How to Add Links to Signatures in Mac OS X Mail or MacOS Mail

Including a live link in your sig is easy and useful for mail recipients

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated November 13, 2019

MacOS Mail makes it easy to insert text links into your email signature: Just type the URL, also known as a hyperlink — the full address of the website you're linking to. MacOS Mail does the rest, automatically converting anything that starts with http:// to a live link. You also can create a link from the existing text. Here's how.

The instructions here were tested on MacOS Mail and apply to OS X Mail as well.

  1. Open Mail. Select Mail > Preferences from the menu.

    Select Mail > Preferences from the Ma

  2. From the Signatures tab, select the account with the signature you want to edit in the left column of the screen. Select the signature from the middle column.

    You also can add a new signature here by pressing the + key.

    Add signatures to Apple Mail
    Coyote Moon

  3. In the right panel, highlight the text to which you want to add a link in your signature.

  4. Select Edit > Add Link from the menu bar, or use the keyboard shortcut Command + K.

  5. Enter the complete internet address including http:// in the field provided and click OK.

  6. Close the Signatures window.

Add Image Links to Signatures in MacOS Mail

To make an image clickable:

  1. Size the image — your business logo, business card, or other graphic— as desired to display in the signature.

    As of 2019, anywhere from 24 percent to 77 percent of emails are opened on mobile devices (source: eMailmonday, “The Ultimate Mobile Email Stats”). That means you should size the image in your signature so it fits the smallest of small cellphone screens — generally 320 pixels wide. This also prevents the image from garishly overwhelming and distracting from your message.

  2. Open Mail and select Mail > Preferences.

  3. From the Signatures tab, select the account with the signature you want to edit in the left column of the screen. Select the signature from the middle column.

  4. Drag the image you want to the signature screen.

  5. Click on the image to select it.

  6. Select Edit > Add Link from the menu bar, or use the keyboard shortcut Command + K.


  7. Enter the complete internet address in the field provided and select OK.

  8. Close the Signatures window.

Test the Signature Links

Create a new email in the account with the signature you just added and select the signature from the drop-down menu next to Signature to display the signature in the new email. The links won't work in your draft email, so send a test message to yourself or to one of your other accounts to confirm that the text and image links work properly.

MacOS Mail compose screen

If your recipient chooses to read mail in plain-text format, a rich-text link will not display as a clickable link, but as the http:// address itself.