Centralized email signature management: A step-by-step implementation guide for IT

Without a centralized email signature management platform, trying to enforce brand consistency, compliance, and security across potentially hundreds or thousands of employees is nearly impossible. 

Manually managing email signatures means relying on individual users to update their own templates, copying-and-pasting designs or implementing mail flow rules at the server level. But let’s be honest—most employees won’t think twice about tweaking their signatures, and other manual processes cause signature designs to break. The result? A mix of inconsistent, non-compliant, and even risky email signatures floating around on corporate emails. 

A centralized email signature management solution removes these problems by giving IT full control over signature design, deployment, and updates. This means every email meets brand standards, includes required disclaimers, and reduces security risks—all without IT having to involve individual users or carry out annoying workarounds. 

In this guide, we’ll look at: 

• How to set up centralized email signature management for Microsoft 365 (Office 365) 

• How to set up centralized email signature management for Google Workspace (G Suite) 

• Delegation and access control 

How to set up Exclaimer’s centralized email signature management in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace 

This guide walks through the setup process for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, so IT teams can take full advantage of centralized email signature management. 

6 steps to setting up centralized email signature management in Microsoft 365 with Exclaimer 

With Exclaimer, Microsoft 365 users can automate and centralize email signature management, ensuring every email is branded, secure, and compliant—without user intervention.  

Here are the steps to implementing Exclaimer for Office 365: 

Step 1: Prepare for Exclaimer integration 

Before you begin, ensure you have: 

• Global Admin access to your Microsoft 365 tenant 

• An Exclaimer subscription 

Step 2: Connect Microsoft 365 to Exclaimer 

1. Log in to the Exclaimer Portal (https://portal.exclaimer.com). 

2. Click Signatures, then Start Setup. 

3. Select Microsoft 365 and click Authorize.

4. Sign in using your Microsoft 365 Global Admin credentials. 

5. Grant Exclaimer the necessary permissions to manage email signatures. 

6. Wait for Exclaimer to sync users and apply configuration settings. 

Step 3: Configure signature rules and user assignments 

1. Navigate to Signatures > Signature Designer. 

2. Choose an existing template or create a new signature using Exclaimer’s editor. 

3. Use dynamic fields (e.g., Name, Job Title, Department) to personalize signatures. 

4. Under Signature Rules, assign signatures based on: 

   
   

   • Departments (e.g., HR, Sales, IT) 

   • Domains or email addresses 

   • Device or platform (Outlook, mobile, webmail, etc.) 

5. Click Save & Apply. 

Step 4: Deploy Exclaimer across your organization 

1. Navigate to Mail Flow Settings in the Exclaimer portal. 

2. Choose Server-Side or Client-Side signature deployment: 

   
   

   • Server-Side: Automatically applies signatures to all outgoing emails (best for enforcing compliance). 

   • Client-Side: Allows users to see and select their signature before sending emails. 

3. Click Enable and test the configuration. 

Step 5: Test and verify your email signatures 

• Send test emails from multiple devices (desktop, mobile, Outlook). 

• Check that the correct signature appears for each user. 

• Confirm that disclaimers, branding, and dynamic fields work as expected. 

Step 6: Ongoing management and optimization 

With Exclaimer in place, IT teams can: 

• Monitor signature performance with analytics 

• Apply updates instantly across the organization 

• Automate onboarding & offboarding for new employees 

Need help troubleshooting? Check out Exclaimer’s support page.  

How to set up centralized email signature management in Google Workspace with Exclaimer 

With Exclaimer, Google Workspace users can centralize email signature management so that every email aligns with brand and security policies. 

Step 1: Prepare for Exclaimer integration 

Before you begin, ensure you have: 

• Google Workspace Super Admin access 

• An Exclaimer subscription configured for Google Workspace 

Step 2: Connect Google Workspace to Exclaimer 

1. Log in to the Exclaimer Portal (https://portal.exclaimer.com) 

2. Click Signatures, then Start Setup 

3. Select Google Workspace and click Authorize 

4. Sign in using your Google Workspace Super Admin credentials 

5. Grant Exclaimer API access to manage Gmail signatures 

6. Allow time for Exclaimer to sync user details and settings 

Step 3: Create and assign email signatures 

1. Go to Signatures > Signature Designer 

2. Choose a pre-designed template or create a custom signature 

3. Use dynamic fields (e.g., {givenName}, {title}, {company}) to auto-fill user details 

4. Under Signature Rules, set conditions based on: 

   
   

   • Department or user groups (Marketing, Sales, Support, etc.) 

