Using gender pronouns in email signatures

The importance of gender pronouns

Pronouns in email signatures show how the email senders identify themselves and how they would like to be referred to in the third person. Using them in email signatures can send a message that the company is inclusive of everyone and acknowledges gender diversity. Moreover, gender pronouns are not only a nod to the LGBTQ+ community, but also an important matter for people with a gender-neutral name who do not have thoughts on their innate gender identity. On the other hand, some people might not be comfortable adding those pronouns to their signature. Numerous representatives of both mindsets can be found on internet forums, confirming that this topic remains controversial. Take this into account and be sensitive when making the decision to include gender pronouns in email communication. Giving the employees a choice whether or not they want to include pronouns in their email signatures can help companies avoid friction among their staff. And remember, pronouns alone shouldn’t be treated as the company’s only effort to be more inclusive of gender identity.

Adding gender pronouns to email signatures can make things easier and save time. Some people spend a lot of time wondering how to address the person they are writing to. Wrongly assuming someone’s gender can have a horrible impact on the first impression and might even hurt someone’s feelings. To remedy this problem, some people try to avoid using pronouns at all costs. The result – rephrasing an email – might take even more time and, in some cases, can end with the message sounding simply awkward.

Examples of gender pronouns in signatures

How you add pronouns to your email signature template depends highly on your signature design. Pronouns should form an integral part of the signature. If you decide to include gender pronouns in your email signature, it’s best to add them next to your name. That’s where most people expect to see this information.

See the examples below to learn how to best include gender pronouns in email signatures:

Sample signature 1

Sample signature 2

Sample signature 3

How to set up

Now that I’ve explained the basic concept, I’ll show you how to set up signatures with gender pronouns for the whole company. Since setting it up is different for Microsoft 365 and Exchange Server, I’ll present a separate guide for both platforms to you:

• How to add gender pronouns to email signatures in Microsoft 365
• How to add gender pronouns to email signatures in Exchange Server

How to set up gender pronouns in Microsoft 365

Using CodeTwo User attributes manager

In this example, a company called Company is using Microsoft 365 for their email needs and manages email signatures using CodeTwo Email Signatures 365. This service lets admins update email signatures for the entire company in a matter of seconds, regardless of email clients and devices used to communicate.

In order to add pronouns to email signatures, I will utilize User attributes manager which is a free feature for all licensed users of CodeTwo Email Signatures 365. This way, the entire setup and control over gender pronouns can be handled conveniently within the cloud-based email signature management service.

Normally, all personal information found in signatures is taken directly from Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory). However, User attribute manager lets you manage personal information without making any changes to Entra ID itself. Learn more about User attribute manager in this short video

First, I need to sign in with my Microsoft 365 global admin credentials at attributes.codetwo.com. The Attribute visibility page lists all users’ attributes stored in CodeTwo Azure AD cache and added to email signatures. Here, I can choose which of the listed attributes I want to make visible and editable for end users.

The page also lets me create custom attributes – all I need to do is select Add, create the new Pronouns attribute, click ADD and Save.

The next step is to ask all employees to fill out the requested details (within a specified time frame) at user.codetwo.com (this is possible only after the setup at attributes.codetwo.com is complete). To ensure structured feedback, I ask everyone to provide one of the following options:

• (he/him/his)
• (she/her/hers)
• (they/them/their)

Also, I point out in my communication that users who would rather not have any pronouns included in their signatures should leave the field blank.

Within the User info editor, the users can see a list of attributes I made available to them previously in the User attributes manager. Items set by me as read-only are grayed out.

Note: nothing stands in the way to make only one specific attribute visible and available for editing. Although, depending on the scenario, it might be required to display additional attributes to provide end users with more context.

Once the feedback has been provided, I want to make sure that the data is correct and free of typos – another task made easy thanks to the User attributes manager. The Import/Export page at attributes.codetwo.com allows for bulk management and editing of attribute values for multiple users.

To bulk edit Entra ID attributes stored in CodeTwo Azure AD cache, first I click the Export to CSV button, download the CSV file and open it with Microsoft Excel (text editors such as Notepad or Notepad++ will also work). The file contains a list of end users and attribute values they have provided. Empty cells represent attributes which values have not been modified and remain the same as in the organization’s Microsoft Entra ID.

