Email signature generator
that survives Outlook
Build a clean sign-off block, see it live, and copy it straight into Gmail, Outlook or Apple Mail. Table-based markup, so it renders the same everywhere.
A hosted URL is more reliable than an uploaded file. Some mail clients strip embedded images, though Gmail re-hosts anything you paste into its signature editor.
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- Gmail: Settings → See all settings → General → Signature → paste with Ctrl/⌘ V
- Outlook (web): Settings → Mail → Compose and reply → Email signature
- Apple Mail: Settings → Signatures → paste, then untick “Always match my default message font”
How to set it up
- 1
Pick a template
Four layouts: an accent-bar classic, a version with a photo or logo, a two-line compact form, and a minimal name-and-title block.
- 2
Fill in your details
Name, title, company, phone, email, website and social links. Everything you leave blank is simply omitted — no empty rows.
- 3
Copy the signature
Copy signature puts formatted HTML on your clipboard. Copy HTML gives you the raw markup for systems that want source.
- 4
Paste it into your mail client
Gmail: Settings → See all settings → Signature. Outlook web: Settings → Mail → Compose and reply. Apple Mail: Settings → Signatures.
Getting an email signature right
An email signature is a strange design problem: you build it once, it appears on thousands of messages, and it has to render identically in a dozen mail clients whose rendering engines were designed at wildly different times. Most signature generators produce something that looks great in the preview and falls apart in Outlook.
Why the markup looks like it is from 2003
If you click View code you will see nested tables and inline styles rather than semantic HTML and stylesheets. That is deliberate. Outlook on Windows renders HTML email through Microsoft Word’s layout engine, which ignores flexbox, CSS grid, most positioning and all external stylesheets. Table layout with attributes on every cell is the lowest common denominator that behaves the same in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and mobile clients. Modern email development still works this way for the same reason.
Design for images being off
A large share of recipients will see your signature with remote images blocked — it is the default in several clients and a common corporate policy. If your logo carries your company name and the logo does not load, your signature no longer says who you work for. Keep every essential piece of information as text, and let the image be decoration.
Shorter is genuinely better
The most common signature mistake is length. Your signature is appended to every message in a thread, so a long block turns a five-message exchange into five repetitions of your postal address. Name, role, company, one phone number, one link. If you add a legal disclaimer because your organisation requires it, keep it at the bottom in small grey text where it does the least damage.
Test before you commit
Send yourself a message and read it on your phone before you make the signature permanent. Phone screens are where signatures break first: fixed-width tables overflow, small text becomes unreadable, and long single-line layouts wrap in ugly places. The official setup instructions are worth following exactly — Google’s Gmail signature guide covers multiple signatures and the per-address behaviour that trips most people up.
This is not an electronic signature
Worth stating plainly because the terms are so easily confused. An email signature is a contact block. An electronic signature is a mark indicating agreement to a document, and in the US it is governed by 15 U.S.C. § 7001. If you need a handwritten-looking mark to place on a document, use the signature generator instead; if you need a legally managed signing workflow, use a dedicated e-signature service.
Frequently asked questions
What should an email signature include?
Your name, your role, and one reliable way to reach you beyond email — usually a phone number or a website. Everything beyond that is optional and most of it hurts. Long signatures with quotes, multiple images, legal boilerplate and six social icons get truncated by mail clients, look broken on phones, and are quietly ignored by readers.
How do I add this signature to Gmail?
Click Copy signature, then in Gmail open Settings → See all settings → General, scroll to the Signature section, create or select a signature and paste with Ctrl+V or ⌘V, then click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. Gmail preserves the formatting because the clipboard carries rich HTML, not plain text.
Why does this generator use HTML tables instead of modern CSS?
Because Outlook on Windows renders email using Microsoft Word’s layout engine, which has no support for flexbox, CSS grid or most modern positioning. Table-based layout with inline styles is the only approach that renders consistently across Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and mobile clients. It looks dated as web code; it is correct as email code.
Should I put my logo or photo in my email signature?
Only if it is hosted at a stable public URL. Many mail clients block remote images by default and some strip embedded ones, so a signature that depends on an image to make sense will be broken for a meaningful share of your recipients. Design the signature to read perfectly with images off, and treat the image as a bonus.
Is an email signature the same as an electronic signature?
No, and confusing the two is common. An email signature is the contact block at the bottom of your messages — it is formatting, not a legal instrument. An electronic signature is a mark applied to a document to indicate agreement, governed by laws such as the US E-SIGN Act. This tool builds the former. For the latter you want a signature image or a dedicated e-signature service.
How long should an email signature be?
Three to four lines is the practical maximum. Every additional line gets appended to every message in a thread, so a ten-line signature turns a short back-and-forth into a wall of repeated contact details. If you reply from your phone frequently, the compact two-line template exists for exactly that reason.
Is my information sent anywhere?
No. The signature is assembled in your browser and placed on your clipboard locally. Nothing you type — including your phone number and address — is transmitted to PenSignature or to any third party, and no signature is stored.