Insert pictures, social links and other content into your template

You can add various types of content into your signature template: pictures, social links, placeholders that are replaced with Entra ID (Azure AD) attributes, and more (Fig. 1.). Read on for details.

Fig. 1. Use the options in the Insert group on the ribbon to add content to your signature template.

• Table
• Picture
• Link
• Social link
• Meeting link
• One-click survey
• Placeholder
• Conditional placeholder
• Remove empty placeholder (RT tag)
• HTML snippet
• Special character

Table

The Table button allows you to insert a table and define its size (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Inserting a table into an email signature.

More options are available after a table is added – you can find them on the Table tab that appears when you select (click inside) your table (Fig. 3.).

Fig. 3. Advanced table options available on the ribbon.

Picture

To add an image to your signature template, click the Picture button on the ribbon (see Fig. 1.). Choose a picture either from a local library or from an online resource, as shown in the top portion of Fig. 4. To learn about the differences between embedded (local) and online (linked) images, advantages of each approach, and the examples of use, see our Knowledge Base article.

You can only upload JPG, PNG and GIF images. Other formats might not be displayed correctly by various email apps.

Next, define your picture's size in pixels and choose if you want to preserve its aspect ratio (the middle portion of Fig. 4.). You can resize the picture any time later by dragging it with a mouse or by clicking it and using the options on the Picture tab.

Finally, enter the picture’s alternative text (the bottom portion of Fig. 4.), which will improve your signature’s accessibility for the visually impaired plus will serve as a backup if your picture cannot be displayed for some reason.

Fig. 4. The Insert picture configuration window.

Link

Use the Link button on the ribbon to add hyperlinks (URLs) to your signature template. You can add links to text and other elements (such as images) inside your signature. Links may refer to web pages (http/https), emails (mailto) and other resources (e.g. ftp). To add a hyperlink to an email element, select this element with a mouse and click the Link button on the ribbon. The Insert link window opens (Fig. 5.). Here, you can define your URL and personalize its appearance in your signature. Click the Show email tracking parameters link to expand additional settings and add campaign tracking parameters to your link. The most popular web analytics tools are supported: you can add UTM tags (Google Analytics), Woopra tags and Matomo (Piwik) tags.

Fig. 5. Configuration of a link.

Learn how to integrate CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 with web analytics tools

Social link

The Social link option on the ribbon allows you to create a special kind of hyperlink that includes a label as well as a related image and leads to one of the social media networks (Fig. 7.). The target URL is fully configurable - you can also include placeholders (replaced with user's Entra ID / Azure AD attributes) so that the final link refers to the email sender's social profile page. If you want to add a link to a social network like Facebook or LinkedIn, you need to enter a username in the URL (it cannot be the person's email address). Usually, the URL identifier can be obtained by opening the main profile page of a user.

Fig. 7. The social link configuration options.

Meeting link

With the Meeting link option, you can add a link to a direct meeting or a meeting scheduling service to your signature template. Select an existing service from the Type drop-down list or select Custom link to create your own link. You can customize the URL manually or by adding placeholders. For example, if you use a shared meeting link, replace the phrase user_id_here with the ID or name set up for your organization in your meeting scheduling service. If you want to create personal meeting links that automatically change based on the email sender, use a placeholder that inserts the sender’s ID or name. Some of the phrases (such as meeting_type_here) are optional – remove them if you don't use them. When your URL is set up, add a text label and change or remove the default picture, if necessary (both the image and the label text are hyperlinked). You can see a preview at the bottom. For more details, check out the examples below.

Example 1: direct meeting (Microsoft Teams)

To create a link to a direct meeting in Microsoft Teams, select Microsoft Teams direct call from the Type drop-down list. The default “callto:” URL currently works only in the classic Microsoft Team client. To make the link work in the new Microsoft Teams client, paste the following code in the URL field:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/call/0/0?users={E-mail}&withVideo=true

This URL contains the {E-mail} placeholder that is replaced with the sender’s email address when an email is sent. This lets the recipient call the sender directly. If you want the recipient to call your company’s designated contact person instead of the sender, replace the placeholder with an email address of your company, e.g. [email protected], as shown in Fig. 8. Enter the label text if you want (otherwise, only the image will be hyperlinked) and click OK to insert the link into your signature template.

Fig. 8. Creating a Microsoft Teams meeting link.

Learn how to integrate CodeTwo Email Signatures with Microsoft Teams

Example 2: meeting scheduler link (Calendly booking page)

To create a link to the Calendly scheduling platform, select Calendly booking page from the Type drop-down list and modify the provided URL (as shown in Fig. 9.). Replace user_id_here with a placeholder that inserts the user’s (sender’s) or your organization’s ID, assigned in Calendly. The meeting_type_here phrase is optional. You can either remove it or replace it with a Calendly meeting template, e.g. phone (this way, the recipient will be able to book a phone call with the sender). Enter the label text if you want (otherwise, only the image will be hyperlinked) and click OK to insert the link into your signature template.

