Create a signature rule

This article will help you create your first signature rule in CodeTwo Email Signatures 365. A signature rule contains the layout of your email signature (or disclaimer) as well as conditions that need to be met to add this signature to messages sent by users in your organization.

Signature rules are configured and managed through a web interface available at app.codetwo.com. You can create two types of signature rules:

• Cloud (server-side) signature rule adds a signature after an email is sent and works with any email client or device (including mobiles).
• Outlook (client-side) signature rule adds a signature in Outlook and OWA as users compose their emails. For users to see and use this signature, you need to deploy a signatures add-in in their Outlook.

For more information about the available signature modes, see this article.

How to create a cloud (server-side) signature rule

To create a cloud signature rule, watch our video tutorial or check the instructions below.

To create a new cloud signature rule, sign in to app.codetwo.com, click CREATE RULE and select Server-side signature (Fig. 1.).

Fig. 1. Adding a new cloud (server-side) signature rule.

The rule editing pane opens to the right of the screen. In the first step (Name), enter the name of the signature rule and - if you want - add a description (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Entering a name and description for the new cloud signature rule.

The three steps that follow (Senders, Recipients and Keywords) allow you to configure conditions (and optional exceptions) which need to be fulfilled to add your signature to emails. To learn more about configuring conditions and exceptions for a signature rule, see this article.

Move on to the Senders step to apply the rule to the right users (Fig. 3.). In the upper section (top list) you can define senders whose emails will get this signature. You can add cloud (server-side) signatures to messages sent from user, shared and resource mailboxes. The lower section (bottom list) allows you to add exceptions or, in other words, users who will not get this signature. In the example shown in Fig. 3., the signature will be added to emails of all users (All senders) except the members of the Sales and Marketing group (for example because we plan to create a dedicated signature rule for them later).

Fig. 3. The Senders step with one condition (All senders) and one exception (Sales and Marketing) selected.

In the Recipients step, you can decide if this signature rule should be applied to emails sent to anyone, to internal/external emails only, or to emails sent to specific recipients (e.g. email addresses or domains) – use the top list to define the recipients. You can also exclude your signature from emails sent to selected recipients (that is, email addresses, domains, members of selected groups in your organization, etc.) by specifying them on the bottom list. In this example, we would like our signature to be added to emails sent to any recipient, so we only add All recipients in the top list (Fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. Choosing the recipients. Here, the cloud signature rule is set to apply to emails sent to anyone.

The next step – Keywords – is optional. Here you can define specific phrases that will trigger or suppress your cloud signature rule. When adding keyword phrases, you can use asterisks (*) as wildcards (as a substitute for other characters). The keyword settings might be very useful, for example, if you want to quickly remove your signature from a specific message. In this example (Fig. 5.), typing #nosignature (or any longer phrase that includes #nosignature – hence the surrounding asterisks) in the email subject or body will prevent the rule from being applied. Learn more about this feature

Fig. 5. The Keywords step.

The Scheduler step is also optional. This is where you can specify when this rule should be active. If Scheduler is turned off (the default setting), the rule is active continuously (Fig. 6.). If you want the rule to be active only during the defined time ranges, you need to enable Scheduler and configure recurrence pattern. Scheduler's activity is based on the chosen time zone. Learn more

Fig. 6. Scheduler.

In the Logic step, you can decide what the software should do if this rule is (or is not) applied (Fig. 7.). These settings are useful when you configure many rules and want to create a conditional rule flow, or when you add multiple signatures. Learn more

Fig. 7. Rule processing options.

Proceed to the Design step. Here, you can compose a signature template for this rule and decide how the signature will appear in email conversations (Fig. 8., item A). Start with the email thread settings by selecting one of the options available in the drop-down list to have:

• The same signature in every email
• Different signature in the first email and different in subsequent emails
• Signature in the first email only
• Custom setup (manually configure how you want your signature to be handled in email conversations).

You can learn more about these settings here.

Fig. 8. The Design step.

To create or modify a signature template for your rule, click the Edit signature button. This will open a signature template editor. Follow our dedicated articles to design your signature:

• create a signature by customizing a built-in template
• create a signature from scratch

In the example shown in Fig. 8., we created a signature based on one of the built-in templates.

