook and Gmail allow users to create a unique signature with every email they send. The problem arises when you want to use multiple signatures for different purposes. Here’s how you can use different signatures in Outlook desktop.
Let’s say you’re sending a personal email to friends and family, and you wouldn’t want to add a signature with business details. Similarly, when you want to reply to a work email, you will not use signatures on personal social media profiles.
You can always use different email ids for different purposes, but this is not a viable solution for using different signatures. Fortunately, Outlook lets you create different signatures to use them based on the recipient and email context. Here’s how to set them up.
Use Different Signatures in Outlook App on Windows
The ability to use different Outlook signatures in a single Outlook account is limited to desktop apps only. That is, you cannot create and use multiple Outlook signatures from the Outlook mobile apps or the web.
In the example below, we will use Microsoft 365 Outlook to use different signatures. Follow the steps below.
Stage 1: Open Outlook on a Windows computer.
Step 2: Click File in the menu bar.
Stage 3: Select Options from the left sidebar.
Step 4: Go to Mail and select Signatures.
Step 5: You will see your existing signatures to edit.
Step 6: You can make changes to the existing signature and use the New button to create a new one.
Step 7: Type a name for this signature and click OK.
Step 8: Create a new signature using the rich text editor and hit the Save button at the bottom.
From the Choose default signature menu, you can choose your default signature for new messages and replies/forwards. Don’t worry, you can still use a different signature when composing a new email. Here’s how.
When you compose a new email, you can select the Signature menu at the top. Next, select a relevant signature from the drop-down menu and start drafting your email. If you don’t use the Signature menu, Outlook continues to use the default signature you set from the Settings menu.
Even when replying or forwarding an email, you have the option to use a different signature in Outlook.
Let’s move on to Outlook for Mac and discuss how to use different signatures in email.
Use Different Signatures in Outlook Mac App
Microsoft recently redesigned a completely revamped app on Mac. In the future, Microsoft plans to release a single Outlook application on all operating systems. But all is not over and for now we have the current Outlook application.
To make this clear. Outlook does not sync your email signatures across different Operating Systems. That is, your Outlook signatures that you create on Windows will remain on Windows. Same situation with Mac app and Outlook mobile apps.
We will not take this as a defect. It is an understandable decision to keep email signatures separate based on the device/operating system you are using.
Let’s figure this out too and learn how to use different email signatures in Outlook on Mac.
Stage 1: Open the Outlook app on Mac.
Step 2: Click Outlook in the menu bar and open the Preferences menu.
Stage 3: Go to Email > Signatures.
Step 4: From the Signatures menu, on the left, you will see all your existing signatures. Click the + icon.
Step 5: It will open a small dialog with a rich text editor.
Step 6: Give the signature a relevant name and create a signature for the email.
Step 7: Close the dialog and press the Save button.
From the Choose your default signature menu, you can choose your preferred account and an email signature to use with new emails and replies/forwards.
Select your favorite email signature and close the menu.
Click the New Message button in the upper left corner and compose a new email from the Outlook homepage. You can select the Signature menu at the top and on the right select a corresponding signature to use in Outlook mail.
Use the Right Signature in the Right Place
As we mentioned earlier, you need to use a signature related to the email context and the recipient. It leaves a better impression on the buyer person. With Outlook on Windows, we mostly use 3-4 different e-mail signatures depending on the e-mail subject. How do you plan to use different signatures in Outlook? Share your views in the comments section below.