How CodeTwo adds signatures when sending emails to multiple recipients

This article explains how CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 behaves when you send an email to multiple recipients to whom different signature rules apply. 

In short, if you add multiple recipients to an email, CodeTwo's behavior depends on the type of signatures you use. If you use:

• cloud (server-side) signatures, your message will be split into several copies so each recipient gets the correct signature. Learn more & see examples
• Outlook (client-side) signatures, the CodeTwo add-in checks all email recipients against your Outlook rules and inserts a signature based on the first rule whose conditions are met. All recipients get the same signature. Learn more & see examples

What if an email is sent to multiple recipients who match different cloud (server-side) signature rules? (Message splitting)

CodeTwo Email Signatures 365 includes a message splitting (bifurcation) feature. When you send an email to multiple recipients and different cloud signature rules apply to each recipient, CodeTwo creates separate copies of that email so that each recipient gets the correct signature. Note that:

• The number of email copies is equal to the number of different rules that apply to the recipients of your email. 
• Each copy is processed by its respective rule and sent only to the matching recipient(s).
• The message header remains unchanged after the split – all original recipients listed in the To and Cc fields stay visible in each email copy. Only the email body (email signature) is modified.
• If you use the Sent Items Update feature, you will only see one email copy in your Sent Items folder (the one processed last by CodeTwo). Learn more

See the examples below to better understand how message splitting works.

Example 1 – sending an email to 4 recipients to whom 3 different rules apply

Let's assume you send an email to four recipients who match three different cloud (server-side) signature rules. CodeTwo creates three copies of the email, and each copy is stamped with a different cloud signature and sent only to the relevant recipient(s), as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. How message splitting works in CodeTwo (cloud signatures only).

Example 2 – sending an email to 2 recipients, with one excluded from receiving a signature

Let's assume you created a cloud (server-side) signature rule and configured the Recipients step as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Recipient-related conditions and exceptions configured in a cloud (server-side) rule.

When you send an email to both User A and User B, the email will be split into two copies:

• User A gets the copy with the signature.
• User B gets the copy without the signature.

What if an email is sent to multiple recipients who match different Outlook (client-side) signature rules?

If you use Outlook (client-side) signatures, the CodeTwo Outlook Add-in inserts a signature based on the first CodeTwo Outlook (client-side) signature rule (see Fig. 3.) whose conditions are met. This means all email recipients see the same signature – either the one automatically added by the add-in or the one you select manually in the add-in pane.

An Outlook signature is inserted if:

• At least one recipient meets at least one condition in the related CodeTwo signature rule.
• Exception: For the Internal recipients only condition to apply, all recipients must be internal.

An Outlook signature is not inserted if:

• At least one recipient is included in an exception in the related CodeTwo signature rule.

If more than one CodeTwo signature rule applies to all email recipients, the add-in automatically inserts the signature from the rule that appears higher in the Outlook (client-side) signatures list in the CodeTwo Signatures app (see Fig. 3.). Other signatures that also apply to these recipients will be available in the add-in pane, and you will be able to insert them manually. Learn more about rule order and how to set up automatic signatures

Fig. 3. Outlook (client-side) signature rules in CodeTwo's Signatures app.

Examples

The table below shows how different settings in the Recipients step of a CodeTwo Outlook signature rule (see Fig. 2.) can result in a different behavior of the CodeTwo Outlook Add-in when you type an email. To help you understand:

• If the rule is applied, the related signature will be inserted in Outlook (if other rules are also met, the add-in pane will show the related signatures). 
• If no rule is applied, no signature will be added by the add-in and no signature will be available in the add-in pane.