Want to end your emails in style (even with an image)? Find out here how to change and edit your email signature in Gmail, and how to set up multiple Gmail signatures for different accounts and for different occasions even.
First, 5 071.5 Pounds of Steel
Some five thousand pounds of steel can change the world if they are shaped just right.
The shipment container, just the right amount of steel or aluminum in the form of a humble and unassuming but standardized box, has taken many a worry out of shipping goods around the world. No longer are goods packed with lots of spare space, unloaded and transferred laboriously in ports, easily damaged or lost in the process.
An email signature is almost as good in Gmail. No longer do you have to worry about what to write, how to format it or even think at all about including finishing lines (all with your preferred contact information) when writing emails: the signature takes care of that automatically. Once set up, your Gmail signature is included in all emails and replies you send without further effort.
Gmail signatures come with a few options (such as adding images or having different signatures for different accounts). Interested? All right, let’s get going with your Gmail container!
How to Edit Your Email Signature in Gmail
Time needed: 10 minutes
To set up a new email signature (or change your existing signatures) using Gmail with a desktop or tablet browser:
- Click the Settings gear icon in Gmail.
- Select Settings from the menu that has appeared.
- Go to the General tab.
- Click + Create new under Signature:.
- Give the signature a recognizable name and type it over Signature name.
Example: Use “work”, for instance, for your vocational signature.
- Click Create.
- Now type the text of your signature in the Signature: text field.
- Optional: Choose default signatures for sending addresses; see below.
- Click Save Changes.
Those are the basic steps—and by far not all you can do with signatures in Gmail.
How to Add Formatting to Your Email Signature in Gmail
Had enough? How to Remove the Signature from Gmail
How to Use a Different Signature for Replies in Gmail (and Set up Default Signatures per Sending Address)
To pick a default signature for an account or sending address in Gmail:
- Go to your Gmail’s signature settings. (See above.)
- Select the sending address under Signature defaults.
- Now select from available signatures for new emails and replies.
Why different signatures: You can use a shorter signature for replies, for instance, or add the standard signature delimiter for replies (if you have Insert signature before quoted text in replies and remove the “–” line that precedes it. enabled).
- Click Save Changes.
Change the Signature for an Email You Send in Gmail
To choose from available signatures when you compose an email or reply in Gmail:
- Click Insert Signature in the message’s toolbar.
- Choose from available signatures.
If there is already a signature: The new signature will replace an already present signature.
How to Change Your Email Signature in Gmail: FAQ
How big can my Gmail signature be?
You can use up to 10,000 characters in a Gmail email signature. Do not use all of them.
One page of text is roughly 2 700 characters. If you use all the 10 000 characters Gmail lets you use for a signature, it would be a bit shy of three pages of printed text.
How big should my email signature be?
It is best to keep your Gmail email signature—any email signature, for that matter—to some 4 to 5 lines of text.
What should I include in my Gmail signature?
Brevity is good in email signatures.
Do include
- your name
- your company and role, if it is for business and
- preferred contact information.
Where exactly will my signature appear in emails?
Where your signature appears in emails depends on two things: whether you are composing a new message or a reply (or forward), and the Gmail setting Insert this signature before quoted text in replies and remove the “–” line that precedes it..
Can I add an image to my Gmail signature?
Yes.
It is good to be careful with images in email signatures, though. The process can be a bit involved, but you will get through adding an image or logo to your Gmail signature and getting it to display right.
Can I change the signature when I write an email in Gmail? I’m not even seeing it…
Yes.
You can always edit the text of the automatically inserted signature. The tricky thing is that Gmail may also be hiding the signature’s text by default.
To change or remove the Gmail signature added to an email you are composing:
- If you are writing a reply or forward, click Show trimmed content (…).
- Highlight and edit the signature’s text and images like all other parts of your message.
Can I have a special signature for emails I send from my phone?
Yes.
Gmail lets you create a special signature that is used in place of your standard signature when you send from the Gmail apps for iOS and Android.
To use a special mobile-only signature in Gmail:
- Tap the hamburger menu button in the Gmail app.
- Select Settings (at the menu’s bottom).
- Now select the account for which you want to add a mobile signature.
- Tap Signature settings under General.
- Make sure Mobile Signature is enabled.
- Enter the signature you want to use for emails you send from the Gmail app under Mobile Signature.
Default mobile signature: The default mobile Gmail signature is Sent from Gmail. You can overwrite this with your own text.
The mobile Gmail signature is always plain text only.
No matter what your standard signature settings are, the mobile signature will always appear at the very bottom of the message.
Before it, Gmail adds the standard “– ” signature delimiter, so you need not add it manually.
Can I set up more than one signature for an account in Gmail?
Yes.
You can choose from all available signatures when you send a message. See above for inserting signatures manually.
(How to change your email signature in Gmail tested in a desktop browser; first published July 2017, last updated December 2024)