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. Add your signature text in the box, then choose it as the default for new emails and for replies. Scroll to the bottom of the settings page and click Save Changes. Your signature will now appear automatically on every email you write.

What you'll need

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.

At the top right, click Settings (the gear icon), then click See all settings.

Stay on the General tab. Scroll down until you see the Signature section.

Name your signature. Each signature has its own name, so pick something you'll recognize — for example, "Work signature."

Add your signature text in the 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 the text style, add a link, or add an image. Keep it clean and simple — long, heavily formatted signatures often look messy.

Set it as the default. Below the signature box, choose which signature Gmail should use for new emails you compose, and which one for emails you reply to.

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 and give it a different name.

To switch signatures while you're writing an email, click Insert signature (the pen icon) at the bottom of the compose window and choose the one you want.

If you send from more than one address using Gmail's "Send mail as" feature, you can set a different signature for each address. Use the drop-down menu above the signature box to pick the address first.

Tips for a great email signature

Keep it short. Name, title, company, phone, and website is usually enough. Gmail allows up to 10,000 characters in a signature, which is far more than you need.
Go easy on images. An image counts towards that character limit, so a large logo can push you over it. If you see an error, resize the image.
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. A Workspace admin can also append a standard footer to everyone's outgoing mail from 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.

Open Menu → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Compliance. You need the Gmail Settings admin privilege.

On the left, select the organizational unit you want the footer to apply to.

Scroll to the Append footer setting, point at it, and click Configure (or Edit if it's already set up). Type the footer text — the editor doesn't accept HTML, so use its formatting buttons instead. To add an image, give the URL of an image on a public web server; images in Google Drive can't be used.

Save. The change can take up to 24 hours to reach everyone, though it's usually quicker. Test it by emailing someone outside your domain.

The footer is added to outgoing messages in addition to whatever signature each person has set, so it suits legal disclaimers rather than replacing individual signatures.

Common questions

My signature isn't showing up — what do I check?

First, make sure you scrolled all the way down and clicked Save Changes after setting it up. Then check that the signature is chosen as the default for new emails. If you still don't see it, start a new email and click Insert signature (the pen icon) at the bottom of the compose window to add it by hand.

Can I have a different signature on my phone?

Yes. You can set a mobile signature that's used only for mail you send from the Gmail app:

iPhone and iPad: tap Menu → Settings, then under "Compose and Reply" tap Signature settings and turn on Mobile Signature.
Android: tap Menu, scroll down to Settings, choose the account, then tap Mobile signature.

If you don't create one in the app, new messages use the signature you set up on your computer.

Can I include a photo in my signature?

You can. Keep it small: the image counts towards the signature's character limit, and Google's own advice if you hit an error is to resize it. Chykalophia can help with this if needed.

Need a hand?

If you're stuck, email support@chykalophia.com and we'll help. Include your website address and a screenshot if you can.