Manually creating Outlook signature

Question

I am trying to create an Outlook signature manually (NOT via Outlook)

According to Microsoft Support (and other resources) i need to create a file (.txt, .rtf or .htm) in %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

However if i add my file in that directory, the signature does not show up in Outlook.

If i create a signature via Outlook, no file gets created in the %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures directory

I am using a Dutch version of Office 2010 and Outlook account is an Exchange account.

Edit:

Can the path %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures where Outlook finds it signatures be changed? I have some ancient signature management software on my PC (For another user).

If i create a signature in Outlook shouldn't it show up in that same directory? Because it doesn't.

Answer 1

After checking file access with ProcMon i found the location of the signatures.

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

Is incorrect on our system because of profile redirections in the GPO. I found the signatures in the following location:

%AppData%\Microsoft\$REG_KEY_VALUE$

With:

$REG_KEY_VALUE$ = HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\General\Signatures

Answer 2

I believe you have a custom directory configured for Outlook signatures. The registry key that specifies this directory for Outlook 2010 is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\General

Please check this key's Signatures value. In order to use the default AppData folder the value has to be Signatures.

Answer 3

Take a look at How to deploy a default email signature in Outlook :

• Close Outlook.

• Delete the First-Run value under the following key in the Windows registry:

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Outlook\Setup

Note, x.0 depends on your version of Outlook:

Outlook 2013 = 15.0
Outlook 2010 = 14.0
Outlook 2007 = 12.0

• Add/deploy the signature files and folders you want to use for email signatures to the \Signatures folder under the user profile. This location varies, depending on your version of Windows.

Windows Vista,Windows 7, or Windows 8
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

Windows XP
%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures

• Create or locate the following key in the registry:

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Common\MailSettings

or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Common\MailSettings

• Create the following value(s) under the MailSettings registry key:

Name: NewSignature Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ Value: The name of signature to use for new messages (see step 3 above for signature names)

Name: ReplySignature Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ Value: The name of signature to use for reply messages (see step 3 above for signature names)

• Start Outlook and open a new e-mail message.

The signature specified in the NewSignature registry value will automatically appear in the body of the message.