Apple Mail (sometimes called Mac Mail) is the default email editor on MacOS. It features the ability to create and edit email signatures but because it can be a bit buggy at times, it often confuses and frustrates users. Maybe someday Apple will fix these issues!
By default the editor doesn’t really allow much formatting. If you want to make something more advanced, we would recommend using a tool like our email signature generator. This tool allows you to choose from a set of starting templates and customize them by changing fonts, colors, images and adding additional fields. It creates the HTML code for you so you don't even have to worry about it!
Here is a step by step process of how to add your email signature to Apple Mail. This guide assumes you have already copied your email signature to your clipboard using an editor like Signature.email, from an email, or from another source.
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Open the Mail app on your Mac, from the top left system menu choose Mail > Preferences.
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When the preferences window is open, look for the tabs along the top and click Signatures.
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In the left column, select the email account where you want to use the signature.
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Click the Plus button below the middle column.
It is highly recommended to Create a new signature rather than pasting over an old one. While it may appear that you have removed an old signature from the editor window it often leaves behind invisible styles that can ruin your new signature!
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In the middle column, type a name for the signature.
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Uncheck the box Always match my default message font
If you don’t do this then the signature will be pasted as "Plain text". This means that all styles and formatting will be removed leaving only the text of the email.
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In the right column (the preview), paste your signature.
On a Mac you can press Command + V. You can also often right click and find the Paste option in the menu.
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Upon pasting the signature, you may be concerned that images appear as if they are broken. This is ok!
This is a bug in Apple Mail, for some reason it doesn’t load images in this window, but when you start composing an email with this signature it will work great!
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When composing a message, if you don’t see your signature already look at the drop down menu near the top right to choose from a list of your signatures. Selecting a new one will apply that signature to the email.
That's it, you are finished! You are now a pro at managing signatures in Apple Mail. If you have additional questions please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know! You may also want to check out my beginners guide on creating email signatures.