Fig. 9. Creating a link to your Calendly booking page.

Learn how to integrate CodeTwo Email Signatures with Calendly

Custom meeting link

If you select Custom link from the Type menu, you need to provide the URL to your scheduling service or communications platform manually. Note that usually such an URL contains an ID or name of a specific user. You need to customize this URL so that it works for all users in your organization (e.g. replace the ID or name with a placeholder). Enter the text in the Label field that will be shown in your email signature instead of the URL. Optionally, click Change to add a picture that appears next to the link. Click OK to insert the link into your signature template.

Learn how to integrate CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 with:

• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Bookings
• Bookings with me
• Calendly
• WhatsApp
• Acuity Scheduling

One-click survey

The One-click survey option opens the Insert & manage one-click surveys window (Fig. 10.). Here, you can create a new survey or insert an existing survey into the signature by clicking it.

One-click surveys are an easy and effective way of measuring customer satisfaction. Learn more about this feature

Fig. 10. One-click surveys.

Placeholder

The signature template editor allows you to add dynamic content such as Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) attributes, counters, etc. directly into a signature template. Such dynamic content is added in the form of placeholders. Select a place inside your template and click the Placeholder button on the ribbon to add a placeholder (Fig. 11.). When an email message is sent, your placeholder is replaced with a corresponding information, for example an Entra ID (Azure AD) attribute of the email sender. Placeholders can contain user and message related attributes, date/time information, message properties, and more. The available placeholders depend on your environment. For details, see our dedicated article about placeholders.

Fig. 11. Placeholders.

Conditional placeholder

The Conditional placeholder button allows you to add user-defined placeholders to your signature template. Conditional placeholders can contain multiple rules, and each rule consists of conditions and a value (plain text, picture, HTML content or regular placeholders). When an email is sent, a conditional placeholder is replaced with the value whose conditions are met first (or with a default value, if none of the specified conditions could be met). Click Manage to open Conditional placeholders manager (Fig. 12.), where you can create and manage conditional placeholders. Find additional information and application examples for conditional placeholders in this article.

Fig. 12. Opening the Conditional placeholders manager.

Remove empty placeholder (RT tag)

The Remove empty placeholder option is used to automatically remove placeholders that cannot be replaced with corresponding information. For example, a signature may contain placeholders that refer to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory) attributes. If an email sender does not have these attributes filled in Entra ID, empty fields will appear in their email signature. RT tags help you avoid these empty spaces so that your signature layout is not disrupted.

To automatically remove an empty placeholder from your signature, you need to surround this placeholder with RT tags. To do so, select the whole placeholder (including the curly braces around it) with your mouse and click the Remove empty placeholder button (Fig. 13.). The placeholder now begins with {RT} and ends with {/RT}. When CodeTwo software processes an email of a user who does not have the Entra ID attribute related to this placeholder, the empty placeholder field is removed (along with the empty space it occupies) from the signature. This helps you keep a professional appearance of your signatures.

Fig. 13. How to add the RT tags to a placeholder.

By placing RT tags correctly in your template, you can remove not only placeholders, but also the neighboring text or other elements. For example, you can surround a whole line of text that includes both a placeholder and a related text description (see the example below). Note that if you insert the RT tags at the beginning and at the end of the same line/row, the empty placeholder will be removed but an empty line will remain (see the example on the left side). To avoid this, move the closing {/RT} tag to the beginning of the next line/row (see the example on the right).

INCORRECT: Regards, {First name} {Last name} {Company} {Department} Phone: {Phone} {RT}Mobile: [Mobile]{/RT} Email: {Email}

CORRECT (empty line is removed): Regards, {First name} {Last name} {Company} {Department} Phone: {Phone} {RT}Mobile: {Mobile} {/RT}Email: {Email}

Learn more about the Remove empty placeholder option and see usage examples

HTML snippet

This option allows you to insert an HTML content, copied from a different source or application, into your signature template. This can be used to, for example:

• import an existing HTML signature template into CodeTwo software, as shown in Fig. 14. (see detailed instruction in this Knowledge Base article), 
• embed an image placed on your website into the signature (by pasting the entire <img> tag that references the image), and more.

To insert an HTML snippet, select any place in your signature and click the HTML snippet button (Fig. 14.). Paste your HTML code into the text box and click INSERT.  

Fig. 14. Using the HTML snippet option to import an HTML signature template into the editor.

Special character

The last button in the Insert group (Fig. 15.) allows you to add special characters to your signature template.

Fig. 15. Inserting a special character into a signature template.

See also

Our Knowledge Base article on good and bad practices when using the signature template editor