Set up company-wide email signatures in Microsoft 365 (new 2022 Exchange Online guide)

Summary

This video tutorial guides viewers on implementing email signatures and disclaimers for Microsoft 365 users. It explains the process of setting up organization-wide signatures using mail flow rules in Exchange Online. The tutorial covers creating a transport rule, defining conditions, and adding HTML signature code. It also addresses handling encrypted messages, preventing signature stacking in email threads, and managing user data for personalized signatures. The video concludes with a mention of CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 as an alternative for enhanced signature management.

Takeaways

• 🔧 Microsoft 365 allows the addition of email signatures and legal disclaimers through mail flow rules in Exchange Online.
• 📝 To create a mail flow rule for signatures, access the Microsoft 365 admin center and navigate to the Exchange admin center's 'Mail flow', 'Rules' section.
• 📋 Define conditions and exceptions for the transport rule to specify when and how the signature should be applied.
• 👤 Use the 'Sender condition' to apply the rule to emails sent by users within the organization.
• 🖼️ Include the signature by selecting 'Apply a disclaimer to the message' and 'append a disclaimer' actions, then enter the HTML signature code.
• 💻 Utilize an email signature generator to create and obtain the HTML code for the signature.
• 🔗 Transform user data into placeholders that update with Azure Active Directory information for personalized signatures.
• 🔄 Choose the action to take when the signature cannot be added, such as 'Wrap' to include the original message as an attachment.
• ✉️ Prevent signature stacking in email threads by setting exceptions based on unique parts of the signature.
• 🛠️ Configure advanced settings as needed, but typically the defaults are sufficient.
• 🔄 After creating the mail flow rule, enable it to start automatically adding signatures to符合条件的emails.

Q & A

How can you add email signatures and legal disclaimers in Microsoft 365?

You can add email signatures and legal disclaimers in Microsoft 365 by creating mail flow rules in Exchange Online through the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Where do you manage organization-wide signatures and disclaimers in Microsoft 365?

Organization-wide signatures and disclaimers are managed using mail flow rules in Exchange Online.

What is the first step to create a mail flow rule for adding a signature in Microsoft 365?

The first step is to open the Microsoft 365 admin center and navigate to the Exchange admin center.

How do you access the mail flow rules in the Exchange admin center?

In the Exchange admin center, you go to 'Mail flow', then 'Rules'.

What type of rule should you create to apply a disclaimer in Exchange Online?

You should create a rule by clicking 'Add a rule' and selecting 'Apply disclaimers'.

How do you define the conditions for the mail flow rule to apply a signature?

You define the conditions by setting up various rules such as applying the rule only to internal or external emails using the 'Sender condition'.

What action is required to add a signature to all messages sent by users in your company?

Choose 'The sender is located inside the organization' and select 'Apply a disclaimer to the message' with 'append a disclaimer' in the action field.

How can you obtain an HTML signature code if you haven't created one yet?

You can use a free email signature generator to design a signature and get its HTML code.

What does the 'Wrap' option do when the signature cannot be added to an email?

The 'Wrap' option adds the original message as an attachment to a new message envelope, with the signature added to this envelope.

How can you prevent signatures from stacking in email conversations?

You can add an exception by copying a unique part of your signature and setting the condition 'The subject or body includes any of these words'.

What happens to the signature when you reply inside an email conversation in Microsoft 365?

The signature will not pile at the bottom of the thread due to the configured exception, ensuring there's always only one signature.

Why might external recipients have trouble viewing images in your email signature?

External recipients may have images blocked by default, requiring them to use a dedicated option to view them.

Outlines

00:00

📧 How to Add Email Signatures in Microsoft 365

This paragraph provides a step-by-step guide on how to add email signatures and legal disclaimers to emails sent by users within a company using Microsoft 365. It starts by explaining how to access the Exchange admin center and create a mail flow rule for adding signatures. The process involves defining conditions for the rule, such as applying it to emails sent by users within the organization. It also details how to add the signature by pasting HTML code, which can be generated using an online signature generator. The guide further explains how to handle situations where the signature cannot be added, such as with encrypted emails, and how to prevent signature stacking in email threads. The paragraph concludes with a demonstration of how the signature appears to recipients and the limitations of the native Microsoft 365 email signatures, suggesting an alternative service for enhanced features.

