Microsoft Entourage 2008

Working with Signatures

An Entourage email Signature is a block of text that you use to identify yourself. It often includes contact information, and some individuals include a favorite quote in their signature. Creating a signature ensures that you no longer need to type long blocks of identification with each email; adding a signature is a much more efficient way to include this information. Entourage allows you to make multiple signatures. If you are a member of a committee and you want a special signature for messages related to the committee, you can use the alternate. You can also establish a default signature that will be attached to all of your emails automatically. This document explains the following:

Signature Guidelines
Creating a Signature
Assigning a Default Signature
Adding a Signature to a Specific Message
Modifying Your Signature
Deleting Your Signature

Signature Guidelines

Using Entourage signatures is one way of adding a creative or personal touch to your messages, but reviewing the following guidelines will help you to decide what is and is not appropriate.

Limit the length of the signature to 4–6 lines.
Large pictures are not appropriate for signatures.
Include contact information about yourself. Examples include: phone number, address, and full name. Some people also include the department and organizations that they belong to.
Avoid using the [tab] key to align text. The spacing may look different or uneven on others' displays. Instead, use dashes or commas to separate text phrases.
Remember that your signature reflects on you and the University.

Creating a Signature

Using the Entourage Signature feature is an easy way to add personality to your messages. The following steps will take you through the basics of creating a signature:

From the Tools menu, select Signatures
The Signatures dialog box appears.
Click NEW
An untitled signature dialog box appears.
In the Name text box, type a short descriptive name for the Signature
The name of the dialog box changes to reflect the name you chose for your Signature.
Press [tab]
In the text box, type your signature as you want it to appear (include spaces and returns as appropriate)
To change the appearance of the text, click USE HTML» make the appropriate changes to the signature
EXAMPLES: Change the font, font color, or paragraph formatting.
Close the dialog box
A confirmation dialog box appears, asking if you would like to save your changes.
Click SAVE
You are returned to the Signatures dialog box, and your newly created signature now appears in the list.
Close the Signatures dialog box

Assigning a Default Signature

If you have used the Signature feature to create multiple signatures, use the following instructions to set a default signature to use in all your messages:

From the Tools menu, select Accounts...
The Accounts dialog box appears.
Select the Mail tab
Double click your email account
The Edit Account dialog box appears.
Select the Options tab
From the Message Options section, from the Default signature pull-down list, select the desired signature
Click OK
Close the Accounts dialog box
All new messages will now use this signature.

Adding a Signature to a Specific Message

You may wish to add a signature only to certain messages, or you may want to use different signatures depending on the purpose of your message.

Create the message
NOTE: For more information, refer to Sending Email Messages.
If necessary, delete the existing signature
NOTE: To delete the signature from the current message, select it and press [delete]. For more information about permanently deleting a signature, refer to Deleting Your Signature.
Place your insertion point where you want the Signature to appear
From the Message toolbar, click SIGNATURE » select the signature you want to use

Modifying Your Signature

As time passes, or if there is a mistake, you may wish to change your signature. Modifying your signature is an easy process.

From the Tools menu, select Signatures...
The Signatures dialog box appears.
From the Signatures list, select the signature you want to edit
Double-click the selected signature
The Signature dialog box appears.
Make the appropriate changes to the signature
Close the Signature dialog box
A dialog box appears asking if you would like to save your changes.
Click SAVE
You are returned to the Signatures dialog box.
Close the Signatures dialog box

Deleting Your Signature

If you decide that you no longer want to have a signature, or want to delete one that you no longer use, just complete the following:

From the Tools menu, select Signatures...
The Signatures dialog box appears.
From the list of signatures, select the signature you want to remove
Click DELETE
A confirmation dialog box appears asking if you want to delete the signature.
Click DELETE
Close the Signatures dialog box