I cannot see my signature while writing an email

With mail flow, this is expected behaviour rather than a fault, and your recipients are almost certainly receiving the signature. This article explains why, and what to do if you would like people to see it as they write.

Footer365 makes the Disclaimers and Add-in settings pages available to organisations gradually, so they may not be in your portal yet. See Early access pages and features.

If your organisation uses the Outlook add-in only, it is different: the add-in is the only thing that adds a signature, so a message without one while it is being written is sent without one. Start at "If you have the add-in and still cannot see it" below. Using the Outlook add-in only

Why it is not there as you write

With mail flow, Footer365 adds signatures on the server. When you send a message, Exchange Online passes it to Footer365, which writes the signature in and hands the message straight back to Exchange for delivery. That happens after the message has left your mailbox, so:

• The signature is not in the message while you write it.
• It is not in your Sent Items either. Your Sent Items holds the copy that left your mailbox, before the signature was added.
• The copy your recipient receives has it. That is the copy to check.

The benefit is that every message is covered, whatever the sender used to write it: Outlook on any device, a phone's own mail app, or anything else that sends through your Microsoft 365 mailboxes.

Seeing it while writing: the Outlook add-in

The Footer365 add-in for Outlook puts the signature into the message as soon as someone starts writing, so they can see it, and the same signature is then in their Sent Items. It is deployed once, centrally, by a Global Administrator. With mail flow it is optional; with the Outlook add-in only, it is what adds every signature. Deploying the Outlook add-in

With the add-in:

• A new message, reply or forward briefly shows Footer365 is loading your signature... and then the signature appears on its own.
• If you have separate internal and external signatures, it swaps between them as recipients change, and it switches to the right signature when the sender changes the From address.
• The Footer365 Signatures button on the ribbon opens a pane listing every signature available to that person. Refresh reloads the list.
• If your organisation lets people choose their default signature, the pane offers Make my default for new mail and Make my default for replies under each signature, and the add-in then starts each new message or reply with that one. If the pane says the default is not available for this message, your organisation always applies another signature to it, or the rules give the default only to other messages. Let people choose their default signature
• A message the add-in has signed is not signed a second time on the way out. If the person deletes the add-in's signature before sending, the add-in notices and Footer365 adds the signature on the way out instead. With the Outlook add-in only, nothing adds it back, so the message goes without one, and the Coverage page counts it.

If you have the add-in and still cannot see it

Work through these:

