Create Your Email Signature in Microsoft Office Outlook
So what’s your signature? For your email I mean. Is it anything or just some text? Or maybe you do have some hyperlinks to the text but is that all? Why be just text when you can be text and images! In Microsoft Outlook, you have the ability to import images such as a photo of yourself or social media icons into your signature combined with hyperlinks to different places on the web to make an nice looking and impressionable email signature.
For this particular tutorial, we are going to use social media icons such as Facebook, Twitter and Blog icons to import into our sample signature. Here’s a step by step on how to create an email signature with images in Microsoft Office Outlook.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Tools
Important note: This tutorial is using Microsoft Office Outlook for your primary email use. Other email software programs may have different instructions for incorporating custom email signatures and free versions of email such as gmail or yahoo may not currently allow the use of images in your signature.
1. First for this tutorial, you will want to download icons for you to use towards the end. Since I originally created this tutorial for Morris and Raper staff and agents in which I work with, these icons will include: WordPress Blog icon, Blogger icon, Morris and Raper Website icon, Twitter icon and Facebook icon.
To download the social icons in a zip file, click here or click the image!
Once you’ve downloaded this, be sure to go “unzip” the file so you can see all of the icons included into this file. To unzip on a file, you just double click the file and it will ask you if you want to extract file. You choose yes and you should see individual icons.
2. With Microsoft Outlook open, choose “Tools” from the top menu option.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Tools
3. From the “Tools” drop down options, choose “Options”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Options
4. A new panel window will open. Choose the “Mail Format” tab.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Mail Format
5. Look towards the bottom of the panel window. You will see an area for “Signatures”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Signatures
6. Choose the “Signatures” Button.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Signatures
7. Choose the “New” Button.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose New Button
8. First, enter in a new name for this signature file. Secondly, choose the button “Start with a blank signature”. Then click the next button.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Next
9. For plain text signatures, just start typing here in the white box. For icons and fancy anchor text and image links, choose “Advanced Edit”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Advanced Edit
Side note: This is the step that you can create an email signature without icons or anchor text linked (anchor text means custom words you choose to link to a specific web address). To just have plain text and hypertext links (a full web address link that starts with http://), simply start typing directly in the box and choose save. Then you’ll be done at this step.
But why be just text when you can be so much more? So on to appearing fancy and internet savvy!
10. An alert box with the exclamation point will open to ask if you want to continue and open the editor which is not part of Microsoft Outlook. You will choose “yes” and it will continue to open Microsoft Word for you.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Advanced Edit
11. Microsoft Word will open and you are now ready to design your signature with images and links and stuff, oh my! First, start typing in the information you want: your name, company name, address, phone numbers, fax number etc.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Word is Now Open
12. Once you’ve typed in the information you want, place your cursor in the place you want to insert an image. Choose the “Insert” and then “Picture” and then “From File”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Insert Picture
13. Locate where you saved the icons on your computer and once you find them, click on one icon and choose “insert”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Insert
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Find Icon
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Insert First Icon
14. Click on your image to select it and then choose “Insert” and then “Hyperlink”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose Insert Hyperlink
15. In the address box, type in the url (website address) you want the image linked to. For example, we could link this Morris and Raper Icon to the Morris and Raper .com website. You must include the full url that includes the “http://” – http://www.morrisandraper.com. The link will not work with just www.morrisandraper.com. Once you’ve entered in your url link, then click “Ok”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Type in URL address
16. Now your image is linked to a website address. Now repeat steps # 12 – # 15 to include more images with more links if you desire.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Inserted Images with Hyperlinks
17. If you decide to link some words instead of an image, you simply select the words you want linked by highlighting them with your mouse and choose “Insert” and then “Hyperlink”. Then you would repeat step # 15 by entering the full url website address.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Completed Signature in Word
18. Once you are satisfied with your signature, you want to choose “File” and then “Save” it with a file name you will recongize. It will automatically save it as your new signature file for Microsoft Outlook.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Choose File Save
19. Now go back to Outlook where you should see your new file and your new file should be selected as you see here.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature New Signature File Created
20. Then click “Ok”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Click Ok
21. Now check that your newly created signature is selected here for your “new messages” and your “replies and forwards”. If the correct signature is not selected, simply click the down arrow button you see on the far right and you should see a choice of signatures to choose from including your newly created signature.
22. Once your correct signature is selected, click “Ok”.
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Click Here Too
23. And you’re done! Now test your newly hip and fancy email signature. Go to “File”and then “Mail Message” and you should see it here!
Microsoft Outlook Email Signature Complete
Happy “Email Signature” ing! If this tutorial helped you, then please leave a comment below and let us know!
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