Email signatures
All University staff should set up signature text on their University email account.
This allows you to share useful contact information, and should include a link to the University's email disclaimer.
Add a signature in Gmail
- Click the cog icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
- Click Settings.
- Scroll down to the Signature box.
- Add your signature text in the box, following the advice about content and formatting below.
- Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
If you want to include an image in your email signature, please follow the instructions below under Adding images.
You can find more details about creating a Gmail signature in Google's own support pages:
Formatting your email signature text
Your email signature needs to contain some key pieces of contact information, and for legal reasons you should link to the University's standard email disclaimer, which is available on the University website.
Do
- Use the standard email font and colour
- Include the following
- Name
- Job title
- Department name
- University of York
- A link to the University email disclaimer - make the text Email disclaimer a link to https://www.york.ac.uk/about/legal-statements/email-disclaimer/ - see examples below
Don't
- Add extra graphical characters (eg to create a border)
- Include your email address - anyone receiving the email already has it
Optional extras
- Telephone number(s)
- Your pronouns
- Working pattern (eg part-time hours)
- A general contact for your department
- Room number and/or building
- Postal address
- Mobile phone number
- Professional or departmental social media account(s)
- Departmental web address
- A link to the appropriate University map
Layout
You can lay the text out as a single item per line, or create a shorter signature by putting multiple items on one line, separated by the | (pipe) character. Examples of both are shown below - you can copy and paste them and fill in your own details.
Example one - one item per line
Name
Job title
Department
University of York
+ 44 (0)1904 32xxxx
Example two - multiple items per line
Name
Job title | Department
University of York | + 44 (0)1904 32xxxx
Adding images
We recommend using images only when you wish to highlight recent success or an ongoing project with the inclusion of a small image.
The image needs to be:
- Good quality
- Small file size
We recommend using .png format files that are at least 100 pixels wide.
In Google Mail
- Click the cog icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
- Click Settings.
- Scroll down to the Signature box.
- In the box, place your cursor where you would like the image to appear and click the Add image button
- Select an image from your Google Drive or upload from your desktop
- Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
To make the image a link:
- Highlight the image, and click on the Link button at the top of the Signature box.
- Click on Change and add the URL of the page you wish to link to
- Click OK
- Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
Removing the image
- Click the cog icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
- Click Settings.
- Scroll down to the Signature box.
- In the signature box, click on the image. From the pop-up menu, select Remove.