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Migrating from Exclaimer Signature Manager to Exclaimer's cloud solution
Key takeaway
Exclaimer's on-premises Signature Manager (Exchange Edition and Outlook Edition) stopped being sold on September 30, 2022, and support ended on September 30, 2024, over two years ago.
If you're still running either edition, no fix is coming when something breaks.
Your directory sync and deployment setup carry over. Your email signature templates get rebuilt in Exclaimer's designer instead of being imported.
Moving to Exclaimer's cloud solution is a switch within your existing vendor relationship, not a fresh evaluation.
Is Exclaimer Signature Manager still supported?
No, not for either edition. Exclaimer sold two on-premises editions built for Exchange and Outlook: Signature Manager Exchange Edition and Signature Manager Outlook Edition. Both stopped being sold on September 30, 2022. Support for both ended on September 30, 2024, over two years ago now. Exclaimer's own product lifecycle page lists both, plus the older Exclaimer products they replaced, if you're not sure which one you're actually running.
End of support means no more bug fixes and no updates to keep pace as Microsoft changes how Exchange and Outlook handle mail. Whichever edition you're on, it keeps running exactly as it is today until something around it changes and it doesn't.
If you want the wider case for moving off on-premises tools, see the guide on making the switch from on-premises to the cloud.
What happens if you don't migrate
Nothing happens on day one, and that's part of the problem. On-premises software that's stopped being maintained doesn't announce the moment it becomes a liability. It keeps working right up until a Microsoft update changes how mail flow or Outlook behaves underneath it, with no one left to fix what breaks.
For many customers, an on-premises Exchange Server sits underneath this too, aging on its own schedule, independent of Exclaimer's. Exclaimer has covered elsewhere what that means for IT teams still running on-premises Exchange. At some point that infrastructure becomes the bigger risk. Waiting that long turns a software migration into an infrastructure one.
Karl Bagci, Exclaimer's Director of IT and Information Security, has a name for this.
"I think about it as a reversibility curve: early decisions are easy to reverse, but the longer you leave it, the harder it is to get out."
Migrating off Signature Manager is exactly that kind of decision, whichever edition you're on. It doesn't get easier by waiting.
What actually happens to your setup
Two things carry over cleanly:
Your directory data. Exclaimer's cloud platform syncs contact details from Microsoft Entra ID, much the way your current setup does, so contact details stay accurate without extra work.
Your deployment approach. Whatever mix of server-side and client-side you're running now, Exclaimer's cloud deployment options support the same choice.
Templates are the one piece that doesn't carry over, for either edition. Exclaimer's own migration guides say plainly that existing templates can't be imported from Signature Manager Exchange Edition or Signature Manager Outlook Edition. You recreate them by hand in Exclaimer's Signature Designer instead. That's real work, so budget time for it rather than assuming it happens for you.
How the migration actually works
Exclaimer's support team has a documented path for exactly this move, and which one you follow depends on your edition.
Signature Manager Exchange Edition migrates through a mail-enabled security group, not a flip-the-switch cutover. In outline:
Support creates a mail-enabled security group containing everyone moving off Signature Manager Exchange Edition.
Exclaimer's client-side or server-side deployment gets pointed at that group.
People move into the group as they're ready, not all at once, so the cutover happens in waves rather than for everyone simultaneously.
Once everyone's across, the group condition comes out and Exclaimer manages them the same way as every other user.
Signature Manager Outlook Edition has its own guide, since it's a different product with its own starting configuration, though the shape of the move is similar.
How long does it take?
There's no single number here, and anyone who gives you one without seeing your setup is guessing.
The biggest swing factor is usually template count, since none of them import automatically and each one gets rebuilt by hand. A single-office deployment with a handful of email signature rules moves faster than a global one with regional variations and dozens of templates to recreate.
Exclaimer's support team gives a specific estimate once they've reviewed what you're running.
What to do next
You already made the vendor decision when you first bought Exclaimer, and migrating off Signature Manager doesn't reopen it. It just moves that relationship onto the platform Exclaimer is actually still building for. The only real choice left is whether you make that move on your own schedule, or wait for something else to make it for you.
Contact Exclaimer's support team to start the migration. They'll want to know what you're currently running before they map out next steps.
