How to add an email signature in Gmail

Before you start

If your signature is plain text, you can type it straight into Gmail. If it has a logo, a headshot, colors, or icons, you cannot build that inside Gmail's small editor with much control. The usual way is to open your finished signature on a web page or in a document, select all of it, copy it, and paste it into Gmail. The formatting and images come along with the paste.

Gmail allows up to 10,000 characters in a signature, and Google notes that images count toward that limit. If you get an error when you save, the image is usually the cause. A logo that is linked from a web address (hosted online) takes far less room than one pasted in from a file on your computer.

Add a signature in Gmail on a computer

1. Open Gmail in a web browser.
2. At the top right, click Settings (the gear icon), then click See all settings.
3. Stay on the General tab and scroll down to the Signature section.
4. If you have no signature yet, click Create new and give it a name, such as Work. If you already have one, click it to edit it.
5. Click in the signature box and paste your signature. For a designed signature, copy it from its page first, then paste it here.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

Google's help page for these steps is titled Create a Gmail signature. If your screen looks different, Google may be testing a new layout on your account, but the Signature section stays on the General tab of See all settings.

Make it the default for new emails and replies

Creating a signature does not turn it on. Right below the signature box, under Signature defaults, there are two menus: one for new emails and one for replies and forwards. Choose your signature in both if you want it on everything you send. Many people leave replies set to No signature and then wonder why it disappears halfway down a thread.

There is also a checkbox to insert the signature before the quoted text in replies. Turn it on if you want your signature right under your reply instead of at the very bottom of the thread. Click Save Changes again after changing any of these.

Switch signatures while you write

If you set up more than one signature (for example, a full one and a short one for replies), you can change it on a single email. At the bottom of the compose window, click Insert signature (the pen icon) and pick the one you want.

If you send from more than one address with the Send mail as feature, each address can have its own signature. Use the drop-down menu above the signature box on the Settings page to pick the address first.

Set the signature in the Gmail phone app

The Gmail app on a phone has a separate signature setting called Mobile signature. It is a plain text box, so a logo or formatting will not carry over. Google's help page says that if you do not create a signature in the app, new messages use the signature you set up on your computer. Send yourself a test from the app to see which result you prefer.

1. On Android: open the Gmail app, tap Menu at the top left, scroll down and tap Settings, choose your account, tap Mobile signature, type your signature, and tap OK.
2. On iPhone or iPad: open the Gmail app, tap Menu at the top left, tap Settings, then under Compose and Reply tap Signature settings. Turn on Mobile Signature, type your signature, and tap Back to save.

If you have more than one account in the app, repeat the steps for each account.

If the logo looks broken or shows up as an attachment

• Use a logo that lives at a public web address. Gmail's image button lets you add a picture from Google Drive, from your computer, or from a web address. A web address is the most reliable for people outside your company.
• If you add the logo from Google Drive, make sure the file is shared so anyone with the link can view it. Otherwise recipients may see a blank box.
• Keep the logo small. A file under about 100 KB, displayed around 150 to 200 pixels wide, keeps you well under the size limit.
• Send a test to a personal address at another provider and open it on a phone before you call it done.

A faster option

Staff Signature builds a signature with your logo already hosted online, then gives you a page with a copy button and these same Gmail steps. You paste it once and it works in Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail. It is $4.99 one time for one person, with team plans for offices.

Common questions