Now, I can do a quick review of the values listed in the Pronouns column. That’s when I fix the typos and clear more creative entries like “I’d rather not have this information in my signature”. Once I’m done, all I need to do is save the file, click the Import from CSV button and choose Selective import. I click IMPORT afterwards to finish.

Note: After the initial setup, I change the gender attribute to uneditable. This way, there shouldn’t be any surprises in the company’s email signatures and if anyone wants to modify their details afterwards, they can reach out to the admin.

Once the update of user’s details is complete (this usually takes a few minutes but in very rare cases may take up to several hours) I can head to app.codetwo.com (or click the Signatures tab in CodeTwo Admin Panel) and select a signature rule I want to use. Then, I go to the Design step and click Edit signature to open the Signature template editor.

In the signature template editor, I place the cursor where I want the new placeholder to be located in my signature. Then, I go to Placeholder > Message Sender > Additional attributes and select the desired attribute, as shown in the image below.

Note: if pronouns are added in a separate line or have a signaling phrase before them (like Pronouns:), I can add a Remove Text tag. This way, if the attribute value is empty, the additional line and the signaling phrase will not be added. Learn more about using Remove Text tags

Once I’m done, I need to save my changes and close the Signature template editor by using the Apply & Close button and submit them to CodeTwo Azure servers by clicking the Save button.

Learn more about the User attributes manager

Alternative approaches

The following part of the article covers two alternative, more time- and effort-consuming methods for setting up gender pronouns in Microsoft 365 – without the use of the User attributes manager. In both of them, a company called Company is using CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 for email signature management in Microsoft 365. Admin access to the Microsoft 365 tenant is required in both cases to proceed.

Preparation

To be able to start, I need to gather information from employees on which pronouns to include in their signatures. To achieve this, I’ve sent a survey to all employees with the following options to choose from:

• (he/him/his)
• (she/her/hers)
• (they/them/theirs)
• I’d rather not have any pronouns included

I’ve collated the feedback in a CSV file with two columns: User (represented by the user’s UPN) and Pronouns with possible values: (he/him/his), (she/her/hers), (they/them/their), blank. Here’s how a sample CSV file looks like, viewed in Microsoft Excel:

The sample CSV file can be downloaded here. But instead of relying on the sample file, you can speed things up by using PowerShell to create a pre-filled CSV file.

As the first step, I need to connect to Exchange (Online) or run Exchange Management Shell. When I have my console running and connected, I can apply the following script:

get-mailbox | select @{n="User";e={$_.UserPrincipalName}},@{n="Pronouns";e={""}} | export-csv c:\pronouns.csv -NoTypeInformation

This script creates a CSV file with two columns:

• The User column prefilled with UserPrincipalName of all mailboxes in your organization.
• The Pronouns column without any values.

I can set a different location for the output file (c:\pronouns.csv in this example), filter mailboxes to include only user mailboxes (add the “-RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox” attribute to the Get-Mailbox cmdlet) etc.

After the file is created, I just need to open it, specify values in the Pronoun column for each user and save my changes. Once done, I’m ready for the next steps.

Using Groups and Conditional Placeholders

In this method, I will create 3 distribution groups in Microsoft 365, add members based on the CSV file and configure an email signature rule to add pronouns to user’s email signatures.

First, I connect to my Microsoft 365 tenant using the Exchange Online PowerShell module (see instructions on how to do this). Then, I import the survey’s results from the CSV file (see how to create a CSV file):

$pronouns = (import-csv C:\pronouns.csv)

After the results have been imported, I create 3 distribution groups:

New-DistributionGroup -Name "Pronoun-He" -Members ($pronouns | where -property pronouns -like "*him*").user; New-DistributionGroup -Name "Pronoun-She" -Members ($pronouns | where -property pronouns -like "*her*").user; New-DistributionGroup -Name "Pronoun-They" -Members ($pronouns | where -property pronouns -like "*they*").user; 

Now, I go to app.codetwo.com (or click the Signatures tab in CodeTwo Admin Panel) and select a signature rule I want to use. Then, I go to the Design step and click Edit signature to open the Signature template editor.

