How to create an e-mail signature tagline

FAQ - Email, General

Question: I receive e-mail all the time with tag lines at the end of the e-mail, like favorite websites, famous quotes, or company information. How do I do this in my e-mail program? – G.J.

Answer: The great thing about e-mail signatures is that they provide a little piece of important information or show a little but of your personality.

An e-mail auto-signature consists of a few lines of text that go at the bottom of outgoing e-mail. Most people use this function like a mini-business card. You can also put something fun in your auto-signature, like as a quote from a famous person such as your dad, or the web address to a picture of your cat asleep on your head.

The reader who asked the above question uses Outlook 2000, but for the benefit of all readers, here’s how to create an e-mail signature in three popular e-mail programs – Outlook 2000, Outlook Express 5.5, and Netscape Messenger which comes with Netscape Communicator 4.7.

Now for the how-tos:

OUTLOOK 2000

  1. Click the Tools menu and then Options. Then click the Mail Format tab, and the Signature Picker button.
  2. Click New, then enter a name for the signature and click the Start with a blank signature option. Then click Next.
  3. Now enter the text that you want to appear at the bottom of your e-mail. (Keep it brief and to the point. No one likes to get an e-mail with a signature that is three times as long as the e-mail message. You can use periods of hyphens to create line separators in the text.)
  4. Then click Finish.
  5. In the pull-down box next to the words Use this signature by default, select the name of the signature you just created, or choose to stop the signature from being inserted automatically, so you can choose which signature to use manually.
  6. Check the box that says Don’t use when replying or forwarding, if you want the signature to be inserted only in new e-mail messages. Then click OK. Every time you create a new e-mail in Outlook, the signature will be appended to the bottom.

You can use this method to create multiple signatures for different e-mails. To choose a signature from several you have created, start by creating a new e-mail in Outlook. Address the e-mail and type your message as normal. Then click the Insert menu and choose Signature. A list of signatures that you created will appear in a box. Choose the signature you want, and it will be inserted wherever the cursor in the e-mail is (hopefully at the bottom of the message).

(Instructions for Outlook 98 are on this page: www.cyberwalker.com/r/sig-outlook-98.html.)

OUTLOOK EXPRESS 5.5
The process in Outlook Express 5.5, the e-mail client that comes with Internet Explorer 5.5, is slightly different.

  1. In the program, click the Tools menu, then click Options, then the Signatures tab. Then click the New button.
  2. Make sure the Text option is selected and type in your signature. If you want, check the Add signatures to all outgoing messages item.
  3. Click OK, and the signature will be added to all new e-mails.

If you want to keep your signatures in a text file, create the signature in a text file on your hard drive and instead of selecting Text in signature creator box, choose File and use the Browse button to specify the location of the text file you created.

When creating a new e-mail, you can use the Insert menu’s signature option to specify which signature to use, if you have more than one.

NETSCAPE MESSENGER 4.7
Netscape Messenger 4.7 also has this ability, although it is less flexible.

  1. First create a text file that contains your signature and make a note of the folder where you saved it on your hard drive.
  2. Open the program and choose Preferences from the Edit menu. Then click Identity in the left hand pane of Preferences window.
  3. On the right side of the pane, click the Choose button next to the Signature field and find the signature field you just created. Select it and click OK.