Email signatures in Microsoft 365

Email signature management in Microsoft 365 (Office 365) & Exchange Online

Company-wide email signatures in Microsoft 365/Office 365

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

Functionality	Microsoft 365 / Office 365 signatures	CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365
Email signatures added right under the latest reply/forward message Microsoft 365 is not able to identify separate emails in an email chain, so when a user sends a reply or forwards a message, the email signature is inserted at the very end of an email conversation. CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 always puts the signature right under the latest email.	Email signatures are inserted at the very bottom of the email chain.	Email signatures are added right under the latest email.
Email signatures added with side banners
Convenient picker to select Active Directory placeholders
White spaces in the signature removed automatically If some fields in Active Directory are empty, your signature will display white spaces instead of certain values. The signature may look awkward at best, and you may find yourself in a bit embarrassing situation.	The mobilePhone value in Active Directory is empty, which results in white spaces in the signature.	The whole line where the mobile phone number was supposed to appear has been removed.
The signature is visible while composing an email message
100% GUI signature template editor	In Microsoft 365, you need to compose your email signature using pure HTML code with no formatting tools.	With CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 you get a WYSIWYG signature template editor that also comes with dozens of pre-defined and professionally designed templates that you can further customize.
Logos and photos embedded in email signatures	Images added from an Internet source are not displayed in Outlook or OWA by default.	Images and photos are embedded directly within the email body and are therefore displayed correctly.
Email signatures added directly in Outlook and OWA (option) Using centrally managed client-side signatures gives more control over email signatures to users
Support for all email clients and mobile devices

Microsoft 365 is not able to identify separate emails in an email chain, so when a user sends a reply or forward message, the email signature is inserted at the very end of an email conversation. CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 always put the signature right under the latest email.

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

Email signatures are inserted at the very bottom of the email chain

Email signatures are inserted at the very bottom of the email chain.

Email signatures are added right under the latest email.

Email signatures are inserted directly under the latest email.

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

Email signatures added with no side banners.

Email signatures added with side banners.

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

There is no placeholder picker in Office 365.

Convenient placeholder picker in CodeTwo's editor.

Using centrally managed client-side signatures gives more control over email signatures to users

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

White spaces in email signature.

The mobile value in Active Directory is empty what results in white spaces in the signature.

White spaces in email signature are removed.

The whole line where mobile number was supposed to appear has been removed.

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

Office 365 native editor - you need to specify a signature text directly in the pure HTML code.

In Microsoft 365, you need to compose your email signature using pure HTML code with no formatting tools.

CodeTwo Signature Template Editor - no HTML scripting required.

With CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 you get a WYSIWYG signature template editor.

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

Images in signature are not displayed by default in Outlook and OWA.

Images in Microsoft 365 signature added from the Internet source are not displayed in Outlook or OWA by default.

Images in signature added by CodeTwo are displayed properly in Outlook and OWA.

Images and photos are embedded directly within the email body therefore displayed properly.

Using centrally managed client-side signatures gives more control over email signatures to users

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

Microsoft 365 native signature

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

How does CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 work?

Works with all email clients. In server-side mode (default), the program routes all emails from your Microsoft 365 tenant to the CodeTwo Email Azure Service that resides on Microsoft Azure. The service stamps emails with the signature (based on specified conditions) and sends them back to your tenant, from where they are then delivered to original recipients (no email leaves Microsoft datacenters at any point).

Esig O365 - How it works - server side mode

Works with Outlook and OWA only. Users get the email signature when composing an email thanks to a dedicated Web Add-in for Outlook (world’s first signature Web Add-in, co-engineered with Microsoft). 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.

Esig O365 - How it works - Client-side mode

Combo mode is a combination of server-side and client-side modes. A signature is added as you type an email in Outlook & OWA. If you use other email clients, a signature is added by the CodeTwo Email Azure Service after an email is sent.

Esig O365 - How it works - combo mode