Deploying the Outlook add-in
How to deploy the Footer365 add-in to Outlook from the Microsoft 365 admin centre, who to give it to, how long it takes and what your people will see.
The Outlook add-in shows each person their Footer365 signature while they write, instead of only on the copy the recipient gets. You deploy it once, centrally, and nobody has to install anything on their own computer.
How much it matters depends on how your organisation adds signatures. With mail flow it is optional: signatures are added to outbound email whether or not it is installed. With the Outlook add-in only, it is what adds every signature, so anyone who does not have it sends without one. Using the Outlook add-in only
You need to be a Global Administrator to deploy an app to other people in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. The add-in stage of the setup wizard opens once mail flow is set up or, with the Outlook add-in only, as soon as you have chosen it.
Deploy it from the Microsoft 365 admin centre
- In the setup wizard, go to Deploy the Outlook add-in and select Open Integrated Apps. This opens Settings, then Integrated apps, in the Microsoft 365 admin centre in a new tab.
- Choose Get apps.
- Search for Footer365.
- Select Footer365 Signatures for Outlook by Chillishot Limited, then choose Get it now.
- Choose who gets it: All users, specific groups, or specific users. With the Outlook add-in only, choose All users unless some people should send without a Footer365 signature.
- Accept the permissions and deploy.
- Back in the wizard, select I have deployed the add-in.
If you are not ready, select I will do this later. You can come back to it from the portal. Once mail flow is live, Getting started shows an Add pre-send preview banner with a Deploy add-in button, and the left-hand menu shows the same reminder on every page. With the Outlook add-in only, the banner on Getting started is headed Deploy the Outlook add-in instead. Either way, the dashboard's Outlook add-in line has a Deploy link. Each opens the setup wizard at Deploy the Outlook add-in.
Start with a few people. Choosing a small group first lets you check how signatures look before everyone sees them. You can widen the assignment later from the same Integrated apps page without deploying again. Rolling out to a pilot group
If your organisation blocks apps from the Microsoft store
Some organisations do not allow apps from the store. You can deploy the add-in from its link instead.
- In the wizard, expand If your organisation does not allow apps from the Microsoft store and select Copy to copy the add-in link.
- In Integrated apps, choose Upload custom apps.
- Set the app type to Office Add-in and paste the link.
- Choose who gets it and deploy, as above.
How long it takes
It can take a few hours for the add-in to appear in everyone's Outlook. Microsoft can take up to twelve hours to push a newly deployed add-in to everyone, and up to twenty-four in a large organisation. It usually appears in Outlook on the web first, within minutes. Restarting Outlook on the desktop often brings it forward.
What your people will see
- The signature appears on its own. When someone starts a new message, reply or forward, their signature is put in the message for them. There is nothing to pick and nothing to click.
- It keeps up as they write. If you have separate internal and external signatures, it swaps between them as recipients are added or removed. If they send from a shared mailbox, it switches to that mailbox's signature.
- A button on the ribbon. A Footer365 group with a Footer365 Signatures button opens a pane listing the signatures available to that person. Selecting one puts it in the message. Refresh reloads the list.
- Each of these for everyone or for chosen people. On Add-in settings, under Account in the portal, you can turn Add the signature automatically and Signature picker in the pane off for some people or for everyone. With automatic signature off and mail flow, the signature is added when the message is sent instead. Choose how the Outlook add-in behaves for your people
- Their own default signature, if you allow it. When you allow Let people choose their default signature on Add-in settings and a person's rules give them more than one signature, each one in the pane has Make my default for new mail and Make my default for replies under it. Selecting a signature still changes only the message being written; the links make it the default, which Footer365 then uses in Outlook on every computer and, with mail flow, on mail it signs from phones. A star marks My default for new mail and My default for replies, and Clear my defaults removes both. Let people choose their default signature
- Their own banner, if a rotation allows it. When a campaign rotation aimed at a person's rules lets people choose some of its banners, their pane has a My banner box under their signatures, showing each banner they may choose with its image and campaign name. Use this banner makes one theirs, a star marks My banner, and Let my organisation choose hands the choice back to the rotation. Footer365 then puts their banner on their email in Outlook on every computer and, with mail flow, on mail it signs as it leaves Microsoft 365. Rotate several banners
- Approved texts to insert, if you write some. When you save a snippet under Signatures > Snippets that someone can use, their pane has a Snippets tab where they search your approved texts and Insert one where the cursor is, or Copy it. Someone with no snippets has no such tab. Snippets your people insert from Outlook
- Their own details, if you allow it. When you turn on staff self-service, the pane has a My details tab where people see the details their signature uses and change the ones you open up. While it is off, the tab is not there. Let staff edit their own details
- Meeting invites get the signature too.
- In their own language. The add-in follows the language Outlook is shown in, and is available in French, German, Spanish and Dutch: the pane, its messages, and the add-in's name and button, which read Signatures Footer365 in French, Footer365-Signaturen in German, Firmas de Footer365 in Spanish and Footer365-handtekeningen in Dutch. Someone whose Outlook is shown in any other language sees English. Languages
If nobody has a signature assigned yet, the pane says "No signature is assigned to your account. Contact your administrator to set up a signature." Set up a template and a rule first: see How rules work.
The add-in never stops a message being sent. If it cannot reach Footer365, or the person is not signed in, the message sends as normal. With mail flow, the signature is then added as it leaves Microsoft 365. With the Outlook add-in only, it is sent without one.
Good to know
- The add-in signs people in with their existing Microsoft 365 account. It reads their directory details and the signatures you have set up. From the message being written it reads only what it needs to sign it: the sending address, the recipients, of which only the domains are sent to Footer365, the body on the person's own device to check its signature is still there, and at send the subject, of which only words starting with
#are sent, so a message keyword can be applied. It does not read the mailbox, other messages or attachments. Data and privacy - The add-in is not currently offered on Outlook for iOS and Android. With mail flow, mail sent from a phone is still signed, as it leaves Microsoft 365. With the Outlook add-in only, it is sent without a signature. Which Outlook apps are supported
- Selecting I have deployed the add-in only records that you have done it and closes the stage. It does not check your Integrated apps settings, so if the add-in does not appear, check the assignment there.
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