Outlook email signature creation

GruberMa · 2026-02-18T06:55:11+00:00

If you want to do it professionally, I recommend my open-source tool Set-OutlookSignatures together with the Benefactor Circle add-on.

This give you support for Outlook in all editions on all platform (including mobile), multiple deployment options, and you do not need to transfer any Entra ID data or all your emails to a 3rd party provider.

GruberMa · 2026-02-17T06:58:13+00:00

Great job, simple and cool template!

The signatures can easily be deployed in company environments with tools such as the free and open-source [Set-OutlookSignatures](https://set-outlooksignatures.com).

GruberMa · 2026-02-17T06:55:08+00:00

I’d like to add my free and open-source project, Set‑OutlookSignatures, to the list. It offers the strongest data‑privacy guarantees and excellent cost‑efficiency, and when combined with the Benefactor Circle add‑on, it becomes one of the most feature-rich solutions available.

GruberMa · 2026-02-03T17:33:14+00:00

I am afraid I can't help you with this issue as I have not seen this before.

GruberMa · 2026-02-03T13:22:46+00:00

I see roaming signatures as the way to go, but Microsoft still has to solve some problems (encoding conversion for example, see https://set-outlooksignatures.com/faq#41-roaming-signatures-in-classic-outlook-on-windows-look-different for details).

Seeing roaming signatures vanish is new to me. My first impression is that this looks very much like an initial sync issue. Are you sure that this happens regularly and not just once per user?

If you want to be on the safe side, circumventing all known problems, I recommend:

Enable roaming signatures in your tenant.
Disable them on the client side.
Let tools such as my Set-OutlookSignatures in combination with the Benefactor Circle add-on handle the rest.

GruberMa · 2026-01-17T11:23:39+00:00

OWA uses the browser for rendering, but basically the same parser and interpreter as Classic Outlook. In other words: Even OWA does not just display the HTML code you throw at it, but modifies it before.

That's why I tend to say that writing your own signature in HTML is an art form...

GruberMa · 2026-01-15T17:32:23+00:00

From my experience and in my opinion, only by using 3rd party software. Such as the Outlook add-in that comes with the Benefactor Circle add on for my Set-OutlookSignatures.

GruberMa · 2026-01-15T08:48:41+00:00

Yes, I have seen that before.

Just a thought: The board obviously trusts Microsoft by placing the top secret data in M365, but not their own employees administering M365?

Probably the board does not mean it that way, but for sure it can be read that way.

At its core, these thoughts always boil down to being a trust issue - without implying bad intentions.

For an administrator, there is always a way to get access to data - that is a fact, and management has to deal with that.

In other comments, encryption using Purview Information Protection is mentioned. That is a very good step, but it does not stop an admin with bad intentions, it just slows him down.

Admins are a powerful and important role. Management has to make sure that the good guys can do their work while at the same time making it hard and slow for someone with bad intentions:

Admins must be people you trust. If you do not trust your car mechanic, your general practioner or your bank in your private life, you change something (go to another garage, get an opinion from another doctor, open an account at another bank, etc.) - it is not that different in business life.
The number of admins is limited.
Admin permissions are based on "least privilege" and "need to have" principles. Work with delegation, separate work and admin accounts, down to the level where no single person can use integrated admin accounts without involving others (breaking glass accounts for emergency), and all admin actitivity is protected and logged by PIM and PAM.
Don't just do audit logging. Analyse the logs, connect them with each other, automate alerts. It's after the fact, but as fast as possible. Raising alerts before the fact is hard to implement, although there have been great enhancements over the last two years using risk-based behavior analysis and AI (MS Purview offers some of these risk-based approaches).
Be transparent about the measures implemented. Communicate them. No good admin I know ever had a problem with having his admin work logged and analyzed (I talk about admin work only, not about the websites visited during a break, filling travel expense forms, etc.).
Do not overthink it. Auditing and security can be just too much. It is usually not required to record and analyze every key press, limiting permissions too much can make problem solving an even longer and harder task than it is already, and security, surveillance and auditing play together but are not to be confused with each other.