When the editor opens, I need to add a new conditional placeholder. To do so, I go to Placeholder > Conditional Placeholders > Manage.

In the Conditional placeholders manager, I add a new conditional placeholder, name it Pronouns and add placeholder rules, as shown below. I leave the default placeholder value empty. With the current setup, if a user is a member of one of the groups – they will have their gender pronouns added to their signature. If someone is not a member of any of those groups, they will receive a default (blank) placeholder. After I finish setting up placeholders, I click Save to close the manager.

Finally, in the editor’s main window I put the cursor where I want the new placeholder to be and add it by clicking Conditional placeholder > Pronouns.

Note: if pronouns are added in a separate line or have a signaling phrase before them (like Pronouns:), I can add a Remove Text tag. This way, if the attribute value is empty, the additional line and the signaling phrase will not be added: Learn more about using Remove Text tags

Now I can save the template, close the editor and apply changes to the signature-adding service.

Learn more about using Conditional placeholders

Using Custom Attributes

In this example, I will add custom attributes to user’s mailboxes and use them in an email signature rule afterwards.

As a reminder, I have a CSV file with all my users and the pronouns they wish to have in their email signatures.

Like in the previous method, first I need to start a remote connection with Exchange Online (see instructions on how to do this). Next, I’m importing values from my CSV file and upload them to my users’ custom attributes. In the example, I have my CSV file in C:\pronouns.csv and I’m using CustomAttribute7:

$pronouns = (import-csv C:\pronouns.csv); foreach ($user in $pronouns) {Set-Mailbox $user.user -CustomAttribute7 $user.pronouns}

Now, I head to app.codetwo.com (or click the Signatures tab in CodeTwo Admin Panel) and edit the email signature rule to which I want to add pronouns. To do so, I go to the Design step and click Edit signature.

In the signature template editor, I put the cursor where I want the new placeholder to be located in my signature. Then, I use the placeholder menu to add the custom attribute I’ve just modified in PowerShell (in this example it’s CustomAttribute7) as shown in the image below.

Note: if pronouns are added in a separate line or have a signaling phrase before them (like Pronouns:), I can add a Remove Text tag. This way, if the attribute value is empty, the additional line and the signaling phrase will not be added: Learn more about using Remove Text tags

After I’m done, I need to save changes, close the Signature template editor and Apply the changes to CodeTwo Azure Service.

Learn more about using custom attributes

The result

Regardless of which method you choose, all of your users should have their pronouns automatically added to their email signatures. Like this:

Thanks to CodeTwo Email Signatures 365, every user in your organization can have a personalized email signature containing their preferred gender pronouns. The signatures are managed centrally without user involvement, making sure that no employee is excluded and that the signatures will work on every device and in every email client.

How to set up gender pronouns in Exchange Server

If your company uses Exchange Server, there are two easy ways to add gender pronouns to each email signature. The only requirement is to manage email signatures centrally with CodeTwo Exchange Rules. Thanks to this program, you can set up and update email signatures for each and every user. These signatures are added on the server level, so it doesn’t matter what devices and email clients are used in the organization – the right and up to date signature will be there each time.

Preparation

Before I start, I need to gather information from employees about which pronouns they want to have included in their signatures. In this example, I’ve sent a survey to all employees with the following options to choose from:

• (he/him/his)
• (she/her/hers)
• (they/them/their)
• I’d rather not have any pronouns included

I’ve gathered all the replies in a CSV file with two columns: User (represented by the user’s UPN) and Pronouns with possible values: (he/him/his), (she/her/hers), (they/them/their), blank. Here’s how a sample CSV file looks like, viewed in Microsoft Excel:

You can download the sample CSV file here. But there is a much better way than relying on the sample file. I’ll show you how to create a pre-filled CSV file using PowerShell.

