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How Do I Add a Signature with a Picture to My Emails?

Question:

How can I add a picture to my signature when I send out e-mails? I
want it to be like a business card with my picture & signature at
the bottom of the e-mail.

First, we have to realize exactly what a signature is: it’s nothing more
than some additional content automatically added by your email program
to the bottom of the body of an email when you send it.

Which in turn means that there is no single answer to your question,
since signatures are a feature of your email program, and how you do it
will depend entirely on which email program you’re using.

So we’ll look at it at a high level, and hopefully that’ll point you
in the right direction for whatever program that might be.

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First, if you want to insert pictures in the body of your email (and
remember, the signature is just a part of the message body), then you
need to be composing your email in HTML.

  • Outlook 2007 – compose a new message, and then in
    the Options tab of the ribbon, make sure that
    HTML is selected.
  • Outlook Express and Windows Live
    Mail
    – compose a new message, and then in the
    Format menu select Rich Text
    (HTML)
  • Thunderbird – if your default format is not HTML,
    then hold down the Shift key when clicking on the
    Write button.
  • Windows Live Hotmail – compose a new message, and
    if Plain Text appears above the From: line, click on
    that and select Rich Text.
“… signatures are a feature of your email
program …”

So now that you know how to create a message in HTML format, we need
to back up a step and set up a signature.

  • Outlook 2007 – Tools, Options, Mail Format,
    Signatures… opens a dialog that will allow you to add and edit
    signatures. In particular, Outlook provides a rich text editor that
    will allow you to, among other things, insert pictures directly into
    your signature.
  • Outlook Express and Windows Live
    Mail
    Tools, Options and
    then the Signatures tab. Click on
    New, and then below, you can edit your signature. The
    signature editing capability in Windows Live Mail appears to be only
    text. However, it will let you reference a file. If that file is a
    “.html” file, it can contain HTML referencing a picture by a fully
    qualified URL, stored out on the internet.
  • Thunderbird – Tools, Account Settings, then click
    on the account for which you would like to set a signature. On the
    right will be a checkbox Attach this signature: which
    lets it point to a text file containing the signature you want. If that
    file is a “.html” file, it can contain HTML referencing a picture by a
    fully qualified URL, stored out on the internet.
  • Windows Live HotmailOptions
    (near the upper right), More Options, and then click
    on Personal e-mail signature. Windows Live Hotmail
    will allow you to create a Rich Text signature but it does not appear
    to support inserting a picture.

Since we’ve gotten this far, let’s look at one little detail that
pops up a time or two, and that’s this “HTML” file that can reference a
picture up on the internet. This turns into a three-step process:

  1. Upload the picture you want to use to a location on the internet. A
    photo sharing site, your own web site, anything where the picture can
    be publicly accessed by a URL. For example, I could use my masthead,
    since it’s available publicly as
    http://ask-leo.com/images/askleonew.png
  2. Create a text file containing your signature, and referencing that
    image, encoded as a “.html” file. For example
    <p>Leo A.
    Notenboom<br />
    <img src=”http://img.askleomedia.com/askleonew.png”
    /></p>

    Would create a signature that looks like this:

    Leo A. Notenboom
    image

  3. Use that “.html” file in those email programs.

Now, it is possible to create that “.html” file in web authoring
tools, but they tend to add a lot of HTML that you don’t need, and
frequently assume that you’re creating an entire page instead of just
an HTML fragment. But they can be a place to start. After which, you
might hand-edit the resulting HTML in a text editor like Notepad.

Finally, be aware that people may not be able to see your picture
unless they have pictures enabled in the program they use to read
email.

The bottom line is that, as we’ve seen, different email programs
expose different levels of functionality, and in different ways. What
you’re able to do, and how, will vary depending on exactly what tools
you’re using, and possibly your own level of technical comfort.
Hopefully, with these few simple examples you’ll be able to determine
your own specific steps.

Do this

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16 comments on “How Do I Add a Signature with a Picture to My Emails?”

  1. I have 2 minor issues with email signatures. 1) Photos in signatures take up a lot of room, and make my Exchange Server administrator grumpy. 2) In some email applications, a photo or image makes the message appear to have an attachment. I hate it when the paperclip appears, but I can’t find the attached file!

    Reply
  2. Form a business standpoint – HTML formatted emails make no snes to me. HTML formatting only increases the chances of some SPAM filter stopping your email. HTML emails are much larger in file size than plain text and thus take longer to send, longer to process, longer to traverse the net and longer to receive. Plain Text with a cincise signature staing contact information is a courtesy to your recipients.

    I tend to agree. Some time ago I wrote about this in more detail on my “Taming Email” site: Use Plain Format – Substance Over Style.

    – Leo
    24-Dec-2008
    Reply
  3. The biggest issue I would have with an attached picture is “identity theft”. With your name, e-mail address, and photograph the nasties out there are that much closer to “pretending” they are you.

    Reply
  4. On a related subject. I would like to tag my address book entries with photographs. I keep a wide list of contacts and sometimes memory fails. I use Thunderbird version 2.0.0.18. Is there a way to do this? If so, maybe you could share it at some point in the near future? Thanks Leo, I read your column/ email regularly, Don

    Reply
  5. Adding an image to my signture has caused some servers to treat my emails as spam how do I stop this

    Not trying to be a smart ass, but – remove the image. You have little control over what the receiving end thinks is spam.

    – Leo
    19-Mar-2009
    Reply
  6. In MS Oulook, youI didn’t have to upload picture to host. in OE, I created an HTML page including the picture, but the signature shows “X” in place of it. I put the exact location of the picture in the drive in the SRC clause, still picture does not appear. Any suggestion? Thanks

    Reply
  7. I go to the signature and I type in my signature, before I was able to cut and paste my photo, somehow I deleted it, I know you have to post it on the web, where? On an e-mail? Then how do you retreve it? Once I am in my signature there is no option to upload image like a millions of people have told me….I must be having another blonde moment, a 3 month blonde moment, please help me….I appreciate it,

    Reply
  8. I have g-mail and I am trying to attach a picture to my signature. I have uploaded a picture and have clicked “save changes” but the picture still won’t show up. What can I do? Thank you very much for any help. I read the article but honestly I didn’t understand much of it. I need a 1,2,3 thing in layman’s language — not computer speak. Sorry!!

    Reply
  9. Adding a signature is reasonably easy, but my problem is that the picture/logo is missing and ll i have is a box with a red cross in the top left corner. I am using outlook 2003 and the image file is stored locally in the Signatures folder, but it will still not show the image. I have turned down the security but to no avail.
    Any ideas?? Ta

    Reply
  10. I’m using Open Office Outlook Express. I created an HTML page including the picture, but the signature shows “X” in place of it.

    Any advice will be appreciated

    Reply
  11. @Odette
    A picture can’t be embedded into an HTML document. The HTML document creates a link to the picture file. If the file is not in the place where the link looks for it, it will produce an X. In order to show the picture, you would need to point the link to where the picture file is located.

    Reply
  12. Hi,

    The logos do not appear in my signature. I have created html files. It works on google or chorm but not in my windows live mail. I have unchecked “download image” tab in security option. Pls help..

    Reply

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