How to create an HTML signature for Apple Mail

We all like our email signatures to look fantastic. Apple Mail began letting you make your special mark with an HTML-style email signature with OS X Lion back in 2011.

The process of setting up an HTML signature in Apple Mail has only gotten more complex over the years, unfortunately. Now it takes a bit of patience and a sturdy sense of adventure, but it’s not too difficult.

If you want to create your own HTML signature for Apple’s Mail app on OS X Yosemite, keep reading.

How to create an HTML signature for Apple Mail

Create a placeholder Apple Mail signature

First up, you need to launch Apple Mail. Then head to the Mail menu. Choose Preferences, then click on the Signatures tab at the top right of the Preferences window. Click on the + button underneath that center pane to create a new signature. OS X will name it Signature #1, and add in your info. You can leave it as is, since you’ll be swapping it out with your HTML signature later.

Now, drag the signature you just created over to one of your email addresses in the left-hand pane to associate the signature with the email address. Close the preferences window and quit Mail.

Create an HTML signature

HTML is the next step. You’ll need to create your own HTML using a text editor. Don’t use Dreamweaver or any other WYSIWYG code editor, as it will tend to add excess code you don’t want. Your code will need inline CSS and should only have basic HTML stuff like divs, images, links and the like. Don’t use any html, head or body tags.

Here’s the HTML for my own signature here at Cult of Mac. Feel free to modify it to suit your own needs, or create your own.

<div id="sig" style="min-height: 50px; line-height: 17px; margin: 6px 0; padding: 8px; border-top: 1px #999999 dotted; border-bottom: 1px #999999 dotted; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; font-size: 11px; color: #606f78; min-width: 530px;"><img style="float: left; padding: 2px 6px 0 0;" src="https://www.cultofmac.com/LOGOHERE.jpg" alt="CultofMac Logo" />

<strong style=”color: #606f78;”>Rob LeFebvre</strong>. Culture Editor. <a style=”color: #606f78; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px #999999 dotted;” title=”Visit CultofMac.com” href=”https://www.cultofmac.com”>Cult of Mac.com</a>

(408) 320-8874 | <a style=”color: #606f78; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px #999999 dotted;” href=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a> |
@roblef | https://cultofmac.com/author/rob-lefebvre</div>

Replace the placeholder with your HTML signature

Now you need to find your placeholder signature, which is hidden in your Library folder. In the Finder, click on the Go menu, and hold the Option key down to see the Library folder. Choose that Library folder, and navigate to one of the following folders within.

• If you’re using iCloud, go to ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/
• If not using iCloud, head to ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Signatures/

It will be easier to find the folder you need if you enable List view in the Finder (View > As List, or Command-2). You can also just hit Command-G in the Finder and paste the above file paths in. Either way, your placeholder signature is the most recently modified file that ends with .mailsignature.

Open this file in your text editor (if you use TextEdit, be sure to set the Open and Save preferences to Display HTML files as HTML code instead of formatted text) and replace everything below the Mime-Version line with the HTML code you created above.

If you’re using iCloud, don’t do this next step. However, if you’re not using iCloud to sync your email (meaning you found your signature file in the second file path above), you’ll need to Lock your file. To do so, click on the Editing arrow to the right of the file name in your text editor. Then check the Locked button in the drop-down dialog. Save the file and quit your text editor.

When you open Mail again — or quit and restart it — you’ll find your new signature in the place where you created that placeholder signature. You won’t be able to see the images in the Preferences pane, but when you create a new message, all the right stuff will show up where you want it.

Now you can make one of those fancy signatures you’ve long admired. Enjoy!

Thanks to Matt Coneybeare and Timmy Cai

Rob LeFebvre

Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.