How to add a signature in Exchange: A step-by-step guide

This article will show you how to create a signature in Exchange. Using a centrally managed Exchange email signature means everyone uses the same template. So, all messages from your organization have an approved email signature appended to them. 

Managing an Exchange Server email signature centrally also means end users can’t change the template. The signature is added after an email is sent, so you maintain control over your corporate brand and legal disclaimer. 

10 easy steps to add a signature in Exchange

Important: This method only offers basic email signature management. To create and manage professional email signatures easily, consider our Exchange signature manager. 

Follow the steps below to add a signature in Exchange. You will need to create your email signature template in HTML or plain text before starting: 

1. Open your Exchange admin center. This requires Exchange Administration credentials. 

2. In the Exchange admin center, choose mail flow > rules. 

   
   
   

3. Click the Add (+) icon and select Apply disclaimers. You will now create a mail flow rule to apply your Exchange signature to messages sent by your organization.

4. Give the rule a name that is easy to remember. Then, click *Apply this rule if… to specify how the signature will be applied. This might be for external messages or a specific group. 

   
   
   

   Confirm the Apply a disclaimer to the message option is selected.

   
   
   If not: 
   
   

   • Click on the drop-down menu for *Do the following… 

   • Choose Apply the disclaimer to the message 

   • Click append a disclaimer option 

5. Click on Enter text to copy and paste your Exchange email signature template into the specify disclaimer text lightbox. 

6. To include individual contact details, use Active Directory (AD) attributes in your Exchange email signature template:

   
   

   • Choose your attributes and enclose them with two percent symbols on either side. For example, %%DisplayName%% or %FirstName%. 

   • When you’re finished, click OK.

7. You now need to specify what will happen if the signature cannot be added to an outgoing email.

   
   
   Click Select one… and choose from one of the following options: 
   
   

   • Wrap: The signature is appended to a new email with the original message attached. 

   • Ignore – The message is sent without an email signature. We recommend this option. 

   • Reject – The email is not sent, and the sender receives an NDR. 

   • Click Save when done.  

8. Click More options… to add additions like exceptions. For example, setting the signature to not apply to certain users in a group. 

9. Once confirmed, click Enforce under Choose a mode for this rule. 

   
   
   

   Click Save to complete the setup. Choose Test… if you wish to review the mail flow rule’s actions. 

10. Send a test email to see if your signature renders correctly. To update the configuration, highlight the rule and click the pen icon found next to Add (+). 

The history of Microsoft Exchange signature capabilities

Managing email signatures in Microsoft Exchange Server has become much easier compared to the early days of Exchange 2000 and 2003. Back then, adding a simple email disclaimer to outgoing messages required expertise in Visual Basic Script (VBS), making it a complicated task for IT administrators.

Exchange 2007

The introduction of Hub Transport Rules in Exchange 2007 marked a major milestone. For the first time, companies could apply a server-side disclaimer to outgoing messages without needing VBS knowledge. This feature allowed disclaimers to be automatically added to emails, streamlining the process. However, the limitations of Hub Transport Rules became apparent when businesses wanted to create more dynamic and visually appealing email signature designs.

Exchange 2010

Exchange 2010 addressed some of these challenges by making email signature management easier and more customizable. It introduced support for Active Directory (AD) Attributes, allowing personalized details to be added to each user’s email signature. Additionally, the ability to create HTML email signatures with inline CSS through the "Specify disclaimer text" feature made Exchange 2010 far more flexible than its predecessors.

Exchange 2013 and 2016

Building on this progress, Exchange 2013 and 2016 further enhanced the capabilities of Hub Transport by adding additional conditions and actions for creating Transport Rules, as well as improved data loss prevention features. However, the actual process of creating an Exchange signature remained largely unchanged. The main improvement was the transition to using the more intuitive Exchange Admin Center to trigger the disclaimer text window, as opposed to the older Exchange Management Console.

Exchange 2019

By Exchange 2019, while the functionality of Hub Transport Rules continued to evolve, the core mechanism for creating email signatures stayed consistent with earlier versions. Each iteration of Exchange has progressively improved the tools for managing email signatures, but the foundational challenges of creating dynamic, fully branded designs still persist for many organizations.

The problems with managing Exchange email signatures natively 

There are many limitations controlling email signatures using just the native features of Microsoft Exchange. 

1. You can pull contact details from Active Directory

Exchange 2010 and later versions allow you to pull contact information directly from Active Directory, making it easy to populate Exchange signature templates. This can include details like email addresses, phone numbers, job titles, and more.

In disclaimer transport rules, you can use AD attributes by placing them between percentage symbols (e.g., %%DisplayName%% to pull the sender’s display name). This feature streamlines the process of adding personalized contact details to signature templates.

2. You can't hide empty contact fields if they are blank

In Exchange signatures, empty contact fields cannot be hidden even if they are blank. While you can include AD Attributes, they cannot be set to be hidden if certain contact fields are empty. For example, if some users have a mobile number displayed but others do not, the field will still appear in the signature, although it will be empty for users without a mobile number.

This can result in inconsistencies, making email signatures look unpolished or incomplete. In professional settings, such inconsistencies may impact overall branding or the perception of professionalism, especially when uniform email signatures are important for an organization.

3. You can create an HTML email signature

Exchange 2010 introduced enhanced email signature features, giving users more control over their email signature design. With support for HTML tags, you can create professional and visually appealing email signatures in Exchange. This includes adding custom fonts using inline CSS, adjusting font sizes, and personalizing signature colors with hex codes. You can also include hyperlinks to make your signature more interactive and engaging.