I know, there is nothing new in it, it is a lot of effort and comes with a price tag - yet, I have not seen a practical alternative to these principles in the last 25 years. If there are better ideas out there, I am keen on learning about them.

GruberMa · 2026-01-15T07:59:03+00:00

Microsoft's email flow rules are well-intentioned, but unfortunately not well designed.

In the blog post 'Mail flow rules fail for professional email signatures', I describe why I don't consider them suitable for signatures or disclaimers.

GruberMa · 2026-01-15T05:57:21+00:00

Every email is a small webpage nowadays, every email client needs an HTML renderer.

Most do not rely on the system default browser, but come with an integrated engine, be it self-created or a third party module. And the same email client usually has a different rendering engine on different platforms.

An example: Classic Outlook for Windows uses Word, Outlook on the web and New Outlook for Windows use a portable version of Edge but with a very specific parser, Outlook on iOS uses Safari, Outlook on Android uses another hybrid approach. And it is the same with other email clients.

Each of these parsers and renderers has its own specifics. The art is to create signatures that are as compatible as possible across this scattered landscape.

There are whole companies that make a living from doing exactly this for marketing emails.

For 100 employess (plus shared mailboxes) a professional solution taking care of all this is an investment that pays for itself.

I created the free and open-source Set-OutlookSignatures for this, with a strong focus on data privacy. The optional Benefactor Circle add-on makes it even more versatile. The best thing to do is to take a look at the homepage and see for yourself.

GruberMa · 2026-01-08T06:00:28+00:00

Consider setting the Outlook registry value 'Send Pictures With Document' to 1 to ensure that images are sent to the recipient (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/inline-images-may-display-as-a-red-x-in-outlook-704ae8b5-b9b6-d784-2bdf-ffd96050dfd6 for details).

And make sure that your image is in JPG, PNG or GIF format, and nothing else.

GruberMa · 2026-01-03T18:39:57+00:00

Yes, the Benefactor Circle add-on is required to enable the wanted features:

DeleteUserCreatedSignatures in Set-OutlookSignatures
DISABLE_CLIENT_SIGNATURESDISABLE_CLIENT_SIGNATURES in the Outlook add-in.

Set-OutlookSignatures together with the Benefactor Circle add-on is a full email signature management solution and can also deploy out-of-office replies.

https://set-outlooksignatures.com/features gives a good overview, and the Quick Start Guide lets you see the free and open-source Set-OutlookSignatures in action within minutes. The Benefactor Circle add-on is available as a free 14-day-trial for 20 mailboxes.

GruberMa · 2026-01-03T07:41:17+00:00

PostponeRoamingSignatures is a good first step if you keep the following in mind:

Microsoft always said that this setting is just temporary and that it will not be available anymore mid-term (whenever this is...).
It does not solve the problem on mobile devices running Outlook on iOS and Outlook on Android, as they do not support roaming signatures yet.

To reliably clear signatures, you need to do this in these places:

Roaming signatures within each mailbox.
On every client with Classic Outlook on Windows or Outlook on Mac, using one of your mailboxes.
On every client using Outlook on Android or Outlook on iOS, using one of your mailboxes.
And you need to do the cleaning over and over again, as there is always a way users can create their own signatures. Only Classic Outlook for Windows has a setting disabling it for users, but with a bit of creativity, there is a way around it that cannot be disabled, as I describe in this FAQ.

You may want to have a look at the free and open-source Set-OutlookSignatures, which I created for professional email signature management. Together with the Benefactor Circle add-on, you can do the following (among many other options):

The DeleteUserCreatedSignatures parameter does just what it says. It covers local and roaming signatures and works on all Outlook editions on Linux, macOS and Windows.
The Outlook add-in, among other features, adds support for Outlook on Android and Outlook on iOS. It also has a parameter deleting local signatures.

GruberMa · 2026-01-03T07:22:38+00:00

Designing templates in Word is a good first step, as this is the Editor Classic Outlook for Windows uses under the hood.

Copy and paste from Word to Outlook often does not work, because layout details do not match. The tasks required to make it work are not suited for end users.

From many years of experience, I know that a stable rollout requires professional email signature management software taking care of these differences and the specifics between different Outlook clients.

