How to Change Your Signature in Gmail (Desktop & Mobile)

Your Gmail signature is one of those small details that does quiet, consistent work — it shows up on every email you send, representing you or your business without you thinking about it. Changing it takes less than two minutes once you know where to look, but the options available vary more than most people expect.

What Is a Gmail Signature?

A Gmail signature is a block of text (and optionally images or links) that gets automatically appended to the bottom of your outgoing emails. It can include your name, job title, phone number, a website link, a logo, a legal disclaimer — or nothing at all.

Gmail stores signatures in your account settings, not on your device, which means changes you make on the web version sync to your account. The mobile app, however, manages signatures separately.

How to Change Your Signature in Gmail on Desktop 🖥️

This is the most flexible route, offering full formatting control.

1. Open Gmail in your browser and sign in.
2. Click the gear icon (⚙️) in the top-right corner.
3. Select See all settings.
4. Stay on the General tab and scroll down to the Signature section.
5. Click Create new if you don't have one, or click an existing signature to edit it.
6. Use the rich text editor to format your signature — you can change fonts, add links, insert images, and adjust alignment.
7. Under Signature defaults, set which signature appears on new emails and which appears on replies/forwards (these can be different).
8. Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes.

Formatting Options in the Desktop Editor

The desktop signature editor behaves like a basic word processor. Key options include:

Multiple signatures are worth noting — Gmail lets you create several named signatures and assign them as defaults or switch between them manually when composing. This is useful if you write in different roles or contexts.

How to Change Your Signature in Gmail on Mobile 📱

The Gmail app on Android and iOS handles signatures differently from the web version. Mobile signatures are plain text only — no formatting, no images, no links that display as clickable anchor text.

On Android or iOS:

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Tap the three horizontal lines (hamburger menu) in the top-left.
3. Scroll down and tap Settings.
4. Select the account you want to edit.
5. Tap Mobile Signature.
6. Type your signature text and tap OK or Save.

This mobile signature is entirely separate from any signature you've configured on the desktop. Changes to one don't affect the other. If you write most of your emails from your phone, this is the version that matters most for your day-to-day sends.

Managing Multiple Gmail Accounts

If you have more than one Google account added to Gmail — a personal address and a work address, for example — each account has its own independent signature settings. You'll need to configure them separately, both on desktop and in the mobile app.

On desktop, make sure you're editing settings for the correct account. If you use multiple accounts in the same browser, look at which address appears in the top-right corner before saving changes.

Common Variables That Affect the Experience

How signature management works in practice depends on a few factors that differ between users:

• Account type — A standard Gmail account and a Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) account have the same signature tools for individual users, but Workspace admins can push organization-wide signature templates that override or supplement personal ones.
• Email client — If you access Gmail through a third-party app like Apple Mail, Outlook, or Thunderbird using IMAP, your Gmail signature may not carry over. Those apps manage their own signatures independently.
• Browser vs. app habits — Users who primarily compose on mobile but configured their signature only on desktop may find their sent emails look different than expected.
• Signature length and formatting — Some email clients strip or mangle HTML formatting in signatures. A signature that looks polished in Gmail's web interface may render differently for recipients using older email software.
• Reply behavior — By default, Gmail places your signature below quoted reply text, not at the very bottom of the email chain. You can adjust this under Signature defaults on desktop, but the behavior is slightly different depending on whether you're using a threaded conversation view.

When Signatures Don't Appear

A few situations where your signature might not show up as expected:

• Sending via SMTP through a third-party tool — email sent through automation platforms or CRM integrations typically won't pull your Gmail signature.
• Forwarding emails — depending on your default settings, the signature assigned to forwards may be set to "No signature."
• Drafts started before a signature was created — signatures are inserted when a new compose window opens, so old drafts won't automatically update.

The right signature setup — how many you need, how they're formatted, and which client you primarily use — depends entirely on how and where you actually send your email.