Different email signature for replies in Gmail and Outlook

Gmail and Outlook both let you keep one signature for new emails and another for replies. In Gmail, the setting is behind the gear icon under See all settings, in the Signature section. In Outlook, it is under Settings, Accounts, Signatures. Neither app can choose a signature by recipient.

What each app can and cannot switch

Gmail gives you one default for new emails and one for replies. Its help page does not mention forwards, so send yourself a forward and check it before you rely on it.

Outlook treats replies and forwards as one case. A signature you tick for replies also goes on forwards.

Neither app switches by recipient. A Microsoft Q&A thread asking for separate internal and external signatures was opened in December 2022. A Microsoft staff member answered that you can create two signatures but cannot add them automatically by recipient. New answers were still arriving in February 2026.

Set a reply signature in Gmail

1. Click the gear icon, then See all settings.
2. Scroll to the Signature section.
3. Create a second, shorter signature next to your full one.
4. Set the default for new emails and the default for replies. The two can be different signatures.
5. Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes.
6. To use a different signature for one message, click the Insert signature icon at the bottom of the compose window.

Set a reply signature in Outlook

New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web:

1. Select the Settings gear, then Accounts, then Signatures.
2. If you have more than one account, choose the one this signature belongs to.
3. Select Add signature, give it a name and type it in.
4. Use the checkboxes at the bottom. Tick New messages on your full signature and Replies and forwards on the short one. Leave both boxes empty if you want to add a signature by hand.
5. Select Save.

Classic Outlook for Windows:

1. Open a new message. On the Message menu, select Signature, then Signatures.
2. In the E-mail account list, choose the account.
3. Under Choose default signature, set New messages and Replies/forwards, then select OK.

Classic Outlook keeps signatures on the computer they were made on, so they may not appear on other devices. Check each device after you set one up. A default only applies to messages you write after you save it. An open draft keeps the signature it already has.

Why the reply signature lands in the wrong place

New Outlook for Mac puts it below the timestamp. A Microsoft Q&A thread from February 2026 reports reply signatures appearing below the sender's timestamp instead of above it. The thread is locked. A community answer calls it a known bug with no fix yet. The only workaround a user reported was setting the original message's attribution to None under Outlook, Settings, Email, Composing. That removes the attribution line, and another user said the signature still landed in the wrong place when attribution was on.

The default belongs to another account. Defaults are set per account. If you reply from an alias or a second mailbox, check which account the message is sent from. In Gmail, pick the sending address from the drop-down above the signature box.

Meeting invitations get no signature. In a Microsoft Q&A thread from 2023, a Microsoft employee said that new Outlook applies signatures to emails and replies but not to meeting or event invitations. I found no later confirmation from Microsoft that this changed.

Your IT team adds it. If your organization adds signatures with a Microsoft 365 mail flow rule, your personal defaults do not control it. Ask IT which rule is adding the signature before you change anything on your own computer.

How Sendoff handles this

Sendoff builds the signature. Gmail and Outlook decide when it is inserted. For a reply version, make a shorter copy: keep your name, role and phone number, and drop the banner and the long disclaimer. Paste the full version as the default for new emails and the short one as the default for replies. Setup steps are on the Gmail and Outlook pages.

Sources

• Microsoft Support, create an email signature in Outlook: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-an-email-signature-31fb24f9-e698-4789-b92a-f0e777f774ca
• Microsoft Support, create and add a signature in Outlook on the web: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/5ff9dcfd-d3f1-447b-b2e9-39f91b074ea3
• Google Help, create a Gmail signature: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/8395
• Microsoft Q&A, separate internal and external signatures: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1144888/how-to-have-separate-email-signatures-for-internal
• Microsoft Q&A, reply signature placement in New Outlook for Mac: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5790175/email-signature-for-replies-is-showing-in-the-inco
• Microsoft Q&A, signatures and meeting invitations in new Outlook: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1410983/new-outlook-i-cannot-find-an-option-to-insert-sign