Creating an E-Mail Signature in Thunderbird
The first thing you need to know is that you must create the signature file in a pure text editor, such as Microsoft’s Notepad. Do not use Word or any type of text editor that may embed codes in the text. For our example, I used Notepad and entered the following signature text:
Craig Tech Evangelist http://www.tech-evangelist.com/ bat phone: 555-8080
Next, I saved the text file in a folder I set up specifically to store signatures. You can save these files anywhere on your PC, but it makes sense to store them somewhere where they will not get separated from the rest of your Thunderbird files. In a previous tutorial, I changed the file location for the Thunderbird files in order to make it easier to back up these files. I simply created a new folder called “signatures” in the folder with the rest of the Thunderbird files. Like I said, you can store them anywhere, but when you do it this easy, the signatures stay with your Thunderbird files if you need to move them to another PC or if you have to restore a PC from your backup files.
Wherever you decide to store the files, keep them together and name each in a way that makes it easy for you to identify them.
Next, you will need to assign a signature to each e-mail address. From the Tools menu, select Account Settings… Highlight an e-mail address on the left-hand column. On the right, check the box that says “Attach this signature:” and then click the Choose button to navigate to your signatures folder. Select the file that you want to attach. Click the OK button to save your settings. You will need to repeat this process for each e-mail address where you wish to add a signature.
When you create an e-mail message, you will see the signature near the bottom of the message in gray.
Craig
Tech Evangelist
http://www.tech-evangelist.com/
bat phone: 555-8080
Unfortunately, the double-dash just before the signature cannot be removed. It is part of the international Internet standard for e-mail signatures and is automatically inserted by Thunderbird.
Using Hyperlinks and HTML in Signatures
If you add a URL to the signature file, most e-mail clients will turn it into a hyperlink. But if you need to spruce it up of if you wish to use HTML in a signature instead of plain text, here is what you need to do. Create a text file in the same manner as described above. When you save the file, save it with a .html extension, rather than a .txt extension. Thunderbird will then recognize it as an HTML file. You can then use colored fonts, hyperlinks or just about any type of CSS, as long as you use inline CSS styles.
When you are using CSS in e-mail messages, make sure that you fully specify the URLs to images and store the images on your server. Don’t try to embed images or send them with the message. It won’t work well with many browsers.
One more thing that has to be mentioned about HTML in signatures is that the message must be sent in HTML mode for the HTML and CSS to work. When you send any message that contains HTML, Thunderbird will ask you if you want to send it in in Plain Text. You do have to click on the Send in HTML Only or Send in Plain Text and HTML for the HTML and CSS to render properly.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I’ve been using Thunderbird signatures for a while now, and I’ve noticed that each time I reply to an email, an additional signature gets added. Is there a setting that would prevent multiple signatures from being displayed? I’ve noticed that this doesn’t always happen with other users of Thunderbird that have emailed me.
December 1st, 2007 at 7:29 am
Hmmm. That’s an interesting problem that I will need to investigate. I have a similar issue that I want to try to fix. It may actually be the same as your issue. When you reply to a message Thunderbird places the signature at the end of the sender’s message, rather than just below your response. I would prefer that the signature be placed just after my response.
If I can find a solutioon, I will post it.
December 1st, 2007 at 9:46 pm
To post your signature directly after your reply:
goto tools –> Account Settings
select the account you want to edit
click the “Manage Identities” button at the bottom of the form
select the Identity and click the edit button
select the “Composition and Addressing” tab
under the “Automatically quote the original message when replying” option
choose “below my reply (above the quote)” next to the “and place my signature” option
January 14th, 2008 at 4:08 am
yes, that should work, but I tried to that with two computers and after I press ok, thunderbird leaves the “place my signature below the quote(recomended)” even if I select “place my signature above the quote…” any had this kind of isue
January 15th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Hmm. It looks like Jason’s recommendation is the correct way to do this, but I see the same problem as berazumis. The “below my reply (avove the quote)” option is not being saved.
