How to Create an Email Signature in Outlook and Add a Banner

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Which version of Outlook are you using?

This is the step people skip, and it is why so many Outlook signature instructions do not match the screen in front of them. Microsoft documents three current signature workflows, and new Outlook and Outlook on the web share theirs almost exactly. Classic Outlook for Windows is the odd one out, with a separate dialog reached from a message window.

How to create a signature in new Outlook

1. 1
   Open Settings

   Select Settings, the gear icon at the top of the new Outlook window.

2. 2
   Go to Accounts, then Signatures

   Select Accounts, then Signatures. If more than one account is added to new Outlook, choose the account the signature should apply to.

3. 3
   Add a signature and name it

   Select Add signature and give it a distinct name, such as Work or Campaign. The name is only for you - recipients never see it.

4. 4
   Type and format the signature

   In the editing box below the name, type your name, role and contact details, then format them with the font, colour and styles you want.

5. 5
   Choose when it is applied

   Use the checkboxes at the bottom to apply the signature to new messages and to replies and forwards, or leave them blank and insert it manually from Message → Signature when composing.

6. 6
   Save

   Select Save. To change the signature later, return to Settings → Accounts → Signatures and use the Edit signature button next to it.

How to create a signature in Outlook on the web

Outlook on the web and Outlook.com use the same route as new Outlook, and Microsoft says explicitly that the steps for creating a new signature are the same across them. Select Settings at the top of the page, then Accounts, then Signatures, then Add signature. Name it, compose and format it in the editing box, use the checkboxes to decide whether it is added to new messages and to replies and forwards, then Save.

• If you did not set it to apply automatically, add it while writing: on the Message tab, select Signature and pick the one you want.
• To change it later, go back to Settings → Accounts → Signatures and use the Edit signature button.
• A web signature is separate from a classic desktop signature - creating one does not create the other.

How to create a signature in classic Outlook

Classic Outlook for Windows keeps signatures in a dedicated dialog rather than in settings, and the quickest way in is from a message window.

1. 1Open a new email message.
2. 2On the Message menu, select Signature, then Signatures.
3. 3In the E-mail account drop-down, choose the account the signature belongs to - you can have a different signature per account.
4. 4Under Select signature to edit, choose New and type a name for it.
5. 5Compose the signature in the Edit signature box, changing fonts, colours, sizes and alignment with the mini formatting bar.
6. 6Under Choose default signature, set the New messages drop-down and the Replies/forwards drop-down, or leave either as (none).
7. 7Choose OK to save.

How to add an image to an Outlook signature

A logo or headshot is added inside the same signature editor, not pasted into a message. In classic Outlook, Microsoft's steps are: open a new message, select Signature then Signatures, choose the signature to change, select the Image button, locate your file and select Insert. To resize it afterwards, right-click the image, choose Picture, open the Size tab and keep the Lock aspect ratio checkbox ticked so the image does not distort. In new Outlook and Outlook on the web, the signature editor's toolbar has its own insert picture control that does the same job.

• Insert the image file itself. Pasting a screenshot of a signature produces one flat picture that no one can click or read properly.
• Export the image at the size you want it shown, rather than inserting something huge and dragging it smaller.
• Keep a logo modest - a small mark beside your details, not a header.
• Microsoft warns that Vector Markup Language tags in a signature can make elements arrive as attachments instead of inline images, so insert pictures with the built-in control rather than pasting markup.

How to add a promotional banner to an Outlook signature

A promotional banner is technically just an image in the signature, but it does a different job from a logo, so it belongs somewhere different and needs more care. It is the one part of your signature that changes with a campaign, and the one part people are meant to click.

Where the banner should sit

Put the banner on its own line beneath your name, role and contact details, and above any legal disclaimer. Above your details it competes with the information the recipient actually came for; buried under a long disclaimer it is never seen. One banner is the limit - two promotional images in one signature reads as an advert, not a sign-off.

Inserting the banner

1. 1Open the signature editor for your version of Outlook using the steps above.
2. 2Click on a new line under your contact details.
3. 3Use the picture control - the Image button in classic Outlook, the insert picture control in the new Outlook and web editors - and select your exported banner file.
4. 4Leave the inserted size alone if you exported at the right dimensions.
5. 5Save the signature, then send yourself a test message before you rely on it.

Preserving the aspect ratio

Stretching a banner is the fastest way to make a signature look amateurish, and it happens whenever an image is dragged by a side handle. Classic Outlook gives you an exact fix: right-click the image, choose Picture, open the Size tab and resize with Lock aspect ratio ticked. Better still, do not resize inside Outlook at all - export the banner at its final dimensions so what you insert is what you send.

Avoiding an oversized banner

An oversized banner dominates the message, inflates every email you send and gets scaled awkwardly in narrow reading panes. A signature banner should look like part of the sign-off, not a poster. The sizing rules, the standard dimensions and how they behave on mobile are covered properly in our sizing guide rather than repeated here.

Testing before you use it

Save, then send yourself one message and forward it to a colleague on a different mail client. You are checking three things: the banner appears at the size you intended, the link works from a received message rather than from the settings preview, and the design still reads when the reading pane is narrow.

How to make the Outlook banner clickable

An unlinked banner in a signature collects attention and no clicks. In every Outlook signature editor the process is the same: click the inserted banner once so it is selected, use the link control - the hyperlink button in the editor toolbar - paste an absolute URL beginning with https://, confirm, and save the signature.

One banner means one destination, so choose the page that matches what the banner promises:

• Your website home page, when the banner is a general brand or credentials message.
• An offer or campaign page, when the banner states a discount or deadline - link to the offer, never to a home page the reader then has to search.
• A booking page, when the call to action is to arrange a call, demo or appointment.
• A single product or service page, when the banner is spotlighting one thing.

• Use an absolute https:// URL. Relative paths and internal-only links fail outside your organisation.
• Add campaign tracking parameters before you link, so signature clicks are attributable.
• Avoid image maps with several hotspots - most mail clients strip them.
• Click the banner in a received test email to confirm the link survived saving.

Can you use an animated GIF in an Outlook signature?

You can insert one - an animated GIF is inserted exactly like a static image, through the same picture control. Whether it animates depends on which Outlook is reading the message, and that is a different question from whether it can be added.

The practical consequence is a design rule rather than a technical workaround: the first frame has to carry the offer and the call to action on its own, because a share of your recipients will only ever see that frame. If that frame works, animation is a bonus rather than a dependency.

Outlook signature image not showing?

When a banner is missing, blank or arriving as an attachment, the cause is almost always one of a handful of things. A dedicated Outlook signature image not showing troubleshooting guide is coming; until then, work through these in order.

Test your Outlook signature

Run this once when you set the signature up, and again whenever you swap the banner for a new campaign.

Create your Outlook banner with Bannerly

Outlook gives you the signature; the banner is the part you have to make. Bannerly is a browser editor for exactly that: choose a canvas size, add your logo, headline and call-to-action button, pick a background and an animation, watch it in the live preview, then export a static image or an animated GIF and insert it using the steps above. It is free to create and export, and no account is needed.

Email client support

Animated GIFs are supported by most modern mail clients. The important exception is Outlook for Windows (classic), which shows the first frame as a still image.

Key terms

New Outlook

New Outlook is Microsoft's redesigned Outlook for Windows, which keeps signatures under Settings → Accounts → Signatures.

Classic Outlook

Classic Outlook is the traditional desktop Outlook installed with Office, which keeps signatures in a dialog opened from Message → Signature → Signatures.

Outlook signature banner

An Outlook signature banner is a wide promotional image inserted beneath the contact details of an Outlook signature and linked to a single destination page.