Another key feature of Exchange is its support for email signature images. You can integrate web-hosted images into your Exchange signature for a more polished and branded look. However, keep in mind that if an email is sent in plain text format, all customized elements, like fonts and images, will be removed.

4. You can't create signatures using an email signature editor

The Exchange Management Console provides an interface to create a disclaimer rule, but it doesn’t include a ‘What you see is what you get’ editor or a professional Exchange email signature editor. Instead, you must choose from pre-defined options to design your email signature.

Once configured, it’s crucial to test your signature with a live email to ensure it’s working as intended.

5. You can't place signatures directly under the latest reply or forward

Signatures in Exchange are not placed directly beneath the most recent reply or forward in an email thread. Instead, they are appended to the very bottom of the entire email chain. This can lead to several issues over time. As more messages are exchanged, signatures from each reply or forward begin to stack up, resulting in a cluttered and disorganized email thread.

This makes it harder to follow the conversation, especially in long email chains. Important messages can get buried beneath layers of repeated signatures, reducing readability and causing frustration for recipients who need to sift through unnecessary repetition to find relevant content. Additionally, it can appear unprofessional in formal communication, where clean and concise formatting is often expected.

6. You can't embed logos and images into Exchange signature templates

Attempting to embed images into signatures in Exchange often leads to issues like blank squares with a red “X” or the images being added as attachments. These can increase the email size and may be removed by some email clients.

A better approach is to host the images online and link to them in the email signature. However, it’s important to note that the images won’t display automatically.

7. You can set limited time-based rules

With Exchange signature rules, you can set time-based limitations for your email signatures. For example, you can configure a signature to apply to outgoing emails within a specific time frame, such as December 1 to December 31.

However, recurring rules are not possible because the year is included in the date settings. If a rule encounters processing errors, the rule editor gives you the option to defer the email message until the rule completes.

8. You can customize your email signature based on the sender

With Exchange signature rules, you can customize your email signature to match the sender using the message header, envelope, or both. This feature offers flexibility to suit your specific needs.

Additionally, you can include comments to provide more details about your Exchange email signature.

9. You can't see signatures in user's Sent Items folders

When an email is sent, the system does not update the message to reflect the applied Exchange signature until after the email is fully processed and delivered. As a result, the sender will not see the signature within the version of the email stored in their Sent Items folder. This can cause confusion, as it may appear that the signature was not included in the email.

This behavior dates back to Exchange 2007, where signatures were added at the server level after the email was sent. Instead of being visible in the sender's draft or sent message, they were applied automatically. While this approach ensures all outgoing emails are consistent, it can make it harder for senders to track or review customized signatures.

Additional tips and tricks for adding an email signature in Exchange  

• Regularly review your mail flow rules to ensure they remain relevant and necessary. This helps maintain proper application of your email signature.

• Test your Exchange email signature on different devices and email clients to confirm it appears consistent and professional.

• If you encounter issues with a mail flow rule, restarting the Microsoft Exchange Transport service can often resolve minor problems.

• To update your Exchange email signature template, modify the text under specify disclaimer text in the rule configuration. Then, test the changes before enforcing them to avoid formatting issues.

Using an Exclaimer email signature solution 

Exclaimer offers the best way to manage Exchange email signatures. It’s so easy to use that non-technical teams can control email signatures for the whole organization, removing the need for IT to involve themselves in Exchange email signature management. The only requirement is for your local Active Directory to be synchronized with Azure AD. 

Exclaimer can also be seamlessly migrated to Microsoft 365. So, when you migrate to the cloud, your email signatures transition seamlessly with you. 

• Drag-and-drop signature designer: Exclaimer comes with a drag-and-drop signature editor, so you no longer have to worry about coding HTML. Create dynamic signatures, easily add promotional banners, user photos or social media icons, and see instant updates. 

  
  
  The editor is so easy to use, you don’t have to be an IT expert to use it. You can hand the reins over to your Marketing department to deal with the design and branding. 

• Advanced user management: You also have the option to give multiple people access to Exclaimer, and with our advanced user management feature, you can easily assign admin or editor roles. Even better, they don’t have to be an IT administrator to use it. 

• The most secure Exchange signature management solution: Exclaimer is accredited with the ISO/IEC 27001 Certification for Information Security Management. This means it’s the most secure Microsoft Exchange signature solution available. 

• Nothing to install: Exclaimer doesn’t require any installations or downloads. Email signatures are created and managed via a web portal which can be accessed from anywhere. This makes managing signatures much simpler, as you’re not restricted to one device. 

• Office 365 ready: The only requirement to use Exclaimer is for an organization’s local Active Directory to be synchronized and configured with Azure AD. 

  
  
  However, it's designed to be a future-proof solution, for easy migration to Office 365 (Microsoft 365). When you decide to migrate to the cloud, your email signatures will transition seamlessly with you.  

Compare Exclaimer with Exchange email signature features

Let’s see how managing Microsoft Exchange signatures in Exclaimer compares to just using the in-built editor in Microsoft Exchange. 

Choose the best Exchange email signature software

Exclaimer email signature software guarantees that every email sent by your organization will have a full HTML email signature with static text, imagery and dynamic fields. That means any email from any device or client, including mobile devices like smartphones and tablet PCs.

Learn more and sign up for a free trial today.