Apple Mail on Mac — Step by Step
- Open Mail on your Mac.
- Go to Mail → Settings (or Preferences) → Signatures.
- Select your email account in the left column.
- Click the + button to create a new signature.
- Give it a name in the middle column.
- In the right column, paste your email signature. For HTML signatures, open the HTML file in Safari first, select all (Cmd+A), copy (Cmd+C), then paste into the signature editor.
- Uncheck "Always match my default message font" to preserve your signature's formatting.
- Close the settings window — changes save automatically.
💡 Advanced Method: For perfect HTML rendering, you can edit the signature file directly. Find your signatures in ~/Library/Mail/V10/MailData/Signatures/. Open the .mailsignature file in a text editor, replace the HTML body with your signature HTML, save, then lock the file (Get Info → check Locked) to prevent Mail from overwriting it.
iPhone & iPad (iOS Mail) — Step by Step
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
- Scroll down and tap Mail.
- Tap Signature (near the bottom).
- Choose Per Account if you have multiple email accounts.
- Type or paste your signature text. Note: iOS Mail supports basic formatting but not full HTML. For rich signatures, set up your HTML signature via Mac Mail and it will sync via iCloud.
Apple Mail Signature Tips
- Uncheck "Always match my default message font" — This is the #1 cause of formatting issues in Apple Mail signatures.
- Use Safari to preview — Apple Mail uses WebKit (same as Safari) to render HTML, so Safari gives you the most accurate preview.
- Lock your signature file — If using the direct-edit method, locking the file prevents macOS from reverting your HTML changes.
- Use hosted images — Embedded images can cause issues. All EmailSignatures.au templates use web-hosted images for reliability.
Common Apple Mail Signature Problems
- Signature reverts to plain text: Apple Mail sometimes overrides custom HTML. Use the file-locking method described above.
- Font size changes: Uncheck "Always match my default message font" in signature preferences.
- Images not displaying: Ensure images are hosted online, not embedded as local file paths.