I’ve been trying to find out how to insert image into Gmail’s email signature last week and it seems that Gmail doesn’t directly support putting images on the email signature. If you go to Gmail settings to change your default signature, you can see that Google only gives you a text-based signature.
However, with a few Gmail “hacks”, you can start sending emails with your photo or your company/site’s logo on the signatures. Here is how you send an email with image signature in Gmail.
Steps to add HTML (image) signature in Gmail
- Turn on “Canned Response” (Email templates). Here is how to enable Canned Response in Gmail.
- Turn on “Inserting Images” feature on Gmail labs (click on the apparatus icon on the top right of your dashboard to access Gmail labs). Then look for “Inserting images”. Set it to Enable and then save the change.
- Start designing your HTML signature with your logo/photo by Composing a new mail.
- Double check that you’ve done Step 1 and Step 2 correctly by looking for a new “Canned responses” option & the “Insert image” icon (a square with a picture of 2 mountains) above the email’s body text field.
- Add your photo, logo, or the image you want to use as your signature through the “Insert image” feature.
- Add a few extra new lines before your signature on the Email body (so you don’t have to press a few ENTERs in the future) and save the template by clicking on Canned Responses – Save – New canned responses. Feel free to name the template and then save it.
- That’s it! Now every time you want to compose a new mail or reply to an email, click on the Canned Responses- Insert – [your saved canned responses]. The image signature will be added automatically to your email.
Let me know if the steps are unclear and I’ll update the post 
UPDATE 23rd June 2010: If you are looking for an easier way but don’t mind installing an extension on your browser, check out my new post on How to add a Gmail signature with image (THE EASIEST WAY).
{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
This is something that I am going to try out today still. I have always wondered why GMail does not support HTML within the messages. Thanks.
Lyndi´s last blog ..Changes to Nice2All
I know
Maybe it has something to do with securities and such? (scamming, spoofing, etc)
It’s because html formatting and inline pictures in emails are looked down upon by purists. Email is supposed to be text. Everything else should be an attachment. While I agree with this, because I came of age in the terminal era, a lot of people who grew up with AOL and outlook (e.g., my parents) expect this feature. My parents are real-estate agents and it’s a given that your picture should be everywhere. This is a great solution until gmail gets with the times
I don’t have the “add image” icon for some reason. I only have the “add link” icon. That’s strange… Why is that?
Thank your for this great article , checked out the linked article too and I have to say you got me interested in checking out Gmail Lab features
Nishadha´s last blog ..Combining SEO with Affiliate Marketing to make money from your blog
Thanks buddy (and for the stumble too)
Gmail does have nifty features in the labs (I actually posted a few of interesting ones here in the past)
So nice tut Micheal. I have tried this one already but ended up with one problem. If the image is linked with an url, there’s a blue border which is irritating one. but everything else is perfect like what u have said here.
BlogrPro´s last blog ..How WordPress can be Customized?
Hm I’ll try digging to see if we can put a CSS hack or something to hide it away. That’d be irritating indeed
yes, Same thing here.
What is the point if i cannot link the “t” icon to my twitter profile
I might as well type it out as plain text for Twitter / FB / and all.
(which would ensure that make my signature look crowded)
i am now at step 5, how do i add the image? where do i find this option?
thanx
Hi moshe, thanks for the comment. I’ve updated the screenshot on Step 4 with red circles to show where the insert image feature is (the icon)
I hope this will make the tutorial clearer
Great tip Mike.
I will try it out today.
Nihar´s last blog ..Download Windows 7 RC – August 20 is the Last Day to get Windows 7 RC
Thanks for the tip Mike.
Michael also try Wisestamp that will make your work much easier.
Hi Michael,
I did everything, but when I went to compose my new mail using my new template, the picture wouldn’t show up. It’s one of those boxes with the red x. I tried saving as jpeg, gif, even a “save for web’ picture. If it doesn’t show up on my mail, does that mean it won’t show on anyone else’s mail?
Thanks!
Hm I guess so. Can you give a test and send it to your other email account?
Thanks for the tip!! I had a problem with it though. All worked perfectly until I tested it by composing a new email and inserting my canned response – all the images came up as broken links (with the red cross in the corner). The images were from my computer and I haven’t moved any files etc so not sure why this happened…any suggestions?
Thanks!! : )
Never happened to me before
Have you tried again? Hopefully it’s just a temporary glitch
I had this problem too when I tried to paste a picture signature I had built in Google Docs in… When I did upload the pictures straight from my computer it worked fine.
thanks for the big help. they were clear and easy to follow. many many thanks!
Hi, I just followed your tutorial and it was very good. However, when I add the canned response to a new email, instead of getting the picture show up, I get an image placeholder. Any idea’s?
Thanks
Hm mine still works as it is.. have you tried using a different image? (different size and different file extension).
hey! thanks for helping. Now I can really insert a logo into my Gmail e-mail. But do u have any idea how to let the logo auto appear in every msg in compose?
if yes. I would really appreciate your help. Thanks.
I wish I know the answer. So far you have to manually click on the Canned Response to add it in
haha. sure. by the way. thanks for the infor. is better than nothing.
Thanks very much for the great tutorial. I do have one problem though. Everything works fine except in the subject line after my chosen subject a whole lot of other stuff appears,a whole lot of ?ui=2&view etc etc. How would I get rid of that?
Again thanks for the great work.
Hm I never encountered this before. Have you tried a different browser?
