A free email signature generator that works in real inboxes
Most email signature generators produce something that looks great on their own page and falls apart in Outlook. This one writes the signature the way email developers build newsletters: nested tables, inline styles on every element, pixel widths, and web-safe fonts. No CSS classes, no flexbox, no grid, nothing that Gmail strips or Outlook's Word-based renderer ignores. What you see in the preview is very close to what your recipients see.
How to create your email signature
- Fill in your details. Leave any field empty and it simply disappears from the signature. Phone numbers become tap-to-call links on phones, and your email address becomes a mailto link.
- Add a photo and logo by URL. Upload your headshot and logo to your own website or a public file host, then paste the https address. The upload button gives you an instant preview, but read the note about embedded images below.
- Pick a layout, color and font. Classic stacks everything in one column. Side photo puts your headshot next to your details, divided by a line in your brand color. Compact keeps it to a few lines for people who send a lot of replies. Bold leads with a colored band.
- Add social links, a button or a disclaimer. Social links show as small colored text badges rather than icon images, so they display even when images are blocked.
- Copy and paste it into your email app. Use Copy signature, not the HTML source, for Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail. The install steps for each are in the tool above.
Why your photo needs a hosted URL
When you upload a photo here, it is turned into a data URI: the whole image encoded as text inside the HTML. It previews perfectly, but Gmail removes data URIs from signatures and classic Outlook either drops them or attaches them as files, so recipients see a broken image or a mystery attachment. It also pushes the signature past Gmail's 10,000 character limit. Host the image instead. Your website is ideal, since you control it and the address will not change. Keep a headshot to about 160 x 160 pixels (it displays at 80) and run it through the image compressor so it stays under about 30 KB.
No logo yet? You can make a clean wordmark with the logo maker and export it as PNG. Avoid SVG for signatures, as Gmail and Outlook do not display it.
What email-safe HTML looks like
This is a trimmed excerpt of the code the generator writes. Every style is inline and every image has explicit pixel dimensions, which is what keeps Outlook from scaling things unpredictably.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" role="presentation"
style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#333333;">
<tr>
<td style="padding:0 0 4px 0;font-size:18px;font-weight:bold;color:#1d6f80;">
Jordan Avery
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding:0;color:#555555;">Senior Designer | Northwind Studio</td>
</tr>
</table>
Email signature best practices
- Keep it short. Name, title, company, one phone number and a website covers almost everyone. Four to six lines reads as professional, ten reads as clutter.
- Make it readable without images. Many corporate inboxes block images by default. Your name and contact details are text, so they always show.
- One call to action at most. A single "Book a call" button outperforms a row of banners, and it does not get flagged as promotional.
- Check contrast. A pale brand color on white is hard to read for small text. If your color is light, use the Bold layout so it becomes a background instead.
- Send yourself a test. Email it to a Gmail address and an Outlook address and open both on a phone before rolling it out to a team.
Handing out business cards too? A QR code that links to your contact card pairs nicely with the same details you entered here.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add an HTML signature to Gmail?
Click Copy signature, then in Gmail open Settings, See all settings, General. Under Signature click Create new, give it a name and paste into the editor. Pick it under Signature defaults and click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. Do not paste the HTML source, paste the copied signature itself.
Why is my signature photo not showing?
Gmail and Outlook do not keep images that are embedded in the signature as data. The photo must be a public image URL that starts with https, for example a file on your own website. Paste that address into the Photo URL field before copying the signature.
What size should an email signature image be?
Keep a headshot around 80 to 100 pixels square and a logo no wider than about 150 pixels on screen. Export them at twice that size for sharp display on high-density screens, and keep each file under 50 KB so the signature loads fast.
Will the signature look the same in every email app?
Very close. The code uses tables and inline styles because that is what Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail reliably support. Small differences remain: classic Outlook on Windows shows square corners instead of rounded ones, and some apps hide images until the recipient allows them.
Is there a character limit for Gmail signatures?
Yes, 10,000 characters of HTML. A signature with a hosted photo and logo is usually around 3,000 to 5,000. An uploaded photo embedded as data goes far over the limit, which is another reason to use a hosted image URL.