   • Google Workspace domains 

   • Devices (Desktop, Mobile, Webmail) 

5. Click Save & Apply 

Step 4: Deploy Exclaimer signatures in Gmail 

1. Navigate to Gmail Signature Deployment in Exclaimer 

2. Choose between: 

   
   

   • Server-Side Signatures – Applied automatically when sending emails 

   • Client-Side Signatures – Users see their signatures before sending 

3. Click Enable Deployment 

Step 5: Test and verify your signatures 

1. Send test emails from different devices 

2. Check that signatures appear correctly across Gmail, mobile apps, and webmail 

3. Confirm that disclaimers, branding, and dynamic fields populate as expected 

Step 6: Ongoing management and optimization 

With Exclaimer managing your Google Workspace email signatures, IT can: 

• Ensure 100% compliance with security policies 

• Apply instant updates to all users 

• Monitor email engagement if using banners and CTAs 

Need help? Visit Exclaimer’s support page. 

Delegation and access control: How IT can empower wider teams without losing security 

Marketing, HR, Sales, CS and Compliance teams often need control over branding, banners, and legal disclaimers. However, granting full access to IT systems can introduce security risks. 

With centralized email signature management and role-based permissions, IT can delegate signature updates while maintaining security, compliance, and control, and here’s how it helps: 

• Reduces IT workload – IT no longer needs to handle every minor update. 

• Ensures branding consistency – Marketing can update signatures without waiting for IT. 

• Improves agility – HR can quickly deploy recruitment banners. Sales can easily tailor their signatures with booking links or content, based on prospect’s funnel stage. 

• Enhances security – Permissions prevent unauthorized changes or misconfigurations. 

Best practices for role-based access control (RBAC) 

1. Define clear user roles and permissions 

Before assigning access, identify who needs it and to what extent: 

• IT admins – Full control over signature deployment, integration, and security settings. 

• Marketing and Brand – Can design and update signature templates but can’t modify IT settings. 

• Sales – Can customize signatures based on segment or campaign. 

• Customer Success – Can cross–sell and up-sell to existing customers, as well as deploy one-click feedback surveys. 

• HR and Legal – Can add disclaimers and legal text but can’t change branding. 

• Department heads – Can preview signatures for their teams but not make changes. 

2. Implement role-based access in Exclaimer 

Exclaimer offers granular permissions so IT can delegate control without compromising security.  

To configure: 

1. Log in to Exclaimer (https://portal.exclaimer.com) 

2. Navigate to Settings > User Management 

3. Click Add User and assign the appropriate role: 

   
   

   • Admin – Full access to all settings 

   • Designer – Can edit signatures but not IT settings 

   • Viewer – Can preview signatures but not edit them 

4. Save changes and notify users of their new access 

3. Restrict access to critical IT settings 

To prevent unauthorized changes: 

• Limit Global Admin rights to IT personnel only. 

• Restrict access to mail flow rules to prevent security misconfigurations. 

• Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all users with access to Exclaimer. 

4. Set approval workflows for signature changes 

For added security, require approvals before publishing changes, for example: 

• Marketing submits updates to branding elements. 

• Legal approves disclaimers to meet compliance requirements. 

• IT signs off on final deployment to ensure security isn’t compromised. 

5. Monitor and audit signature changes 

Regularly review signature changes to ensure compliance: 

• Use Exclaimer’s audit log to track who made updates and when. 

• Schedule periodic reviews to ensure signatures meet current policies. 

• Conduct security audits to verify permissions remain appropriate. 

Centralized email signature management made easy with Exclaimer

As organizations grow, manually managing email signatures becomes unsustainable. Without a centralized approach, IT teams face inconsistencies, compliance risks, and an increasing administrative burden.  

By implementing Exclaimer’s centralized email signature management platform, leveraging dynamic templates, and using role-based permissions, businesses can ensure every email is professional, compliant, and on-brand—without constant IT intervention. 

With Exclaimer in place, IT can reduce workload, empower other teams, and maintain full oversight over signature deployment across multiple locations, departments, and devices. Whether scaling from a single office to a global enterprise, an automated approach ensures every signature remains consistent, secure, and optimized for business needs. 

Want to simplify email signature management for your growing organization? Start a free trial of Exclaimer today.