Signatures - Thunderbird

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Single signature per account

Thunderbird allows you to have a different signature for each of your email accounts. Instructions on how to create a signature file and use it in Thunderbird are available here. If you want your signature to include graphics or html-formatted text such as colors or boldfacing, then create your signature file as an html document and save it with the ".html" file extension. For more information on signature blocks, including the signature separator ("-- ") that Thunderbird inserts before your signature text, see Dan's Mail Format Site.

Tip for making an html-formatted signature

If you don't know how to make an html file to use for a signature, you can try the procedure described below.

  1. In Thunderbird, click on the "Write" button to compose a new message.
  2. Type in the text you want to use for your signature and add whatever formatting you want (font style, color, boldfacing, etc.).
  3. Select the text you want in your signature (or go to "Edit -> Select All" if you want the whole message as your signature).
  4. From the "Insert" menu, choose "HTML...".
  5. Select the text in the window that pops up and copy the selected text ("Ctrl+C", or right mouse click and select "Copy").
  6. Open your favorite text editor (such as Notepad) and paste in the text you just copied.
  7. Save the file to your computer, giving it a name with the ".html" extension (such as "signature1.html").
  8. In Thunderbird again, go to "Tools -> Account Settings -> <Account Name>".
  9. Check the "Attach this signature" option.
  10. Click the "Choose..." button and attach the signature file that you just created and saved on your computer.

To insert a promotional button in your signature

If you want to include a promotional button for Thunderbird or Firefox in your signature, get the raw html code for the button from here (Thunderbird) or here (Firefox). Do as described above for making an html-formatted signature, but at step #2, put the cursor in the message body where you want the button to appear and then go to Insert > HTML. In the dialog box that pops up, paste in the raw html code for the button and click Insert to close the dialog. See this forum thread for further tips.

Multiple signatures per account

Via multiple identities

One way to create multiple signatures for a single account is to create multiple identities and to create a separate signature for each identity. Once you have created your identities, make a separate signature file for each as described above. To assign one signature file to one identity:

  1. Go to "Tools -> Account Settings", click on the account name (in the left-hand pane), and then click on the "Manage Identities..." button.
  2. Select an identity from the list and click the "Edit..." button.
  3. Click the "Settings" tab, check the "Attach this signature" option, the click the "Choose..." button to attach a signature file.
  4. Finally, click the "OK" button and repeat the above steps for your other identities.

Via an extension

If you want to have more than one signature per email account or choose from a variety of signatures when composing mail, your best option is to use the Tagzilla extension. Note that you must also install the JSLib extension before installing Tagzilla. The Tagzilla homepage includes installation and usage instructions, and includes screenshots as well. See this thread for a few comments on Tagzilla limitations with regard to email signatures.

Instead of Tagzilla you can use the smaller and easier Signature extension.