The absent image which just has either the image name and/or the image placeholder is because you’re using a file format gmail isn’t pleased with… such as a .gif
I re saved my file as a .jpeg and it worked.
This is fabulous! Thanks for figuring this out!
Dear Michael:
IT WORKED!!! Bless your ass to heaven!!!
You are all kinds of awesome!!!
A little tip for those whose image won’t work:
If you use a URL it’s best if you download it, and then save it as a GIF image, not JPEG. then the image WILL show up.
Dude, again…Im just starting my business so this was MORE than helpful!
You’ve got yourself a new fan!
-Jared McGrath-
Hi!
I just tried this the other day & love it.
Sometimes my pictures show up & sometimes they don’t. I’m using Google Chrome primarily. I have the pictures saved as jpeg.
It appears that some people say only use jpeg files for the pictures & some say only use gif files.
What’s the consensus on this & why does it matter please?
Thanks,
Marion
You totally rock!
Submitted to DIGG:
http://digg.com/mods/Create_GMail_HTML_signature_w_image_w_o_browser_plug_in
Thanks for the Digg, Dudley
Thanks for ur tips…
Hi- Thanks for the wicked post. totally straightforward, easy to do information. Much appreciated as I have been wanting to add my home business logo to my email for a while now.
Thanks a ton!
You’re welcome Nancy. Let’s hope Google adds this feature natively in the future
Woot! I got to try this too
Thanks for the post
Thanks for this. Blank Canvas has stopped working at present, so your advice is great, and actually a better solution, even if I have to use a couple of clicks to get there.
Thank you so much for posting this, Michael! It was exactly what I was looking for. Much appreciated!!
The solution is very relevant but the image is being sent as an attachment to the reciepent……So what should i do to include it with the text…..
Good solutions. There is a similar solution here http://blog.wedran.com/2010/03/gmail-signature-with-embedded-image.html that automatically inserts canned response signature into each new email.
I have tried this and it works! Thanks Michael.
Thanks a lot dude
Michael,
This is brilliant, when I Googled “adding images to gmail signature” I got a whole lot of other links to blogs which talk about using Firefox only addons and scripts. This solution is the only native Gmail way to do it that I’ve found.
I had offline mail switched on (so Insert Images didn’t work in Chrome), but discovered that if I opened my Gmail in IE I could add the image and save it using Canned responses and it would then subsequently work fine in Chrome with offline enabled. Thanks again for the solution.
Basil Brooks
Michael
Since the previous comment, I have just found Wise Stamp http://www.wisestamp.com which is a really cool add-on for Chrome as well as Firefox which also does the Gmail signature job really well, though I don’t think it encodes an image just uses a standard html tag so the image needs to be on the web. Just thought you might like to know about it.
All the Best
Basil
Hi Basil,
Thanks for letting me know though
Yes I’m using it at the moment as it gives more flexibility in signatures (I’m using the Firefox addon). I thought I’ll play around with it a little bit more and make a post out of it
This is great! For those of you having issues w/ placeholders or icons with X’s showing up — I experienced this. The fix is to upload an image from your computer — not hosted on the web. Once I did this, worked perfectly.
Any way to DELETE someone else’s signature image in Gmail? My neighbor has this really ugly photo of his American Bulldog and I hate it because he’s attacked my dogs several times. I do email him once and awhile so i can’t just delete his entire address. Thanks
Ugh.. I don’t think it’s possible, sorry to hear that.. unless if you want to add a Firefox extension to block a specific image (which I think you can do with AdBlock plus extension)
Right after I posted the question I went into my gmail account, went to contacts, clicked on contact, put the cursor over the picture/icon and a little window comes up that says “change picture”! Then you have the option to change it or delete it. Easy peezy.
hi
i tried the steps to saving a canned response for a signature etc. I keep getting the red x place holder ive tried .gif and jpeg plus uploading the file to my website folder for a url connection …. none of it worked ever.
Cant imagine why?????? was simple easy to follow instructions. just doesnt load the photo any solutions other than the bone head , redundant email responses you gave everyone else who had the same problem da?
For everyone experiencing the “broken link” placeholder with their images, make sure that you are selecting an image that resides on your computer, and not linking to the image on the web, your photobucket account, etc.
I have not been able to get the images to save in the canned response when added via a URL. The image must be uploaded from my computer to remain in the template when I recall them and works 100% of the time.
Thanks, Nick. Appreciate you commenting here and help those out with the problems
For “Appartus Icon” read: ‘GREEN BEAKER’ next to settings.
Great articel michael, Kudos, Keep up the good work
I’ve been trying to use the canned response as a signature but every time I insert it the signature automatically inserts on the first line and pushes everything else under it? How can I get it to insert below what I’ve already typed?
This is the answer I have been looking for–Thank you! You would think pictures/logos would be allowed in the signature section of gmail but until then….. You have given me a solution.
Wow… This is perfect!!! It was exactly what I wanted
Thanks for the wonderful tip. Appreciate it.
thanks ,
thats a great help, exactly what i wanted,..
Thanks for the tip! I’m so happy with the results, and your instructions were easy enough to follow, thankyou!
useful and very tutorial, helps me to become the power user of Gmail
what if gmail doesnt have pic icon ? How to get one ? ths
Hello Michael !! Thanks for your explanation !! It was vary clear and I created my template the way I wanted !! I’ll mark your site in my Favorites
Thanks for coming back here and let us know, Jeff. Appreciate it