Email signatures in Microsoft 365
Email signature management in Microsoft 365 (Office 365)/Exchange Online
Native email signature functionalities
Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online) allows administrators to create and manage company-wide email signatures, but in a very limited way:
 | signatures can only be inserted at the very bottom of an email thread, which, with every new reply/forward message with a signature in it, leads to a growing signature pile at the end of this email conversation, |
 | white spaces in signatures (left when no user attributes were pulled from organization’s Active Directory) cannot be removed on the fly, |
 | images cannot be embedded in email signatures (recipients get them as attachments), |
 | email signatures cannot be managed by non-admin Microsoft 365 users, |
 | users cannot see their signature in their email client before sending an email and they can’t choose a different signature template. |
How to set up email signatures in Microsoft 365 & Office 365?
Setting up an email signature using built-in Microsoft 365 features requires 2 basic steps:
- Prepare the email signature source code (you can use our Email Signature Generator for Exchange Online)
- Set up the email signature as per this instruction.
Need more advanced email signature management options?
The limitations mentioned above can be removed by using software such as CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365. Watch an overview video and keep reading to learn more about the product and its advantages over native signature management options in Microsoft 365.
A brief comparison of native signature options in Microsoft 365 and CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365
How does CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 work?
When working in server-side signature mode (default), the program sets up the send and receive connectors that route all emails from your Microsoft 365 tenant to the CodeTwo Email Azure Service that resides on Microsoft Azure. When you send a message from any device or email client, the CodeTwo Email Azure Service gets that message and, based on specified conditions, stamps it with the signature. Once the email had been processed, it is sent back to the Microsoft 365 tenant and delivered to original recipients (no email leaves Microsoft datacenters at any point to get the signature). All recipients receive your emails that include a professionally designed signature.
When working in client-side mode, users get email signatures directly in Outlook and OWA when composing an email. Thanks to a dedicated Web Add-in for Outlook (world’s first signature Web Add-in, co-engineered with Microsoft), which automatically synchronizes with our services, signatures are always up to date. Email signatures are automatically added to new messages or replies/forwards (according to rules configured by signature administrators in the signature management app) or can be manually selected when typing a message in Outlook.
Combo mode combines benefits of both the client-side and the server-side signature mode.
Learn more about how CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 works
