How do I set up an email signature and out of office?
A signature that works everywhere, and an automatic reply that says what people actually need to know.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Keep the signature to plain text with your name and one or two ways to reach you — images and logos are stripped, blocked or turn into attachments. For out of office, give the return date and one alternative contact, and set an end date so it turns itself off.
Both settings live in the same corner of every email application and both are commonly overdone. The useful version of each is shorter than people expect.
Step by step
- Find the signature setting.It is in settings under composing or writing mail, in every client. Web and mobile apps keep separate signatures, so setting one does not set the other.
- Keep the signature short and plain.Name, role if relevant, and one or two contact routes. Anything longer gets quoted repeatedly down a thread and becomes noise.
- Avoid images and logos.Many clients block remote images by default, so a logo shows as an empty box, and an embedded one arrives as an attachment that makes the message look like it has a file. Text survives everywhere.
- Set the mobile signature deliberately.The default 'sent from my phone' is fine and does useful work explaining brevity. If you replace it, replace it with something short rather than the full desktop version.
- Decide whether it appears on replies.Most clients let you use a shorter signature on replies, or none. A full signature on every message in a long thread is the main reason threads become unreadable.
- Write the out of office with what people need.The date you return, whether you are reading email at all, and one named alternative contact. Everything else is padding.
- Set start and end dates on it.Every client supports a date range. Turning it on manually and forgetting to turn it off is the classic failure, and it is visible to everyone who writes to you.
- Be careful what you disclose.An automatic reply goes to anyone who writes, including senders you did not intend. 'Away until the 14th' is enough — an itinerary or an address is more than anyone needs.
- Consider limiting it to known contacts.Most clients can reply only to people in your contacts or your organisation. This avoids confirming your address is live to every unsolicited sender.
- Test both by emailing yourself.Send a message from another account and look at how it actually arrives. Signature spacing and out of office wording both look different from the other side.
Tips
- Set the same signature on the phone as on the computer if you use both heavily — replies looking different depending on where you are is quietly confusing.
- An out of office is usually sent only once per sender, so people writing repeatedly will not be reminded. Say what you need to say the first time.
- If you share a mailbox, agree the wording. Two different automatic replies from one address looks careless.
Questions people ask
What should an email signature include?
Your name and one or two ways to reach you, in plain text. Keep logos and images out — they are frequently blocked or arrive as attachments, and they clutter long threads.
What should an out of office say?
When you return, whether you are reading email meanwhile, and one alternative contact. Set an end date so it turns off by itself, and avoid saying where you are.