Today in the digital age more and more correspondence is influenced by Internet and E-mail. Fast replies to inquiries via E-Mail are economically more efficient than business correspondence on the postal way. The E-mail signature replaces the need to write a business letter and sign it with your personal signature. This cuts costs and simplifies the traceability of the filing.

 

E-mail signatures are basically intended to equip the E-mail automatically with name, address and other contact information of the sender. But more and more companies and private people use signatures to communicate notes, advertising messages etc.

 

A signature is like a business card, the proverbial store sign. A signature is composed of name, address, E-mail address, telephone number, company name and even a company logo can be integrated.

 

 

How to create your own signature

1. Via the menu item Tools Outlook opens the dialog Options, here you can switch to the register E-mail format

 

2. In the lower part of this register you can find the area Signatures

 

3. At first the dialog Signatures is still empty. To create the first signature click New

 

4. After you have entered a label for the new signature, click Next, then add the desired contents of your signature

 

5. Click Finish

 

The signature can be designed individually. Font, size and color can be modified. The option Paragraph formats the text of the signature and via the option Advanced a HTML generated signature can also be edited.

 

If a picture or a company logo should be involved within the signature, the message format needs to be HTML right from the start. Via Tools / Options you can open the register E-mail format in Outlook. Here you are able to select HTML as the message format.

 

Now a signature, as mentioned above in points 1–5, can be created and the picture or logo can be added. Note that the image needs to be created as a JPEG or GIF file.

 

 

Utilization of multiple signatures
Outlook offers the opportunity to create multiple signatures. Different signatures can be assigned to various E-mails. Since Outlook 2003, each created E-mail account is enabled to use different signatures. Via Tools / Options / E-mail format the signatures can be assigned to the different e-mail accounts.

 

There is also the possibility to use different signatures for new, sent and forwarded messages.

 

 

Signature with built-in vCard

A so-called vCard can also be automatically appended to a signature. A vCard is an internationally standardized form of a business card, a standardized address format.

 

The receiver of an electronic vCard is able to save the contact information directly as an Outlook contact. Combined with a signature the vCard is the ideal introduction to a new business partners or customers.

 

A vCard is generated automatically if a new contact is created.