05:04

😅 Apology in a Video Script

The second paragraph is a brief apology expressed in a playful and informal manner, using the word 'sorryyyyy' to convey a light-hearted or exaggerated sense of regret. It stands in contrast to the technical content of the first paragraph and does not contain any further information or context.

Keywords

💡Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is a suite of productivity and collaboration tools offered by Microsoft. It includes services like email, calendar, file storage, and collaboration tools. In the context of the video, it's used to manage email signatures and legal disclaimers for a company, showcasing its role in business communication and compliance.

💡Email Signatures

Email signatures are blocks of text automatically appended at the end of an email. They often include the sender's name, title, company, and contact information. The video script discusses how to add these signatures to emails sent by company employees using Microsoft 365, highlighting their importance in maintaining a professional and consistent communication approach.

💡Legal Disclaimers

Legal disclaimers are statements that limit the liability of the sender or clarify the legal context of the communication. The video explains how to include these disclaimers in emails, which is crucial for companies to manage their legal risks and ensure that their communications are appropriately qualified.

💡Mail Flow Rules

Mail flow rules in Exchange Online are a set of conditions and actions that determine how messages are processed and routed within an organization. The script describes how to create a mail flow rule to add signatures, demonstrating the administrative control over email communication within Microsoft 365.

💡Exchange Online

Exchange Online is a cloud-based email service provided by Microsoft as part of Office 365. It includes features for managing email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. The video script uses Exchange Online as the platform for managing mail flow rules and email signatures, emphasizing its role in email management for businesses.

💡Transport Rule

A transport rule in Exchange Online is a type of mail flow rule that controls the flow of messages through the organization. The video script instructs on defining a transport rule to apply email signatures, illustrating the technical setup required to automate signature addition to emails.

💡HTML Signature Code

HTML signature code is the markup language used to format and design email signatures. The video mentions pasting this code into the Exchange admin center to create a visually appealing and functional signature. This showcases the customization capabilities of email signatures within the Microsoft 365 environment.

💡Azure Active Directory

Azure Active Directory is Microsoft's cloud-based identity and access management service. The video script describes using Azure Active Directory to personalize email signatures with dynamic user data, such as contact details, which enhances the relevance and utility of the signatures for each sender.

💡Placeholders

Placeholders in the context of the video are stand-ins for dynamic content that gets replaced with actual data, such as a user's name or title. The script explains how to convert user data into placeholders that are automatically updated with information from Azure Active Directory, ensuring that each email signature is personalized and current.

💡CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 is a third-party service mentioned in the video as an alternative to native Microsoft 365 features for managing email signatures. It is promoted as offering additional functionality, such as automatic image display and simplified management, which are not fully supported by the native features of Microsoft 365.

💡Encryption

Encryption in email refers to the process of encoding messages to ensure secure and private communication. The video script discusses options for handling signatures in encrypted emails, such as 'Wrap', 'Ignore', or 'Reject', which illustrates the considerations around security and compliance in email communication.

Highlights

Microsoft 365 allows adding email signatures and legal disclaimers through mail flow rules in Exchange Online.

To create a mail flow rule for signatures, navigate to the Exchange admin center within the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Access 'Mail flow', then 'Rules', and click 'Add a rule' to start the process of adding a disclaimer.

Define conditions and exceptions for the transport rule to specify when the signature should be applied.

Use the 'Sender condition' to apply the rule to internal emails by selecting 'The sender is located inside the organization'.

Ensure 'Apply a disclaimer to the message' and 'append a disclaimer' are selected in the action field.

Paste your HTML signature code into the 'Enter text' pane to add the signature to emails.

Utilize a free email signature generator to create and obtain the HTML code for your signature.

Customize the signature template and use available data, graphics, and style fields to personalize it.

Convert user data into placeholders that update with information from Azure Active Directory for personalized signatures.

Choose the action to take when the signature cannot be added, such as 'Wrap', 'Ignore', or 'Reject'.

