Email Signature Generator

Recipients see an empty box or a “download pictures” prompt instead of your logo.

Many mail apps and company mail systems don’t load pictures from the internet until the reader allows it. You can’t change that on their side, so make sure the signature still works without images: keep your name, phone and website as real text, not inside a picture, and give the logo short alt text such as your company name.

Outlook shows a bar saying pictures were not downloaded.

Classic Outlook for Windows blocks automatic picture downloads from the internet by default, partly to stop tracking pixels (Microsoft Support). The reader can click the bar and choose Download Pictures, or add you to their Safe Senders list. Inside your own company, ask IT whether images from your domain can be allowed.

The logo shows for you but not for the people you email.

The image has to live at a public web address that anyone can open without signing in. A file on your computer (file:///…), an intranet address or a private cloud-storage link won’t load for recipients. Upload the image to your website or another public host and use the direct link to the image file, starting with https://. Test it by opening the link in a private browser window. If you use Google Drive, Gmail says the file must be shared as “Anyone with the link” (Gmail Help).

Your logo is an SVG file and shows up broken.

Gmail and several other mail apps don’t display SVG images reliably. Export the logo as PNG (keeps a transparent background) or JPG. For a sharp result on high-resolution screens, export it at about twice the size you want to show and set the smaller display width in the signature.

Recipients get your logo as an attachment (for example image001.png) instead of inside the signature.

This usually means the picture was embedded in the message rather than linked, which happens when you paste or upload an image file into some desktop mail apps. Use an image URL instead of the file. Microsoft also notes that some image code in classic Outlook signatures can make pictures appear as attachments (Microsoft Support).

The image is huge, squashed or shows a broken-image icon in Gmail.

Resize the image before you add it. Gmail recommends 70–100 px high by 300–400 px wide for signature images (Gmail Help). If an image still looks wrong, delete it and add it again, this time by URL.

Your dark logo disappears when the reader uses dark mode.

In dark mode, mail apps put a dark background behind the message, and each app handles images differently. A dark logo on a transparent PNG can blend into that background. Use a logo version with a light outline, place the logo on a solid light background with some padding, or pick a logo color that reads on both light and dark. Send yourself a test email and open it with dark mode on and off.

Your signature is HTML. When you write a new email, your mail app sends that HTML as you designed it. In a reply or a forward, the earlier messages become quoted text, and every mail app in the thread may rewrite that quoted part in its own way.

• Styles get stripped. Some apps drop fonts, colors or spacing from quoted messages, so the layout collapses into plain lines.

• Images get dropped or attached. A logo that was linked can arrive as an attachment, or disappear, after it passes through another person’s mail app.

• Signatures pile up. If a signature is added to every reply, a long thread repeats it many times. Gmail hides repeated content behind a “Show trimmed content” button (Gmail Help).

How to keep it readable:

• Use a shorter signature for replies and forwards. Gmail lets you set a separate default for replies (Gmail Help), and Outlook has a Replies/forwards setting (Microsoft Support).

• In Apple Mail, the Place signature above quoted text setting controls where the signature goes in replies and forwards (Apple Support).

• Keep the layout simple, link images by public URL, and keep contact details as text so they survive even when styles and pictures don’t.

Mail apps limit what a signature can hold, and some phone apps accept only text. These are the limits the apps publish themselves:

Even where there is no published limit, a smaller signature is safer: fewer and lighter images load faster, are less likely to be blocked, and keep long threads readable.

1. 1.

   Fill in your details

   Add only what people need to reach you — empty fields are left out.

2. 2.

   Copy the signature

   Click Copy: it copies the formatted signature, ready to paste.

3. 3.

   Paste it into your email app

   In Gmail: Settings → See all settings → Signature. In Outlook: Settings → Mail → Compose and reply. Also: Apple Mail and iPhone and Android.