How to set the same email signature for everyone in Google Workspace

To set email signature for all users Google Workspace gives an administrator two built-in routes. The first is the Append footer setting in the Admin console, which adds the same text to outgoing mail and which users cannot see or change. The second is the Gmail API, which fills in each person’s own signature box so they can still edit it. The steps below follow Google’s Workspace help on user signatures, last updated 1 October 2026 and read in October 2026.

Which way to set email signature for all users Google Workspace

Before you set email signature for all users Google Workspace style, the choice comes down to one question: should people be able to change it?

	Append footer	Gmail API	Each user pastes their own
Who sets it up	An admin in the Admin console	An admin or developer, with code	Every user
Does the user see it while writing?	No	Yes, in the compose window	Yes
Can the user edit or remove it?	No	Yes, if they wish	Yes
Personal details (name, title)	Same text for everyone	Possible, if the script fills them per user	Each person’s own
Layout	Text with formatting tools and an optional image	Whatever the script supplies	Whatever people paste

Read it as a trade whenever you set email signature for all users Google Workspace wide. The footer is the strongest guarantee, because nobody can drop it, but it is one block of text for everyone. A per-user signature carries a name and phone number, but a user can change it.

Steps to set email signature for all users Google Workspace with Append footer

Google’s steps for giving every user a default signature run as follows. You need the Gmail Settings administrator privilege.

1. In the Google Admin console, go to Menu, Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, Compliance.
2. Scroll to the Append footer setting.
3. Click Configure, or Add another rule if one exists.
4. In the Add setting box, enter a name for the setting in Append footer. The name appears in the settings table.
5. Under “For all outbound email messages, append the following footer”, enter the text. Use the formatting tools to style it.
6. Optional: by default the footer is added only to messages going outside your organisation. To include internal mail too, check Append the footer to messages being sent within your organization.
7. Click Save at the bottom of the box.
8. Check that the new rule appears in the Append footer table.

Google says changes can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly. If you add an image to the footer, the recommended size is 70 to 100 pixels high by 300 to 400 pixels wide, with a maximum of 100 pixels high by 1000 pixels wide.

For many organisations, this one setting is what they mean when they ask how to set email signature for all users Google Workspace offers. If you want the full walk-through of it, the sibling guide on Google Workspace append footer goes deeper.

What a good footer contains

Because every person gets identical text, put only what is true for everyone when you set email signature for all users Google Workspace style. A made-up example for a firm:

• Harbour Studio Ltd, registered in England and Wales (a company number would follow here)
• Registered office address
• The confidentiality notice your lawyer approved
• The main switchboard number and website

Leave out each person’s name, title and direct number. Those belong in the personal signature, which each user controls.

Gmail API: a per-user signature that people can edit

Google’s help describes this as an advanced option: “use the Gmail API to apply the same signature to everyone’s settings”. The signature then appears when users open their compose window, and they can edit it if they wish. The API reference describes the signature field of a send-as alias as an optional HTML signature included in messages composed with that alias in the Gmail web UI, added to new emails only. Google’s managing signatures guide shows that signatures are set per alias, using the sendAs settings methods.

Two things follow if you set email signature for all users Google Workspace this way. You need someone who can write and run a script against your users, and the result lives in the Gmail web interface, not in every mail app. For the details, read Google’s guide, since we have not tried to reproduce the code.

Let people use Drive images in their signatures

If users add their own logo from Google Drive, Google says they need to share the image publicly for it to appear. That requires a setting from an admin with the Drive and Docs administrator privilege:

1. In the Admin console, go to Menu, Apps, Google Workspace, Drive and Docs.
2. Click Sharing settings.
3. For Sharing outside of your organization, select On.
4. Check the box that lets users make files and published web content visible to anyone with the link.
5. Click Save.

Think about whether that is a trade you want. It is a wide setting for the sake of one logo. Users can also add an image by web address or by upload, as described in how to add an image to your Gmail signature, so a logo hosted on your own website may be the tidier answer.

Set email signature for all users Google Workspace with a designed layout

To set email signature for all users Google Workspace with a designed layout, a footer falls short. An appended footer is text with formatting tools. It is not a layout with a photo, social icons and a name in a larger type size. Companies that want that look usually have each person paste the same designed signature.

emailfooter, the free WordPress plugin we make, is for exactly that. The admin designs it once, locks the logo and legal line, and each employee fills in only their own details and follows numbered steps for Gmail. It does not write into mailboxes, so each person still pastes, and it has no directory sync. A legal footer from Google and a designed signature from emailfooter are separate things, so you can use both, but check a test message for duplicated lines. Here is the kind of design that comes out:

An executive layout drawn by emailfooter. The company and person are made up.

Google also notes that large organisations can look to Workspace Marketplace apps for managing many signatures. If you look at one, read the vendor’s own pages for pricing and for how it writes into mailboxes. The guide to Google Workspace email signature management covers the wider picture.

A rollout checklist

Use this order to set email signature for all users Google Workspace without surprises.

1. Decide whether people may edit: footer only, API-filled, or pasted.
2. Write the text everyone shares and get approval for any legal wording.
3. If you use a footer, decide whether internal mail gets it too.
4. Add the rule in Compliance, then wait. Google says up to 24 hours.
5. Send a test from two accounts, one inside and one outside the organisation.
6. Tell staff what they will see, so nobody adds the same lines twice.

A company on Microsoft instead can read about setting a company signature in Microsoft 365, where the same question of who may edit applies as when you set email signature for all users Google Workspace wide. The wider picture for any provider is in company email signatures.

Frequently asked questions

How do I set email signature for all users Google Workspace manages?

In the Admin console go to Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, Compliance, find Append footer, add the text and save. Google says it can take up to 24 hours.

Can users edit it when I set email signature for all users Google Workspace footers?

No. Google says users do not see the mandatory footer while writing and cannot change or remove it.

Does the footer go on internal emails?

Not by default. Google says it is added only to messages sent outside your organisation unless you check the box to include internal mail.

Do I need the Gmail API to give everyone a signature?

No. The API is the advanced route for a per-user signature that people can edit. The Append footer setting needs only the Gmail Settings administrator privilege.