1. The add-in has not reached this person yet. A new deployment can take several hours to appear, and it only reaches the people or groups it was assigned to. The add-in is not showing
2. Automatic signature is off for them. On Add-in settings, Add the signature automatically can be off for some people. The add-in then puts nothing in while they write and says Footer365: your organisation adds your signature when the message is sent., and the signature is added on the way out. With the Outlook add-in only it says Footer365: your organisation adds no signature while you write. Choose one in Footer365 Signatures, or this message is sent without one. Choose how the Outlook add-in behaves for your people
3. This version of Outlook cannot write into the message. Some versions of Outlook do not let add-ins change the message body. The pane then says This version of Outlook does not let the add-in add the signature to the message body. Your signature is added automatically when you send. Nothing needs fixing: the signature is still added on the way out, it just is not visible while writing. With the Outlook add-in only, the pane says This version of Outlook does not let the add-in add the signature to the message body, so this message will be sent without one., and that is what happens.
4. No signature is assigned to that person. The pane says so. Check with Test a rule, and see The signature was not added.
5. The person is new. The add-in reads your synced directory. Someone added to Microsoft 365 in the last few hours may not be there until the next directory sync, which runs every 4 hours, or until someone selects Sync now under Directory, then Users and groups.
6. The signature is too large for Outlook. Outlook lets an add-in insert a signature of at most 30,000 characters, and images included in the signature count towards that. When a signature is too large, the add-in first leaves out any campaign banner, then tries again with every image linked rather than included. If it is still too large, it inserts nothing and says Footer365: your signature is too large to show while writing. It will be added when the message is sent. The signature is then added on the way out, as it would be without the add-in. With the Outlook add-in only, nothing adds it at send: the add-in says Footer365: your signature is too large for Outlook to add, so this message will be sent without one. Ask your administrator to make it smaller. and the message goes without a signature. Disclaimers from the Disclaimers page count towards the size too. An entry in the audit log names the template, so an administrator can make it smaller. The template editor warns when a saved template is close to this limit: see Logos, images and photos.
7. A rule names a single recipient address. The add-in reads only the domains of the recipients while you write, never their whole addresses. When a rule that could apply has an entry with an @ in it under Only when recipients include or Except when recipients include, such as one address or sales@*, or one of your recipient lists that holds any whole address, the add-in leaves the message for the mail relay, which sees every address and adds the right signature as the message is sent. Domain and wildcard-domain entries such as partner.example or *.de, and recipient lists that hold only domains, are decided while you write. Rules for particular recipients and Keep lists of recipients to reuse The same applies to a disclaimer on the Disclaimers page that could apply to the sender and names a single recipient address. Disclaimers So does a campaign that could go out with the sender's rule and names a single address in its own recipient lists. Schedule and target a campaign So does a campaign whose Opt-out link is on, because who has opted out of banners is checked as each message is sent; with the Outlook add-in only, the signature goes without that banner. Letting recipients stop banners With the Outlook add-in only, there is no relay to choose. For a rule or disclaimer, the add-in says Footer365: your signature depends on details the add-in does not read, so this message will be sent without one. and the message goes without a signature. For a campaign, the add-in adds the signature without its banners instead.
8. A campaign goes above the message and this Outlook cannot add it. The add-in adds a campaign placed above the message when the message is sent, which needs a recent version of Outlook. On one that cannot, it leaves the message for the mail relay, which adds the signature and the campaign together on the way out, and says Footer365: your organisation adds a notice above this message. It and your signature will be added when the message is sent. With the Outlook add-in only, it adds the signature and leaves the campaign out. How the campaign banner is sent
9. The signature shows the time sent or who the message is to. The time sent and the recipient's name and domain are worked out from the message as it is sent, which the add-in cannot do while you write. It leaves the message for the mail relay, which adds the signature with them on the way out, and says Footer365: your signature shows details of this message, such as when it is sent. It will be added when the message is sent. The same applies to a disclaimer that shows the time sent. With the Outlook add-in only, it adds the signature without the lines that use them and says Footer365: this signature shows details of the message that the add-in cannot read, so those lines are left out of it. A meeting invitation is signed in the same way, without those lines. Merge fields and empty fields

Apple Mail and Outlook 2016 or 2019

Apple Mail on a Mac cannot run the add-in, and nor can Outlook 2016 or Outlook 2019 bought outright, so nobody sees the Footer365 signature while writing in them. With mail flow, their mail is signed on the way out like everything else. With the Outlook add-in only, it goes without a signature unless the person adds it to the program: Copy for a computer on their own My signature page copies it, and How to add it shows where to paste it. Outlook client support and the add-in

Phones and tablets

The add-in is not currently offered on Outlook for iOS and Android, and phone mail apps other than Outlook, such as the built-in Mail app on an iPhone, cannot run it, so nobody sees the signature while writing on a phone.

With mail flow, mail sent from a phone is still signed on the way out, like everything else. With the Outlook add-in only, mail sent from a phone goes without a signature. Outlook client support and the add-in

With the Outlook add-in only, people can add the signature to their phone themselves, so they see it as they write there too: on their own My signature page, Copy for a phone copies it, and How to add it shows where to paste it in each mail app. With mail flow there is no need, and a signature pasted into a phone that sends through your work account appears twice. Add your signature to other mail apps

Related

• The signature was not added
• Which Outlook apps are supported
• How mail flows through Footer365
• Add your signature to other mail apps