Email signatures

[Jim Thorne]

I know this seems to have been beaten to death in previous posts, but please
bear with me. We use Outlook 2003 with Word as our email editor and have
custom-made html signatures that include graphics. They are stored in the
default locations on the C drive. They work perfectly when starting a
message in Outlook.

Here's the problem: We have a workflow application that creates email
messages, but they pop up without any signature. It's the same effect as
starting in Word and clicking File...Send To...Mail recipient. My users want
to insert their standard signature into these messages. Insert...Autotext is
not an option - it doesn't allow us to select our graphic signatures.
Changing our default editor to the built-in Outlook editor is also not an
option.

There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule about never, ever saying that
a Microsoft product cannot do something. Be brave. If Outlook 2003 simply
cannot allow me to insert one of our custom signatures into a message, then
please say so. Then at least I can move on. On the other hand, if it can,
please tell me how to do it. Either way, my users need an answer.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Your workflow application and Send To commands use a mechanism called Simple MAPI to create messages. This mechanism does not make the full Outlook functionality available to the message windows it displays. That is why automatic signatures don't appear in messages created with those techniques.

Given your configuration and stated requirements, one possible way to accomodate your wishes would be to use custom code to insert the signature. See http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=615 for an Outlook VBA macro that shows how WordMail depends on a particular bookmark to mark the signature location.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers