How to Create Multiple Customized Signatures in Gmail

OK, I'm warning you from the get-go, you are about to see just how weird I am and the dorky things that really float my boat. Consider yourself warned.

We're talking about more ways to manage email better and therefore, be more productive and save time! We're using Gmail (of course) and our topic is signatures.

The problem with Gmail's signature feature

Gmail does give you the option to create a signature which will be automatically inserted into all your emails so you don't have to type one in every time you send a message. To add a signature, you would go to your Gmail Settings, scroll down a bit and add your text to the signature box. Save your changes and you're good to go. It works…but it's not ideal.

Here are the main things I don't like about Gmail's signature feature:

1. You only get one.
2. It's not very customizable.
3. You can't make links clickable.

Here's an idea: Use a canned response for your signature

If you want to make a signature with clickable links, type up your signature and save it as a canned response. (I explain how to set up canned responses in this post and video.) Then, whenever you email, you can insert your "canned response" at the end of your email and you'll be good to go. Of course, this requires an extra step which isn't fun, but it's better than the signature feature you would enable in Settings.

Again, it would work, but it's not ideal.

WiseStamp : A solid choice…but not my favorite

WiseStamp is a popular add-on for signatures (not supported by Safari). It works for a lot of people and is a good choice, especially if you have limited HTML knowledge. One nice thing is that you can configure it to automatically pull in your feeds, etc. I tried it myself, but didn't like a few things:

1. I found it to be a bit buggy.
2. I need more than just 2 signatures.
3. I wanted more customization ability.
4. If I don't want a signature on a particular email, it's a bit cumbersome to get rid of it.

My new favorite signature add-on: Blank Canvas

Enter the Blank Canvas add-on for Firefox and Google Chrome. (You must use either of those browsers for this to work. Sorry Safari users. Anyone know of a good one for Safari?)

• I LOVE that you can have as many as 4 signatures per email address.
• I also love that you can turn them on and off easily.
• And if you know some HTML, you can make it look exactly how you want.

To install it, go here, choose your browser and follow the directions to install the add-on. That's it! Now prepare to be dazzled. (OK, maybe you won't be, but I was dazzled.)

Let me show you how it works (pardon my cheesy excitement):

Can't see the video? Watch it here.

My only beef with Blank Canvas so far

I haven't been using Blank Canvas for long, but so far, I've only found one thing that bugs me about it. It automatically inserts too many carriage returns ahead of my signature. I like there to be only one space between the end of my email and the first line of my signature, like so:

Thanks so much for writing! I really appreciate your time.

Amy Andrews
BloggingWithAmy.com

But Blank Canvas leaves it like this:

Thanks so much for writing! I really appreciate your time.


Amy Andrews
BloggingWithAmy.com

It's not a huge deal and I'm fine with it so far. And I'm going to try to find a way to correct it if I get a chance.

What about you? How do you put in your signature?

And, do you know of something that works with Safari?

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