I think we have found a bug.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Solution to the problem is described here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=3070064
In short terms: Go to about:config, and then set sig_bottom to false
January 18th, 2008 at 5:03 am
Good find, Florian!
However, it did not work for me until I dug one step deeper. This method worked for me:
1. Go to: Tools, Options, click on Advanced tab, then the General tab.
2. Click on the Config Editor button.
3. In the Filter box, enter the word “bottom”.
4. Look for mail.identity.default.sig_bottom. If it is set to true, double click on the entry and it will switch to false.
5. Here is the additional step. Look for any other entries that end with “sig_bottom”. My setup included one that said, “mail.identity.id7.sig_bottom. If any of those are set to true, double click on the entry to set it to false.
6. Close the about:config window and click OK on the Options window.
It looks like mail.identity.default.sig_bottom is indeed a default for signatures, but if you have already configured a signature, there may be an overriding entry. In my case, it was id7, which represents the e-mail address for which I set up a signature.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 am
A big Thanks for all of you - for posting this problem & coming up with the answer. Steps which TE said worked superbly for me.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Hi we keep signatures on a central server and have each users Thunderbird point there (makes updating easier to manage), however this only works when people are in the office. I wondered is it possible to have thunderbird point to signatures stored on a web server so that people could still use them out the office.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Hi Nick
It looks like Thunderbird only allows you to select a local/network signature file, but there may be a workaround solution.
Does anyone know the answer to this one?
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:09 am
I’m trying to add a web link instead of a local file, but TB will not accept it. Is this what TE refers to above, and if so, anyone yet have a workaround? Thanks.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:04 am
When I first started using Thunderbird, there was a box on the bottom right of the window with the word signatures displayed there. I created (can’t remember how) 5 different signatures to go with different ‘hats’ and was able to select a signature at will to add to any message. I recently went through som processes to add encryption to one of the email boxes and in the process lost this choose a signature functionality. I can’t seem to find any information on how to get it back. Any help would be appreciated.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Hi Sarah
Hmmm. You should be able to select a signature file anywhere on your PC from the Account Settings page. Right click on an account and select properties. There is a search box that allows you to browse your PC and select a signature file.
It is possible that you had an Add-On installed. There is an Add-On called Signature Switch that allows you to set up multiple signatures that you can select. You can find it at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/611. I have not used it but I understand it is very popular. You might want to try it to see if it resolves your issue.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
When I set my Thunderbird to place my signature above the quote and below my reply it removed the double dashes. That is one way of removing them.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:10 am
Note that the fix above for getting the sig to appear at the end of a reply (and before the quote) does not apply to forwards. If you forward an email, your sig appears down below everything without any apparent config to change that. Maybe Mozilla will get to work on that one for the next revision? This whole cut and paste thing for sig’s defeats the purpose of having the sig in the first place!
May 13th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Thanks to everyone on the “signature above the quote” bug and fix! That was driving me insane - I would select “signature above the quote” for the particular identity, but it wouldn’t save! Thankfully TE’s extra-digging fix worked for me too. Too bad it’s still a problem for forwarding… Oh well… Thanks again!
May 21st, 2008 at 11:34 am
You know this “signature above the quote” option is in the regular Account Settings, right? There’s no need to go digging into Manage Identities or changing the config. When following the above instructions I too got the failed-to-save problem, but if you do it this way it works and saves correctly (version 2.0.0.12 (20080213)).
Tools->Account Settings
Select “Composition & Addressing” in the left-hand panel.
Where it says “and place my signature”, select “below my reply (above the quote)”.
Job done.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Good tip.
At first I didn’t think it would work in my version of Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (20080421). The “and place my signature” select box is grayed-out an disabled. But if you change the first selection just below “Automatically quote the original message when replying” from “start my reply below the quote” to “start my reply above the quote”, the following selection changes to enabled and “place my signature below my reply (above the quote)” can be selected.
For some reason the change does not work on all e-mail accounts, but it does work on some. I originally tried this, but it didn’t work, probably because I tried the change on an account that would not allow it. Now that I’ve tried it again, I find that it does work on some accounts. Strange.
