In this tutorial, Randy Dean (the "Email Sanity Expert") demonstrates how to repurpose Outlook’s signature feature into a push‑button email template system that works in both classic Outlook, the new web Outlook, and even Gmail. He walks viewers through accessing the signatures wizard via a new message, creating multiple signatures (full signature for new emails, a short reply signature, and a custom "Standard Info Request" template with embedded links), and assigning each signature to specific actions (new messages vs. replies/forwards). Dean shows how selecting a signature instantly inserts a pre‑written message body, subject line, and placeholders that can be quickly personalized (e.g., double‑clicking a name field). He explains the productivity advantages of avoiding separate Word templates or hunting through sent items, and suggests turning frequently‑sent emails into signatures for future one‑click reuse. The video also notes that the same approach works in Gmail’s signature settings. A brief sponsor plug for Stellar Data Recovery is included, followed by calls to visit Dean’s website and request a productivity PDF tip sheet.
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Hi everybody, Randy Dean, Email Sanity Expert here. Hey, wanted to put together a real quick video of one of my favorite Outlook automations, but I wanted to show you that this automation is actually still available if you've moved to the new and web Outlook version. Um, and basically what it is, it's using your signature tool as an automated push button email template tool. Let's get into this. By the way, before we get too deep into today's video, I'd like to thank today's video sponsor, Stellar Data Recovery, which is a perfect sponsor for this video. You'll learn a bit more about what they can do for Microsoft users a bit later in the video. So enjoy. All right, so I'm going to dive out of here, out of the PowerPoint, bring up my new web Outlook. I believe the easiest way to get to your signatures tool in Outlook, both the classic version and the new web Outlook version is just by opening a new email. Because when you open a new email, as you'll see up here, I'm in the Message tab. I can probably also go to the Insert tab. Notice there's a big button for signatures in both. Um, and so what you do is you click on the signature button to get the dropdown. You'll see I have several. If I go to the Word signatures at the bottom and click on that, it opens up my signatures wizard. Now, the signatures wizard, as you can see, is in your settings under Accounts, Signatures. So if you want to get there via settings, that's your pathway. But what I want to do is come down and show you that down here I can create new signatures right here. I can also edit existing signatures. So as you can see, here's my short reply signature. This is a good little micro tip right here. Notice that I have a standard signature which has my picture and my title, basic contact information, as well as some shameless self-promotion. And notice that I'm using that signature for all new messages. Notice that I also have what I call my short reply signature, which is right here. And notice it's just got my contact information and my programs listing at the bottom. I'm using that one for replies and forwards. And so basically what I'm doing, and when I'm sending a brand new email to somebody, I want them to have my full contact information as well as my branding. But if we've been sending messages back and forth, why not create a shorter signature so that way, um, the recipient doesn't have to go through all that stuff every single time, especially if they're reading a long train of emails. So this is just sort of a little polite thing to do, very easy to do too. And notice that Outlook, new Outlook and classic Outlook too, give you the option to set which signature to use for new messages, which signature to use for replies and forwards. But there's another thing that you can do here, which I think will be made very obvious by me just showing you one of the ones that I've created. I did a new signature and I created a signature called Standard Info Request. So now take a look at this signature that I've created. And let me explain to you why I've created the signature. This is what I do for a living. I'm very often speaking on stage. I'm very often doing live webinars. I'm creating YouTube content, and I very often receive emails. Hey, Randy Dean, somebody on our team saw you at a conference, heard you at an event, saw you on a webinar, watched one of your videos. I think this could help our people. How do we make that happen? It's a pretty common thing for me to receive several of these kinds of inquiries most every week. And so as you can see, what I've done is I've created right here a signature. Now notice this, couple things about this. One, I actually have put in links to information they might need straight from my website. Here's my main website, here's my listing of programs, um, and then of course I'm putting my standard signature. I copied it into my clipboard and pasted it into the of this new signature because I want you to think about what this is. This is the full top cover message. This is the signature. So I need to have a signature at the bottom of that signature. Otherwise, when I try to use it, my email will not have a signature. Okay, so if that didn't make sense, rewind and play that again. But what I want to do right now is I'm going to jump out of here. And I'll show you how it works. I'm just going to discard changes. I don't think I really made any changes. I'm going to now pop down here into the message, and I'm going to come up to Signature and hit Standard Info Request, the one I just showed you. And watch what happens. It overwrote and replaced the previous signature and put in this whole new message. Now, mind you, It's called a signature, but really this is a message template that is pushed by— Are you an IT manager or decision maker? Today's video is sponsored by Stellar Data Recovery and their product Stellar Converter. Stellar Converter for OST is the trusted solution for IT MVPs. It seamlessly converts all OST mailbox components to PST. With 100% precision. This includes emails, attachments, contacts, calendar items, and notes. There are no file size limitations, ensuring a smooth conversion process. The software can handle inaccessible, orphaned, encrypted, or IMAP OST files, and it's compatible with Outlook 2021, 2019, 2016, and earlier versions. Additionally, it offers the convenience of migrating offline OST files to Microsoft 365 or Office 365, making it an indispensable tool for IT admins and professionals alike. You can learn more here or following the link in the description. You can open an email once you've set it up. It's that quick. You just hit the, hit the signature, click on the button, boom, it puts everything in. And then you can do this. Notice what I've done here. I've even put in a possible subject line. I'm going to do a Ctrl+X, which is a cut, and a Ctrl+V, which is a paste. And then I can even personalize this. By simply coming down into the body copy and double-clicking on the word name and typing Randy Dean. Randy, that fast. It's a really powerful tool that can save you from either creating templates in a Word document or in the template tool in Outlook and having to go find them. You can just drop them right into an email that's already open, and it'll also keep you from going and searching 8,000 items in your sent folder to look for the email that you've already sent before that you're about to send again. As a matter of fact, I would even argue if you do find an email that you've already sent before that you're about to forward on again, that's the perfect time to open that email, select that body copy text into your clipboard, and then create a new signature for it. That way it'll become a push-button automated message from this point forward. And like I said, I actually shared in, um, my YouTube channel— let's go back to the presentation here. Um, this is something I've been teaching for years and years. It actually works in classic Outlook too, and I have a video on that. I'll try to put that in the comments and maybe at the end. I also have, um, a video on how you can do the same thing in Gmail. Gmail gives you the option now to also create multiple signatures, some of which could be used as your automated template tool. So this is one that's available in all three: Classic Outlook, new web Outlook, Gmail. All right, so share this one if you think this is a good one. I'd once again like to thank you for your time. If you'd like to learn a little bit more about me and my programs, go check out my website randaldean.com. And if you'd like to get my productivity PDF tip sheets, including links to my favorite productivity videos from my YouTube channel, send me a quick little email, Randy at randaldean.com, and I'll get that over to you. Thank you for your time and attention today.
