How-to guide
How to add a signature in Gmail
Gmail lets you attach a signature to every email you send — text, an image of your handwritten signature, or both. Here's exactly where the setting lives on desktop and mobile, and how to get a clean image signature into it.
Before you start: you'll need your signature as an image. The email signature generator builds a complete Gmail-ready footer — your signature mark plus name, title, and contact details — that you can copy straight in — free, no account, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
How signatures work in Gmail
Gmail treats signatures as a per-account setting stored with your Google account, which means a signature you set up on one computer follows you to every browser you sign into. What it does not do is follow you into the Gmail mobile app — the app keeps its own separate, text-only "mobile signature", and that split is the single most common reason people think their signature "disappeared".
Gmail also distinguishes between signatures for new messages and signatures for replies and forwards. Long email threads look cluttered when a full banner signature repeats under every reply, so Gmail lets you assign a shorter variant (or none at all) to replies. Deciding what goes in each slot before you start saves you from re-editing later: most professionals use the full block — signature image, name, title, phone, links — for new mail, and a simple name-and-title line for replies.
One more quirk worth knowing: Gmail's signature editor is a rich-text field, not an HTML editor. You can't paste raw HTML into it, but you can paste fully formatted content — which is exactly how a footer built in the email signature generator gets in: copy the rendered result, paste it into the editor, and Gmail preserves the layout, links, and image.
Step by step
Open Gmail settings
In Gmail on the web, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, then click See all settings. The signature options live on the General tab — scroll down until you see the Signature section.
Create a new signature
Click + Create new, give the signature a name (you can keep several — one formal, one casual), and type the text you want: your name, title, company, and contact details.
Add your signature image
Click the Insert image icon in the signature editor's toolbar and upload your signature PNG. A transparent PNG works best — it sits cleanly on both light and dark backgrounds. You can resize it to Small, Medium, or Large after inserting.
Set signature defaults
Below the editor, use Signature defaults to choose which signature is used for new emails and which for replies and forwards. Many people use the full signature for new mail and a shorter one for replies.
Save changes
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. Gmail won't apply anything until you do — it's the most commonly missed step.
Add it on mobile
In the Gmail app, tap the menu → Settings → choose your account → Mobile signature. Note that the mobile signature is plain text only; the app can't insert images, so image signatures come from the desktop setting when you send from the web.
Troubleshooting
Signature missing on emails sent from the app
The Gmail app never reads the desktop signature. Open the app → Settings → your account → Mobile signature and set it there. It's plain text only; if the field is empty, app-sent mail goes out unsigned.
Image shows as a broken icon for recipients
This happens when the image was inserted as a link to a private Google Drive file. Re-insert it with Insert image → Upload, or make the Drive file link-shareable, so recipients' mail clients are allowed to fetch it.
Signature appears twice
You have a signature saved in Gmail settings and one added by a browser extension or the mobile app. Pick one source and clear the other — most people keep the Gmail setting and empty the extension's.
Formatting falls apart when pasting
Paste with Ctrl+V (not Ctrl+Shift+V, which strips formatting). If the layout still collapses, paste the text portion and re-insert the image separately with the editor's image button.
Best practices
- Keep the signature image under about 100 KB and 320px wide — large images slow message loading and trip spam filters' image-to-text ratio checks.
- Use a transparent PNG for the signature mark so it renders cleanly for recipients reading in dark mode.
- Don't add more than one or two links; heavily linked signatures score worse with spam filters.
- Test by emailing yourself at a non-Gmail address (Outlook or Yahoo) — Gmail-to-Gmail always renders perfectly, other clients are where surprises appear.
Common questions
Why isn't my Gmail signature showing up?
The usual causes: you didn't click Save Changes at the bottom of settings, the signature defaults are set to "No signature" for that mail type, or you're composing from a different account than the one you configured. Check all three in Settings → General → Signature.
Can I use an image as my Gmail signature?
Yes — in the desktop signature editor, use the Insert image button. A transparent PNG (like the ones this site's tools produce) looks cleanest because it has no white box around the signature.
Will my signature appear on emails sent from my phone?
The Gmail mobile app uses its own separate "Mobile signature" setting, which is text-only. If the mobile signature is empty, mail sent from the app has no signature even if your desktop one is configured.
How do I change my signature for one specific email?
Compose the message, click the pen icon in the compose toolbar, and pick a different saved signature — or Manage signatures to create one. The change applies to that message only; your default stays as configured.
Can I have multiple signatures in Gmail?
Yes — click + Create new in the Signature section as many times as you like. You can switch between them per-message from the compose window's pen icon, which is handy for formal vs. casual mail.
Does my Gmail signature work in Google Workspace accounts?
The setting is identical, but Workspace admins can enforce a company-wide signature that appends after yours or replaces it. If your signature behaves oddly on a work account, ask your admin whether a signature policy is active.