This explains how you add a signature to your account settings in the e-mail client Apple Mail v.4 for MacOS X.
If you have earlier or later versions of Apple Mail, or if you use Apple Mail on an iPhone, details of the signature settings in the program may vary.
Create a Text Signature
- Open Apple Mail
- From the "Mail" menu, select "Preferences"
- Select the "Signatures" tab
Note: Many people have several e-mail accounts, for instance one at work and one or more private. You can use Apple Mail to read incoming mails and write mails for more than one such account. Each e-mail account is defined as an "account" inside Apple Mail. In the screendump below you see one such Apple Mail account, connected to an e-mail account with the mailbox "mbox.su.se". You can define an independent signature for each Apple Mail account.
- If you have defined several Apple Mail accounts, select the Apple Mail account you want to work with by clicking on the account name in the leftmost column (the top list item "All Signatures" is just a summary of all signatures for all accounts managed by this program; you can ignore it for now)
- Under the middle column there are two buttons with a plus and a minus sign. They are for creating new signatures and removing existing signatures, respectively. So now you should click the button marked with a plus
- In the middle column a field opens where you can enter the name of this signature; just type the name to replace the suggested default name "Signature #1"
- In the rightmost column the text of the signature should be, and Apple Mail has probably already written a suggestion there, based on the name and e-mail address of your account
You can edit this default signature text, but if you want to use a Nordita signature template, proceed as follows:
- Open a web browser and go to the signature creation page on the Nordita intranet
- After selecting your name in the menu you get a page with several signature templates; scroll down to a text signature template that you want to use
- Select the whole signature text within the box (click-and-drag with the mouse pointer from top-left to bottom-right within the box)
- Copy your selection (use Cmd-C)
- Switch back to Apple Mail
- Select any text in the rightmost column in the signature preference panel and delete it (use the backspace key, not Cmd-X)
- Paste the copied code from the web page into the rightmost column (use Cmd-V)
- Now the signature text is shown in the column; you can edit it if you want to
- It is not necessary, but for pure text signatures it might look nicer if the same font is used for message and signature; to ensure this check the option "Always match my default message font" under the signature column
- Confirm by closing the preferences panel (red button in top-right corner of the window)
Create a HTML Formatted Signature
- Open the "Preferences" panel from the "Mail" menu in Apple Mail, and then the "Signatures" tab, as described above
- Select the Apple Mail account you want to define a signature for in the leftmost column
- Click the button marked with a plus under the middle column, and type a name for the signature in the field that opens in the middle column; some default text for the signature should appear in the rightmost column
- To obtain a HTML formatted Nordita signature template, open a web browser and go to the signature creation page on the Nordita intranet
- After selecting your name in the menu you get a page with several signature templates; scroll down to a graphical (HTML formatted) signature template that you want to use
- Apple Mail expects HTML formatted input, so go to the box which shows the signature with image and formatted text, and select the whole signature code within the box (click-and-drag with the mouse pointer from top-left to bottom-right within the box)
- Copy your selection (use Cmd-C)
- Switch back to Apple Mail
- Select any text in the rightmost column in the signature preference panel and delete it (use the backspace key, not Cmd-X)
- Paste the copied code from the web page into the rightmost column (use Cmd-V)
- Now the signature is shown in the column; don't worry that the signature does not look exactly like on the web page right now (images are only shown with a symbolical icon); you can edit the text in the signature if you want to
- Leave the option "Always match my default message font" under the signature column not checked
- Now switch to the "Composing" tab in the preference panel
- In the section "Composing", select "Rich Text" as your "Message Format"; this ensures that new messages are sent with formatting; selecting the format option "Plain Text" would simply remove all the HTML code from your signature
- Confirm all settings by closing the preferences panel (red button in top-right corner of the window)
Specify Which Signature Should be the Default
If you have defined several signatures you might decide to use one of them as your default choice, and use the others only for special occasions (see below how to make the switch when writing a new message). Here is how you specify which of your signatures should be the default:
- Open the "Preferences" panel from the "Mail" menu in Apple Mail, and then the "Signatures" tab, as described above
- At the bottom of the panel there is a drop-down menu "Choose Signature"; select the signature you want to use as your default signature
- Confirm all settings by closing the preferences panel
Use a Signature in a New E-Mail
Let's see if the signatures you have defined really show up in your new messages!
- In the main window of Apple Mail, click the "New Message" button in the top menu (or press Cmd-N)
- A new window with an empty message opens; if everything is as expected, you should see your default signature at the bottom of the message editing field
- You can edit the signature if you want, and If you decide you don't want the signature after all, you can just erase it as any message text. This does not change the signature(s) you created in the preferences panel earlier.
- Proceed as usual to write and send your message
Switch Between Signatures in a New E-Mail
If you have opened a new message for editing, but don't want to use the default signature, proceed as follows:
- Between the header fileds and the field for the message body there is a drop-down list "Signature"; select the signature you want from the list
- The default signature should now have been replaced by your new choice in the message body editing field
- Continue to write your message as usual
Remember that to remove a signature you can just select and delete it as any ordinary text or image in your message. This does not change the signature(s) you created in the preferences panel earlier.
