Add an email signature in Gmail
Build a signature, copy it, and paste it into Gmail settings so it appears on every message. Works on desktop Gmail, with notes on mobile and multiple accounts.
· · 3 min read
Step 1: Build and copy it
Open the Email Signature Generator, fill in your details, pick a template, and copy the signature. The generator has a Gmail tab in its setup instructions that mirrors these steps.
Paste, don't retype. Signature editors accept formatted content pasted in. Typing it out by hand loses the layout, the links and the spacing.
Step 2: Open Gmail's signature settings
In Gmail on desktop, go to Settings (gear icon) → See all settings → General, then scroll to Signature.
Click Create new if you don't have one yet, and give it a name. The name is internal, nobody else sees it.
Step 3: Paste it in
Click into the signature box and paste. Use ⌘ + V on a Mac, Ctrl + V on Windows.
The layout, colours, links and photo should all come across. If you get plain text instead, you pasted the HTML code rather than the formatted signature. Copy again using the normal copy button, not the code one.
Step 4: Set when it's used
Underneath the box, choose your defaults:
- For new emails use: your signature
- On reply/forward use: your signature, or none
Plenty of people set a signature on new messages only, so replies in a long thread don't stack up copies of it.
Step 5: Save
Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes. Gmail does not save automatically, and this is the step people miss.
Send yourself a test message to check it.
Multiple accounts or aliases
If you send from more than one address, Gmail shows a dropdown above the signature box. Each address gets its own signature, so set them one at a time.
Gmail on mobile
The Gmail app supports only a plain text signature. It won't carry your formatted one, and there's no way to paste HTML into it.
Practical approach: set a short text version on mobile ("Robert James Gabriel, Coffee & Fun LLC") and keep the full signature on desktop.
Troubleshooting
It pasted as code. You copied the HTML source. Use the standard copy button instead.
The photo doesn't show. The image needs a public URL. Images that require a login, or that live only on your computer, won't load for recipients.
Spacing looks wrong. Gmail's editor sometimes adds a blank line at the paste point. Put the cursor at the very start of the box before pasting, and delete any stray empty line after.
It's cut off with "..." for recipients. That's Gmail clipping a long message, not a signature fault. Shorter signatures clip less.