Lesson: Using Signature and Themes

Create a Signature

Creating an email signature in Outlook can save you time, in that you can automatically insert that signature into email messages, saving you from having to type your contact information into each message.

To create an email signature:

1. Open a new message. From the Message tab of the Message Ribbon, in the Include group, select Signature.
2. From the drop-down list, select Signatures.
3. From the Signatures and Stationery dialog box, on the E-mail Signature tab, click New.
4. In the New Signature dialog box, type a name for the signature, and then click OK.
5. In the Edit signature text box, type the signature as you would like it to appear. Use the formatting options above the text box to format your text.
6. To insert a hyperlink, click the Insert Hyperlink icon , and in the displayed Insert Hyperlink dialog box, in the Address text box, type the URL of the link. If desired, change the Text to display using the dialog box, and click OK.
7. Click OK in the Signatures and Stationery dialog box.

Automatically Add a Signature to Messages

Creating your signature does not automatically add it to your email messages. You can set up Outlook to automatically attach the signature to all outgoing mail.

To automatically add a signature to your email messages:

1. Open a new message. From the Message Ribbon, select the Insert tab, and from the Include group, select Signature.
2. Select Signatures from the drop-down list.
3. In the Signatures and Stationery dialog box, on the E-mail Signature tab, in the Choose default signature section, from the E-mail account drop-down list, select an account to which you want to associate the signature.
4. From the New messages drop-down list, select the signature that you created.
5. To have the signature included on replies and forwards, select the signature from the Replies/forwards drop-down list.
6. Click OK in the Signatures and Stationery dialog box.
7. The signature will now be automatically included in all new, replied to, and forwarded messages.

Modify a Signature

You may need to modify your email signature. For example, if you have a new job title or email address, you will want to update your signature to reflect the change.

To modify a previously created email signature:

1. Open a new message. From the Message Ribbon, select the Insert tab, and from the Include group, select Signature.
2. Select Signatures from the drop-down list.
3. In the Signatures and Stationery dialog box, on the E-mail Signature tab, select a signature to edit in the Select signature to edit drop-down list.
4. Make your changes to the signature in the Edit signature text box.
5. When finished, click OK.
6. Your updated signature will now be displayed in emails.

Format Outgoing Messages

You can apply formatting to all outgoing messages.

To format outgoing messages:

1. Select the File menu tab and click Options.
2. Select Mail.
3. Select options, such as outgoing messages being composed in Rich Text Format, and click OK to save the changes.

Create and Apply a Theme

Just as you can in Microsoft Word, you can create and apply themes to your email messages.

To create and apply a theme:

1. Open a new message, and compose the message.
2. From the Message Ribbon, select the Options tab.
3. In the Themes group, select Themes, and from the drop-down arrow, select a theme to apply to the message.
4. Use the Colors, Fonts, Effects, and Page Color drop-down lists to further customize the theme.
5. The theme will now be applied to the message.

Adding a Theme and Signature to Your Messages

In this exercise, you will create and add a signature to a message, as well as a theme.

1. Create an email signature to apply to all of your new, replied to, and forwarded messages.
2. Compose a new email to a colleague or friend.
3. Apply the Slice theme to the email, and make the page color of your email blue.
4. Send the message.

Solution: