Creating and editing a signature in the ATOM editor, step by step

What do you need before you start?

Access to the console, a computer, the Outlook add-in deployed and your logo:

• Access to the console. Your organization's Microsoft 365 administrators always have access. An administrator can also give access to someone else (for example, the communications team) from Administration › Console access, with the Editor role: that person can create and edit signatures without access to billing.
• A computer. The editor works in a recent browser (Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari). On a wide screen it shows three columns; on a narrower screen, the left and right columns open with the Insert and Properties buttons.
• The Outlook add-in deployed. It is what inserts the signature into your employees' emails. If it is not installed yet, first follow the Outlook add-in deployment guide: you can prepare your signatures in the meantime.
• Your logo as a PNG or JPG (Outlook does not display SVG) and the addresses of your pages (website, LinkedIn, Facebook…).

Tip: click any screenshot to view it full size.

Printable version: download this guide as a PDF to share with your team.

1. Create a new signature

Sign in to the console with your Microsoft 365 work account. You land on your list of signatures: each row shows a thumbnail of the signature, its name, the people or groups who receive it (Assigned to) and its status.

1. Click the New signature button, top right.
2. The editor opens full screen, with a first template already in place so you never start from a blank page.

2. Tour the editor

The editor screen is divided into a few areas, numbered on the screenshot below:

1. The signature name. Click the field at the top left and give it a meaningful name, such as “Standard”, “Executive” or “Sales”. Only administrators see it; it is required.
2. The Editor, Templates and HTML tabs. Editor is your workspace; Templates opens the template library; HTML is for people who want to paste their own code. Right next to them, New message | Replies sets the version used for replies (step 10), and Edit | Preview shows the final rendering (step 9).
3. The left column, “Insert a block”: the elements you can add (text, image, logo, social media…) and, further down, the dynamic tokens (name, title, phone…).
4. The editing area, in the center: your signature, which you edit directly. Above it, the formatting bar (font, size, bold, color, alignment, link).
5. The right panel, in sections that open with a click: Structure (the list of elements), the properties of the selected element, Base style, Brand and Targeting.
6. The Create button (or Save for an existing signature). Nothing reaches employees until you click it. To its left are the Active switch and the Undo / Redo arrows (shortcuts Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z).

3. Choose a template

A template is a starting point: a ready-made layout that you then adapt to your brand.

1. Click the Templates tab at the top of the screen.
2. If you like, filter by style with the Classic, Modern, Compact, Corporate, Creative, With logo or With banner buttons.
3. Click the thumbnail of the template you like. It is applied immediately and you return to the Editor tab.

The library holds fourteen templates, including a one-line “Compact” version, two-column layouts, and versions with a logo, a colored band, a booking button or a legal notice. The Start from scratch card gives a blank page, and Import HTML lets you paste an existing signature.

Watch out: applying a template replaces the entire content of the current signature. If you change your mind, click the Undo arrow (or Ctrl+Z) to go back to the previous version.

4. Set your brand (logo, colors, links)

The Brand section of the right panel holds the elements shared by your whole organization. You enter them only once: they then serve all your signatures, current and future. They are saved automatically, with no button to click.

1. In the right panel, click Brand to open the section.
2. Company logo: click Upload and choose your logo file (PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP).
3. Primary color (accent) and Secondary color (ink): click the color swatch, or type your color code (for example #0F6B5C).
4. Company links: paste the full address of each page (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, website, WhatsApp). Leave empty the networks you don't use.
5. Review link (Google or other): optional. Paste the address where your customers can leave a review (it must start with https://).

These settings are shared: if you change the logo here, it changes for the whole organization. Company links prefill the “Social media” block; the review link feeds the “Leave a review” button.

5. Add elements

A signature is made of elements (called “blocks”) stacked one under another. To add one:

1. Click in the signature where you want to add the element.
2. In the left column, under Insert a block, click the element you want.

6. Insert dynamic fields (name, title, phone…)

This is what lets you have one signature for the whole team: instead of typing “Marie Tremblay”, you insert the {Full name} field. When each employee writes an email, the field is replaced with their own name, taken from their Microsoft 365 profile. The same goes for the job title, phone, department or address.

1. Click in a text of the signature, exactly where the field should appear.
2. In the left column, scroll down to Dynamic tokens.
3. Click the field you want, for example {Title}. It appears in the signature as a colored label.

• Identity: first name, last name, full name.
• Role: title, department, company.
• Contact: email, mobile, phone.
• Location: office, address, city, province, postal code, country.
• Image: the employee's photo (if your organization has turned this option on), the link and QR code of the contact card, and the name or company displayed as an image.
• Links: the employee's booking link (Bookings, Calendly…) and the company review link. One click adds a ready-made “Book a meeting” or “Leave a review” button.
• Advanced: custom fields from your directory (ext1 to ext15), to use only if your IT team tells you to.

Good to know: if a piece of information is empty for an employee (for example, no mobile number), it simply does not appear in their signature, with no gap and no “undefined”. A booking or review button without a link disappears too. If a piece of information is wrong, it is corrected in the employee's Microsoft 365 profile (Microsoft 365 admin center), not in the editor; employees can also adjust their own details from the add-in's “My signature” pane in Outlook.

7. Format text and add links

Text is edited as in a word processor: click in it and type. To change how it looks:

1. Select the text (drag the mouse over it, or double-click a word).
2. Use the bar above the signature: font, size (or the A− / A+ buttons), bold, italic, underline, text color, highlight, alignment, line spacing. The Tx button clears the formatting.