I do not immediately see any reason as to why it would work for some, but not others. I’ll have to dig into it.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:40 am
(sigh). I’m one of the lucky ones. Doesn’t work for me. I’m on the latest beta.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Hey,
It was driving me nuts having my sig at the bottom and doing cut/paste so many times. The trick suggested by TE worked great for me…A zillion thanks!!!
However, I would love to know the work around to solve the same problem with Forward.. If someone finds it, please let me know..
Cheers!!!
July 30th, 2008 at 3:19 am
how to add colours in that text
August 1st, 2008 at 6:48 am
Hi shabbir
If you want to add colors, try adding some CSS to the signature file.
<span style="color:#f00">My Name</span>
Should produce text in red.
Just look up the hexadecimal RGB number for the color you want to product and replace the f00 in the span tags.
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:24 am
I have tried changing the config settings but it didn’t work for me. I also tried Forwardcharm’s suggestion but despite TE’s advice that option still remains grayed. Anyone else any ideas?
I’m also struggling to find how to select a signature as a default. I have one selected which I no longer use. Cannot seem to find how to make the chage.
xx
August 11th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I can set where I want my signature (above the quote), but as soon as I hit OK, it forgets.
It’s an infuriating problem.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Thanks to everyone I have finally created a signature! The only way I could do it was to create it in notepad. Anything else was encrypted when I used it!
Now can anyone tell me how to use color and two different fonts? Even in notepad it ignored the font I chose! And there is no color option.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Hi Kelly
There is a good reason for using Notepad. You need to use a pure text editor. Word and other word processor files are loaded with embedded codes. That is why Notepad is mentioned at the beginning of the tutorial.
You cannot select fonts or colors in Notepad because that would embed codes. You need to manually create the codes using cascading style sheets (CSS).
If you want to use a red Tahoma font, you do it like this:
<span style="color:#f00;font-family:tahoma">My Name</span>
The CSS technique using span does work for changing fonts and colors in signatures, but you must learn to use CSS. You also need to save the file using the .html extension. It will not work if you save the signature file as a .txt file.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Can anyone help with this problem. When I receive an email which contains the sender’s signature, then when I hit reply, the sender’s signature is removed! The quote of their email comes up without the signature part.
Thanks!
August 30th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Hi Mack
Are you replying in HTML format? If their signature is an image signature and you reply with a text message, the HTML signature will be removed.
August 31st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Hi TE
Thanks for your response.
No I am replying in normal format, and their signature is definitely pure text.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Hi. I found this site while searching for the ’sig above message’ fix (thank you VERY much, by the way!). I’ve created a usable signature file in OpenOffice.org - just saved it as an html file. Maybe it’s all the proprietary crap Microsoft products insert that Thunderbird doesn’t like - one more reason to love it
Sure beats hand coding that stuff. Sonny
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:14 am
Notepad is the only MS product that I’m aware of that does not inject all kinds of garbage code when you save something as an HTML file.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:27 am
I have created an html signature with a cut and paste image of our company logo in it in html. When I compose a message the logo appears normally, however after I send it and check the message I find that the image is no longer there (but only on some of the emails). The text is fine but the image has the box with the red dot in the upper left corner. How can I fix this?
October 16th, 2008 at 3:32 am
To further my question above which might help, the only time the logo appear in my sent messages is when the signature is in full text and not shaded or dimmed. I hope that helps
October 17th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Hi Jeremy
I have not experimented with images in signatures. Make sure that you are sending the message as HTML e-mail; otherwise, the code may get stripped out.
There are two ways to include images in HTML e-mail. You can embed the image or provide a full URL. The general rule with e-mail is to put the images on your server and provide a full path to each image. Several e-mail clients strip out embedded images. Thunderbird and many other e-mail clients block the paths to external images (images on your server) to prevent problems with web bugs that are used by spammers to verify that an e-mail address is valid. That is why you have to click the Load Images button to view the images in HTML e-mail.
Thunderbird has a page that focuses on signatures. It also covers the proper methods for including images in signatures.
Signatures in Thunderbird
You might find your answer there.