Finally, click:

• Save & Publish to save the rule and apply it in your organization immediately.
• Save to save the rule without publishing it to your organization. You can apply (publish) it later at any time.

Once you are back to the main view (rules list), you can create another rule or use additional rule management options.

How to create an Outlook (client-side) signature rule

To create an Outlook signature rule, watch our video tutorial or check the instructions below.

To create a new Outlook signature rule, sign in to app.codetwo.com, click CREATE RULE and select Client-side signature (Fig. 9.).

Fig. 9. Creating a new Outlook (client-side) signature rule.

The rule editing pane opens to the right of the screen. The first step – Name – is where you can enter the name of the rule and, optionally, provide a short description (Fig. 10.).

Fig. 10. Providing a name and description of the Outlook signature rule.

In the Senders step, specify which users in your organization will have access to that signature from their Outlooks (after you have deployed a dedicated Outlook add-in). Use the upper section (list) to select users or groups of users that will get the signature. The bottom section (list) lets you add exceptions to your Outlook signature rule, which means users that appear on that list will not get the signature (learn more about this condition). In the example shown in Fig. 11., our rule will apply to all users (All senders) except for members of the Sales and Marketing group.

Fig. 11. Selecting users to which the client-signature rule will apply.

The next step, Scheduler, is where you can specify time ranges (based on the chosen time zone) during which the rule will be active. This step is optional, and by default the rule is active continuously – Scheduler is turned off (Fig. 12.). Learn more about Scheduler

Fig. 12. Scheduler.

The options available in the Logic step (Fig. 13.) allow you to:

• set the signature as the default one for all new messages composed in Outlook,
• set the signature as the default one when replying to or forwarding a message in Outlook,
• remove all user-defined signatures from Outlook (works only with the legacy COM Add-in). Note: This option is deprecated and will be removed soon.

Fig. 13. Additional options available for Outlook signature rules.

The next step, Design (Fig. 14.), is where you create your signature template. Click Edit signature to open the editor. To learn how to design the signature, follow our separate guides:

• Create a signature using a built-in template
• Create a signature from scratch

When you finish and save your template, the signature preview will appear in the rule editing pane (Fig. 14.).

Fig. 14. Outlook (client-side) signature template preview.

When you're done, click:

• Save & Publish to save the rule and apply it in your organization immediately. The Outlook (client-side) signature will become available for the specified users in Outlook and OWA.
• Save to save the rule without publishing it to your organization. You can apply (publish) it later at any time.

Managing signature rules

The main view of the signature management interface lists all rules configured for your Microsoft 365 tenant. From here, you can view details of each rule (e.g. to which senders/recipients it applies) and preview signature templates.

By using the Change view drop-down menu above the rules list, you can switch to your preferred view (Fig. 15.), e.g. a more compact one if you have a lot of rules.

Fig. 15. The same rules list displayed using the Large view (left-hand side) and the Compact view (right-hand side).

Use checkboxes on the left side of the main view (Fig. 16., item A) to select one or multiple signature rules. This will open a menu with additional options (some options are not available when selecting more than one rule):

• Edit lets you make changes to the selected rule. You can also edit a rule by clicking it in the list.
• Delete / Delete selected will permanently delete the selected rule(s).
• Publish / Publish selected will apply the selected rule(s) in your organization.
• Unpublish / Unpublish selected will deactivate selected rule(s).
• Export / Export selected will save selected rule(s) to your default downloads folder. Learn more about rule import/export 
• Clone lets you create the exact copy of the selected rule (with the same conditions, exceptions, settings and signature template). The newly created rule will be set as Unpublished.
• Convert allows you to convert the selected rule from cloud (server-side) to Outlook (client-side) and vice versa. Learn more about this feature
• Move up / Move down let you change the order in which rules are placed on the list. This order is important when configuring rules processing settings for cloud (server-side) rules and Outlook signature adding options for Outlook (client-side) rules.

In addition, when you move the mouse over the signature preview (Fig. 16., item B) you can click Edit signature to open the signature template editor. This allows you to make changes to the signature template without editing the rule itself.

Fig. 16. Additional rule management options.

See next

Start managing email signatures in your organization - learn more about different ways of managing signature rules