Setting up your Gmail signature
How to create and manage a professional email signature in Gmail — including setting a default signature for new emails and replies.
An email signature is the block of text that appears at the bottom of your emails — your name, title, phone number, and sometimes your company logo or social links. Setting one up in Gmail takes just a few minutes.
Quick summary
Go to Gmail Settings → See all settings → General → Signature. Click Create new, name it, type your signature, then set it as the default for new emails and replies. Click Save at the bottom of the settings page. Your signature will now appear automatically on every email you write.
What you'll need
Beginner 5 minutes- Your Gmail account open in a browser (desktop recommended)
- Your job title, phone number, and any other details you want in your signature
Creating a signature
Open Gmail at mail.google.com and sign in.
Click the gear icon in the top-right corner, then click See all settings.
Stay on the General tab. Scroll down until you see the Signature section.
Click Create new. Type a name for this signature — for example, "Work signature." Then click Create.
Type your signature in the editor box. A typical signature includes:
- Your name (in bold)
- Your job title
- Your company name
- Your phone number
- Your website address (as a link)
Format your signature. Use the text editor toolbar to change font, size, and add links. Keep it clean and simple — long, heavily formatted signatures often look messy.
Set it as the default. Below the signature editor, you'll see "Signature defaults." Under "For new emails," choose your signature from the dropdown. Do the same for "On reply/forward."
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. Your signature is now active.
Test it straight away
Click Compose to open a new email — your signature should appear automatically. If it doesn't, check that you saved and that the default is set correctly.
Managing multiple signatures
You can create more than one signature. This is useful if you want different signatures for:
- New emails vs. replies (replies are usually shorter)
- Formal emails vs. internal emails
- Different roles you play
To add a second signature, repeat the steps above — just click Create new again and give it a different name.
To switch between signatures while composing an email, click the pen icon at the bottom of the compose window and choose a signature.
Tips for a great email signature
- Keep it short. Name, title, company, phone, and website is usually enough.
- Don't include images or logos unless you need to. They can trigger spam filters and look broken in some email clients.
- Use a consistent font. Pick one font that matches your company branding. Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia work well across all devices.
- Add a legal disclaimer if needed. Some businesses add a confidentiality notice at the bottom. Your Workspace admin can enforce a company-wide signature with a disclaimer using footer settings in the Admin console.
Setting a company-wide signature (admin only)
If you're a Workspace admin and you want everyone in your organization to have the same professional footer (without relying on each person to set it up), you can configure this in the Admin console:
Go to admin.google.com.
Click Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Compliance.
Find the Append footer setting. Add the text or HTML you want appended to all outgoing email.
This adds the footer after the user's own signature, so it's best suited for legal disclaimers rather than replacing individual signatures.
Common questions
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