Add an exception to prevent signatures from stacking in email threads by including a unique part of the signature.

Set up advanced settings for the mail flow rule, typically using the default values.

Enable the newly created mail flow rule to activate the automatic addition of signatures to符合条件的emails.

Signatures are added by Exchange Online just before the email reaches the recipient.

Configure an exception to prevent multiple signatures from appearing in the same email thread.

Exchange mail flow rules do not support adding signatures below each reply and forward in a conversation.

External recipients may need to enable viewing of images that are blocked by default in messages.

CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 is an alternative service for enhanced signature management.

CodeTwo is used by almost 50k companies worldwide for its email signature service.

Transcripts

Microsoft 365 lets you add email signatures and legal disclaimers to emails sent by people in your company.

Organization-wide signatures and disclaimers are managed using mail flow rules in Exchange Online.

To create a mail flow rule that adds a signature, open the Microsoft 365 admin center,

and navigate to the Exchange admin center.

Next, go to "Mail flow", "Rules",

click "Add a rule" and "Apply disclaimers".

Start by defining your transport rule's conditions and exceptions.

Name your rule

and choose when you want to apply it using the "Sender condition".

You can set up various conditions here,

for example apply the rule only to internal or external emails.

To add the signature to all messages sent by users in your company,

choose "The sender is located inside the organization."

In the action field below,

make sure the "Apply a disclaimer to the message"

and "append a disclaimer" actions are selected.

Click "Enter text"

to open a pane in which you can paste your HTML signature code.

If you haven't created a signature yet,

you can easily design a signature

and get its HTML code using a free email signature generator available on this page

(it's also linked in the description).

Now just select Microsoft 365 as your email platform,

pick any signature template and customize in any way you want

using the available data, graphics and style fields.

Click this button if you want to change the user data you provided

into placeholders that will be automatically updated with information from Azure Active Directory.

In this way, each email sender will get personalized email signature, with their own contact details.

Click "Apply your signature", "Generate" and the "Copy" to get the signature's HTML code.

Back in the Exchange admin center, paste the HTML code and click "Save".

Click here to choose what happens when the signature cannot be added

for example because the message is encrypted.

"Wrap" means that the original message is added as an attachment to a new message envelope,

and the signature is added to this envelope.

"Ignore" sends encrypted emails without applying the signature.

"Reject" blocks the email delivery completely.

Let's choose the default option, which is "Wrap".

With the current setup, the signature will be added to the bottom of each email conversation,

so if you send many emails in the same thread,

your signatures will stack at the bottom.

To prevent that, you can add a new exception.

But first, copy a unique part of your signature,

for example a part of your disclaimer text.

Choose "The subject or body includes any of these words" and paste the copied fragment of your disclaimer here.

In the next step, you can set up advanced settings.

In most cases, default values should do it.

In the last step of the wizard,

take a final look at the rule settings and click "Finish".

Once the mail flow rule is created, it is disabled by default.

Select the new rule from the list and use the toggle to enable it.

From now on, personalized signatures are automatically added to emails that meet the conditions you specified.

Let's see how this works.

So, let's say I'm sending a message to another user.

The signature is not visible when I'm typing...

and it's not in my Sent Items either.

But don't worry - it's added by Exchange Online right before it gets to my recipient.

And when this person opens my email, the message includes the signature with all my details.

Now let's see what happens when I reply inside an email conversation.

Normally, my signatures would pile at the bottom of the thread.

But thanks to the exception I configured earlier that doesn't happen to my signature.

There's always only one signature.

But this also means that there are no signatures below each reply and forward - unfortunately,

Exchange mail flow rules do not support that.

One more thing.

If an external recipient opens my message, the images are blocked by default.

So, they need to use a dedicated option to see them.

So this is how native email signatures work in Microsoft 365.

They are usable, but not perfect.

If you want to have signatures added directly below each message in a conversation,

display images automatically, simplify signature and autoreply management in your organization, and more,

try CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365.

This is the world-leading email signature service used by almost 50k companies in over 150 countries.

Yes, this was an ad, and you watched it.

I'm sorryyyyy.