Email signature templates save you from designing a signature from scratch. This page shows several layouts, all drawn by emailfooter’s own signature engine, explains who each one suits, and covers how to get a template into your mail app and what to watch for when a template comes as raw HTML.
The examples use made-up people and companies. You can build any of them for free with the emailfooter plugin, which has ten layouts and 24 colour themes, and shows a live preview in light and dark mode.
How to choose a template
- Formal firm (law, accounting, finance): Executive or Classic, a restrained colour, a footer for the legal line.
- Sales or client-facing team: Profile or Classic, with a photo, a direct mobile number and a booking link.
- Short, quick replies: Compact.
- Lots of contact detail: Aligned or Wide.
- Everything centred under a logo: Centered.
Classic: the safest of the email signature templates
The classic template puts a photo on the left and details in a tidy two-column block. It is the safest default for most companies: easy to read, and it copes with long job titles.
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Classic: photo left, two-column details.
Executive: email signature templates for firms
A name-first layout with a heavy accent rule. It suits senior people and professional firms, and works well with a footer notice.
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Executive: name first, strong rule, notice in the footer.
Profile
A round portrait with a vertical rule beside the text. It reads as personal, which is good for people who sell, advise or consult.
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Profile: round portrait and a booking link.
Compact
A slim block with an accent bar and short lines. It is a good choice for replies and for people who send a lot of short messages.
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Compact: short lines, no photo, school office number only.
Aligned
Two columns with a label and value for each contact line. It works well when a signature carries a lot of detail: office phone, mobile, email, address and website.
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Aligned: label and value grid for detailed contact lines.
Centered
Everything sits on one centre line under the logo. It suits creative businesses and consumer brands. It is the layout where logo alignment matters most, so the logo goes above or below the text rather than beside it.
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Centered: logo and text on one centre line.
The other layouts are Ribbon (an accent band behind the name), Boxed (an outline around the whole signature), Reverse (photo on the right) and Wide (a full-width contact band). You can see all ten in the app while you design.
Email signature templates or a generator?
People search for “email signature templates” and “email signature generator” interchangeably, but they are different things. Email signature templates are finished designs, and generators build one from your answers.
- A template is a finished design with the placeholders filled in. You change the words and use it.
- A generator builds the design from your answers, usually through a form.
For one person the difference is small. For a company, the useful difference is who controls what. With a plain template, everyone edits the whole thing. With a shared design, the company locks the layout, logo, colours and legal line, and each person fills in only their own details. That is how emailfooter works.
Getting a template into your mail app
A template usually arrives as one of two things:
- A rich signature you copy and paste. Select it in the preview, copy it, and paste it into the signature box in your mail settings. This works in Gmail and most others.
- HTML code. You paste the code into an app that accepts it, or into a code view. Classic Outlook, for example, requires opening an HTML file rather than pasting into a box in some versions.
The setup guide walks through Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail, and the individual guides cover Gmail and Outlook.
What to check in any of the email signature templates
- Is it built from tables and inline styles? If it uses flexbox or external CSS, many mail apps will break it.
- Are images hosted, or pasted? Hosted is the more reliable choice.
- Does it have alt text?
- How does it look in dark mode? Send a test to yourself.
- How wide is it? Over 600 pixels is a risk on phones. See the size guide.
- Can you update it later? A template pasted into fifty mailboxes is fifty places to change.
Frequently asked questions
Are there really free email signature templates?
Yes. Many generators have a free tier, and emailfooter is a free plugin with ten layouts and no feature limits. You pay for your own hosting if you run it yourself.
Which email signature template is best for business?
Classic or Executive for most companies. They are restrained and read clearly.
Can I use a template in Gmail and Outlook?
Yes. Copy it as a rich signature and paste it into the signature box in each app. Each has its own quirks, covered in the guides.
How do I make a template match my brand?
Change the colours to your brand colours, add your logo, and keep to one font. In emailfooter you can pick a theme or set each colour yourself.
Can I have the same template for my whole company?
Yes, and that is where a shared design helps most: the company sets the template, and each person adds only their details. See the complete guide.
Keep reading
- Email signature: what it is, what to put in it and how to set it up: Everything about the email signature: what to include, how big it should be, design rules, legal lines, examples and how to set it up in Gmail and Outlook.
- Email signature size: width, image size and character limits: What is the best email signature size? Recommended width, logo dimensions, image file weight and the character limits in Gmail, so your signature looks right.
- How to set up email signature in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail: How to set up email signature in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail, step by step, with tips for phones, images and getting a whole team to use the same one.
- What is an email signature? A plain explanation with examples: What is an email signature? A clear explanation of what it is, what it contains, why businesses use one and how it differs from a disclaimer or a sign-off.
Make every signature in your company match
emailfooter is a free WordPress plugin. You design the signature once, and each person adds their own details and installs it in their mail app. Prefer not to run a website? emailfooter Managed is the same software, hosted for you.