Creating a Signature in Thunderbird
Overview
Your signature (short for “Signature
Block”) in e-mail is a block of text
that is inserted at the bottom of the e-mail.
Your signature is a way to “sign off” a
message and allows you to include consistent
information about yourself, such as alternative
contact information.
Thunderbird has a built-in signature option
and, included in the LC Install, an optional
extension called Signature. If you have only
1 signature block that you want to appear
in every e-mail you send use the built-in
option. The Signature extension allows you
to create multiple signature blocks then
decide which, if any, you want in each e-mail.
Thunderbird’s built-in Signature Feature
Before you can use Thunderbird’s built-in
Signature feature you must create a signature
file in a text editing program. You can use
Microsoft Word or any other program that
allows you to save a plain text (.txt) file
(TextEdit, WordPad, Notepad, etc.). Then
you will use the Account Settings in Thunderbird
to select the file you created.
Create your Signature File:
1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Type the text you would like to appear
as your signature.
3. Select File > Save As...
4. Find your Profile Folder (see below).
5. Select the Plain Text (.txt) option from
the Format menu.
6. Type a name for the file (such as signature)
and click Save.
7. If you get a warning about losing formatting
when saving as plain text, click Yes or OK.
Locating your Profile Folder
On Windows, the path is C:\Documents and
Settings\your login\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default.
On Macintosh, the path is user/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/
(user may be your login or the word user)
xxxxxxxx will be randomly generated characters & numbers
Configuring Thunderbird
Select Tools > Account Settings.
Click to check the box next to Attach this
signature.
Click the Choose button.
Navigate to your signature file (signature.txt)
and click Open.
Click OK in the Account Settings Window.
Using your Signature
When you compose a new message (via the Write
button, one of the Reply options or Forward)
your signature will be automatically inserted
in the message with a separator line of 2
dashes (--).
Updating your Signature
To update your signature file open the signature.txt
file in Word, make your changes and Save.
You do not need to update Thunderbird since
only a link to the external file is stored.