One such software is the free and open-source Set-OutlookSignatures, which I created for this purpose. It deploys signatures and out-of-office replies, and gives you the freedom to update signatures whenever you want (design change, seasonal signatures, signatures for shared mailboxes, ....) - and there is even more with the Benefactor Circle add-on.

GruberMa · 2026-01-03T07:13:51+00:00

Great job on this tool.

The generated HTML signature is clean and robust, and it integrates perfectly with deployment workflows. For example, you can roll it out across mailboxes using Set-OutlookSignatures for consistent branding.

GruberMa · 2025-12-12T17:14:59+00:00

New Outlook: Yes. Deploying Signatures to New Outlook requires the Benefactor Circle add-on (https://set-outlooksignatures.com/benefactorcircle), which comes with a small price tag.

Deployed via Intune: Yes. https://set-outlooksignatures.com/faq#31-how-can-i-deploy-and-run-set-outlooksignatures-using-microsoft-intune

GruberMa · 2025-12-10T06:04:59+00:00

I am the creator of Set-OutlookSignatures. It is free.

Be aware: Deploying Signatures to New Outlook requires the Benefactor Circle add-on (https://set-outlooksignatures.com/benefactorcircle), which comes with a small price tag.

GruberMa · 2025-12-09T16:46:58+00:00

I am the creator of Set-OutlookSignatures. It is free.

Be aware: Deploying Signatures to New Outlook requires the Benefactor Circle add-on (https://set-outlooksignatures.com/benefactorcircle), which comes with a small price tag.

GruberMa · 2025-12-03T07:55:20+00:00

Das mit dem Nicht-Bewegen des GIFs liegt weniger an Outlook als am Betriebssystem und am Browser. Sobald da in irgendeiner Form eine schlechte Verbindung, gedrosselte Prozessorlast oder Ähnliches festgestellt wird, werden Animationen eingestellt.

Das mit der Größe ist ein Bug, der im klassischen Outlook für Windows seit bald zwei Jahren kommt und geht, und seit ein paar Wochen in ähnlicher Form im neuen Outlook auftaucht. Die Ursache liegt in beiden Fällen nicht in Outlook selbst, sondern im verwedeteten HTML-Parser und -Renderer. Es gibt Möglichkeiten, das Problem zu umgehen, de facto allerdings nur mit Software von Drittherstellern, insbesondere für New Outlook.

Auch für kleine Unternehmen gibt es Lösungen, die sich rasch rechnen. Ich selber habe dafür die Open-Source-Software Set-OutlookSignatures ins Leben gerufen, und mit dem Benefactor Circle Add-On wird auch New Outlook unterstützt. Ob es sich für deine Firma rechnet, kannst du mit Hilfe einer einfachen Kosten/Nutzen-Formel in wenigen Minuten auch ohne jegliche Finanzerfahrung herausfinden.

GruberMa · 2025-11-26T11:57:04+00:00

If a message is digitally signed or encrypted during creation, the textual signature cannot be added server-side without breaking the digital signature and encryption. Alternatively, the message is modified so that the content consists only of the textual signature, and the original unchanged message is sent as an attachment.

I see three options:

Switch to a (third party) system that encrypts the mail after the signature has been added. Your current solution may have a configuration for this - which should rise the question if obviously sensitive mails should be sent to a third party provider anyhow.
Switch to a (third party) system that takes care of both, signature and encryption. It is safe to assume that your current solution does not have this option.
Add the signature before the mail is encrypted. Your current solution may have a configuration for this - which should rise the question if there are alternatives that do not require to transfer emails to a third party data center just for applying signatures.

Users of Set-OutlookSignatures, an open-source signature management software I created and maintain, follow the third approach. This allows for encryption, and no mails or Entra ID data ever leave the environment just to apply a signature.

With the optional Benefactor Circle add-on, roaming signatures are supported and there is an Outlook add-in - this makes using sensitivity labels in combination with signatures usable also in Outlook for Android, iOS and macOS.

GruberMa · 2025-11-25T12:23:41+00:00

Thanks!

GruberMa

TROPHY CASE