To add a link (to your website, a booking page or an email address):

1. Select the text that will become clickable.
2. Click the chain icon, Insert a link.
3. Type or paste the full address, for example https://www.yoursite.com (or mailto:info@yoursite.com for an email address).
4. Click Link or press Enter.

To change an existing link, click it: a small window lets you change the address, color or size, or turn it into plain text. Tip: for a phone number or an email address, keep the link clickable and give it the color you want, because Outlook on mobile may otherwise recolor it.

To change the font, size or color of all the text at once, open the Base style section of the right panel instead.

8. Edit, move or delete an element

To edit an element, click it in the signature. A frame appears around it, and its settings show in the right panel under Block · … (for example, Block · Image):

• Image or logo: width, alt text (read by screen readers and shown when images are blocked), optional link, Replace image button. You can also enlarge the image by dragging the small handle at its bottom-right corner.
• Social media: add or remove a network, change the icon style (square, round, color, monochrome), their size and spacing.
• Button: text, link, colors, rounded corners.
• Text: alignment, inner padding, background color, divider rules.

To duplicate or delete the selected element, use the small black toolbar that appears right next to it (Duplicate and Delete icons), or the red trash can in the right panel.

To change the order of elements, open the Structure section of the right panel: it lists every element from top to bottom. Grab an element by its handle (the six small dots on the left) and drag it to its new place.

Made a mistake? The Undo arrow at the top of the screen (Ctrl+Z) goes back, as many times as you need.

9. Preview the signature

In the editor, dynamic fields show as labels. To see the signature as your recipients will receive it:

1. Click Preview at the top of the screen (next to Edit).
2. The signature appears at the bottom of a sample email, filled in with example data (Marie Tremblay).
3. To see it with a colleague's real information, click Real employee, type their work email address, then click Test.
4. The buttons at the top right show the rendering in light or dark mode, and on desktop or mobile.
5. Click Edit to go back to the editor.

The preview also warns you about common issues: colors that may not stand out in dark mode, or social media icons hidden because their link is missing. The exact rendering can vary slightly depending on the recipient's email software.

10. Choose the signature for replies and forwards

Many organizations prefer a shorter signature when replying to an email. To set it:

1. At the top of the screen, click Replies (next to New message).
2. Choose one of the four options:
   • Same: the same signature as on a new message.
   • Compact (recommended): a short, image-free version, generated automatically. Tick the information to show: name, title, company, phone, email, website.
   • Custom: a separate signature, edited on its own.
   • None: no signature on replies.
3. Leave Also apply to forwards ticked to use the same choice when an employee forwards an email.
4. Click New message to return to the main signature.

11. Who receives the signature?

A signature is applied to no one until you “assign” it. You can give it to a Microsoft 365 group (for example “Sales” or “All employees”), to a specific person or to a shared mailbox (for example “info@”).

1. In the right panel, open the Targeting section, then click Manage assignment.
2. In the window that opens, look for a group, a person or a shared mailbox in the Search field (type at least two letters for people and shared mailboxes).
3. Click the result you want: it moves to the Selected targets column on the right. Click it again to remove it.
4. For each target, you can optionally set:
   • Recipients: All, Internal (only when every recipient is in your organization) or External. This allows, for example, a plainer signature between colleagues.
   • Language: based on the language the employee chose in Microsoft 365, to have a French signature and an English one.
   • Delivery window: start and end dates, for a seasonal signature or an event.
5. Click Done.

If a person is covered by several signatures, the rule is simple: a signature given to a shared mailbox wins over one given to a person, which wins over one given to a group. Between two signatures of the same type, the Priority field decides: the lowest number wins (100 if the field is empty).

Important: the Done button closes the window but saves nothing. Your choice is only saved when you click Create or Save (next step).

12. Save and deploy

1. Check that the Active switch is on (blue). An inactive signature is kept, but sent to no one.
2. Click Create (or Save if you are editing an existing signature). The “Signature created” message confirms it was saved.

That's it: there is nothing to do on employees' computers. The Outlook add-in automatically inserts the right signature into their next emails, on Outlook for Windows, Mac, the web and mobile.

Saving is refused, with a clear message, if the signature has no name or is empty. If you close the editor by mistake before saving, a draft is kept on your computer: when you reopen it, click Resume.

Edit, duplicate or disable a signature

From the signature list:

• View a signature: click its row. A panel opens on the right with its rendering (new message and reply) and the groups that receive it.
• Edit it: click the pencil icon on the row, or Edit signature in the panel. After your changes, click Save.
• Duplicate it: the copy icon creates a disabled, untargeted copy, perfect for a variant (for example, an English version) without touching the original.
• Disable it: the switch in the Status column turns it off or back on immediately, without deleting it.
• Delete it: the red trash icon, after confirmation. This cannot be undone.

A change in the Brand section (logo, colors, links) applies to every signature that uses those elements, without reopening them one by one.

Printable summary

1. In the console, click New signature and give the signature a name.
2. Open the Templates tab and click the template of your choice.
3. In the Brand section of the right panel, upload your logo, choose your colors and paste your company links.
4. Add the elements you need from the Insert a block column: logo, social media, button, legal notice.
5. Click in the text, then on a dynamic token (full name, title, phone) to insert it.
6. Select some text and click the chain icon to turn it into a link.
7. Click an element to adjust it in the right panel; move it in the Structure section.
8. Click Preview to check the rendering, with a real employee if needed.
9. In the Replies tab, choose the version used for replies and forwards.
10. In the Targeting section, click Manage assignment and choose the groups, people or shared mailboxes.
11. Check that the signature is Active and click Create.

Frequently asked questions