Email Signatures

An email signature is a tool to share our basic contact information — and more importantly, let our recipients know we are connected to and communicating on behalf of Illinois. Our templates help standardize email signatures throughout the university and better tie them to the Illinois brand.

For Illinois faculty and staff, we advise you to follow our template and suggested customizations as they are designed. Check to make sure your college, department and unit name are written correctly (for example, including the name of your named college if applicable).

Email Signature Generator

The email signature generator can be found in the Webtools directory. This tool allows you to simply copy and paste an appropriately formatted email signature into your email client. This tool is only available for faculty and staff. Graduate students can copy a faculty signature, paste it into their email client and update with their own information.

Create Your Email Signature

To generate your email signature and apply it to your email client, follow these steps:

1. Visit webtools.illinois.edu and log in using your NetID.
2. Hover over “More” in the top right-hand corner.
3. Click “Directory.”
4. You will see a list of all of the directory entries you have editor access to. Select your own by clicking your blue, hyperlinked email. Click on the “View” button in the top right to see your details.
5. Click the “@” (Create signature) button on the far right.
6. On the Email Signature Generation page, you will notice the information from your directory listing has been autofilled for your convenience. You are free to make any corrections or changes to this information.
7. Once you are satisfied with your information, click the “Generate Signature” button.
8. After this, “Select” the text in the box and copy and paste your new signature into your email client’s email signature settings.

Unique Circumstances and Customization

If your signature has special circumstances or customization needs the generator cannot meet, use our suggestions below for the best ways to integrate your customizations.

Only university department and unit-affiliated social media accounts may be included in email signatures. If you are uncertain whether you are able to list a social media account, refer to the campus social media listing.

Make it more concise

You may use the “|” (vertical) line to combine related elements to make your signature appear more concise. Elements like two-unit names, a unit name and the full university name or street address, city, state, zip, etc., can be combined using this method.

Add your pronouns

If you would like to add your personal pronouns to your signature, you may do so by including them in parenthesis next to your name and separated by commas.

Multiple roles with one location

In this circumstance, the generator will create the email signature below. Each role will be grouped with the title, unit and web address and separated by a vertical space.

Roles with multiple locations

If you have multiple roles with separate locations, you will need to create two separate email signatures. You can store both of these signatures within your email client and select the appropriate signature for the circumstance.

Add Your Signature to Your Email Client