Before I begin, I need to connect to Exchange (Online) or run Exchange Management Shell. When I have my console running and connected, I can use the following script:

get-mailbox | select @{n="User";e={$_.UserPrincipalName}},@{n="Pronouns";e={""}} | export-csv c:\pronouns.csv -NoTypeInformation

This script creates a CSV file with two columns:

• The User column prefilled with UserPrincipalName of all mailboxes in your organization.
• The Pronouns column without any values.

I can use a different location for the output file (c:\pronouns.csv in this example), filter mailboxes to include only user mailboxes (add the “-RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox” attribute to the Get-Mailbox cmdlet) and so on.

After the file is created, all I need to do is open the generated file, specify values in the Pronouns column for each user and save the file. After that, I’m ready for the next steps.

Creating dedicated distribution groups and conditional placeholders

In this method, I’ll create 3 distribution groups, based on the CSV file I’ve created earlier. In my Exchange Management Shell, I run the following code:

$pronouns = (import-csv C:\pronouns.csv)

After the contents of the table have been imported, I create 3 distribution groups:

New-DistributionGroup -Name "Pronoun-He" -Members ($pronouns | where -property pronouns -like "*him*").user; New-DistributionGroup -Name "Pronoun-She" -Members ($pronouns | where -property pronouns -like "*her*").user; New-DistributionGroup -Name "Pronoun-They" -Members ($pronouns | where -property pronouns -like "*they*").user;

Now I can check if the DGs have been correctly populated using the Get-DistributionGroupMember cmdlet:

Get-DistributionGroupMember "Pronoun-He"

If everything seems fine, I can launch my CodeTwo Exchange Rules Administration Panel, choose the signature rule I want to modify and go to Actions > Insert signature > Edit:

In the signature template editor, I go to Placeholder > Conditional placeholders > Manage:

Now, I need to add a new placeholder using the plus button (1). After providing the name for the new placeholder, I click OK (2) and create a new placeholder rule using the plus button on the right (3):

In the Placeholder rule conditions builder window, I choose the condition Sender is a member of group and select one of the distribution groups I’ve created earlier. Next, I click OK to select the group and OK again to create the first placeholder rule. I need 3 separate rules, each with one of the Pronouns groups.

When three conditions are specified, I specify placeholder values for each group and leave default as blank (for those who have chosen not to specify their pronouns preferences). I click Save to create the pronouns conditional placeholder:

Now, I move the cursor to the location I want pronouns to appear in the signature and go to Placeholder > Conditional placeholders > Pronouns:

Note: if pronouns are added in a separate line or have a signaling phrase before them (like Pronouns:), I can add a Remove Text tag. This way, if the attribute value is empty, the additional line and the signaling phrase will not be added: Learn more about using Remove Text tags

If I ever need to update the pronoun values for any user, I will remove them from one distribution group and add to another.

Using Extension Attributes

Another way to add pronouns to each email signature in the company is using Exchange Extension Attributes (or custom attributes). The easiest way to set them up is to use PowerShell via the Exchange Management Shell:

$pronouns = (import-csv C:\pronouns.csv); foreach ($user in $pronouns) {Set-Mailbox $user.user -ExtensionCustomAttribute5 $user.pronouns};

I can verify if pronouns have been correctly added by using the following cmdlet:

get-mailbox | select UserPrincipalName,ExtensionCustomAttribute5

Now, I run the CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro Administration Panel and edit the email signature template in the rule of my choice:

Now, all I need to do is place the cursor wherever I want the pronouns to show up and click Placeholder > Message Sender > Exchange Attributes > ExchAttr5 (or any other extension attribute I’ve updated earlier):

Note: if pronouns are added in a separate line or have a signaling phrase before them (like Pronouns:), I can add a Remove Text tag. This way, if the attribute value is empty, the additional line and the signaling phrase will not be added. Learn more about using Remove Text tags

After I’m done, I apply the changes in the signature template editor using the Apply & Close button and submit changes to CodeTwo Exchange Rules Service.

The result

No matter which method was used to add the gender pronouns, they will be added to the specified users’ email signatures. Here’s an example of how it can look:

CodeTwo Exchange Rules can be used by organizations to centrally manage their email signatures. It lets companies of all sizes ensure unified brand identity and email compliance, while allowing IT to save a lot of time and resources.

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