Gmail Signature Not Showing? How to Fix It on Desktop, Replies, iPhone and Android

If your Gmail signature isn't showing, the cause is almost always one of four things: the signature was never saved (the Save Changes button sits at the very bottom of the settings page), it isn't selected under Signature defaults for new emails or for replies, you're sending from a different address than the one the signature belongs to, or you're writing on your phone, where the Gmail app can use its own text-only mobile signature. Missing or broken images are a separate group of problems, covered further down.

This guide starts with a one-minute checklist, then walks through each symptom with the exact fix. Every menu name was checked against Google's help pages and a live Gmail account in October 2026. If you haven't created a signature yet, start with our guide on how to add or change your Gmail signature and come back here if something goes wrong.

First, check where you're sending from

Gmail doesn't keep one signature for everything. Where you write the email decides which signature (if any) gets added, and fixing it in the wrong place is the most common reason "I already set it up" doesn't help.

Quick checklist: run through this first

1. Did you click Save Changes? It's at the very bottom of the settings page, below everything else. Leaving the page without it throws your edits away.
2. Is the signature selected under Signature defaults? For new emails use and On reply/forward use are two separate drop-downs. If either says No signature, Gmail adds nothing there.
3. Are you sending from the address the signature belongs to? Check the From line in the compose window.
4. Are you on your phone? A mobile signature in the Gmail app replaces your desktop one.
5. Is plain text mode on? Plain text can't show formatting, links or images.
6. Is the signature trimmed? In a thread, Gmail can hide it behind three dots.
7. Did you send a test to another address? What you see while writing isn't always what the recipient gets.

If one of these points at your problem, jump to the matching section below.

Signature not saved (it disappears after you leave settings)

This is the classic one. You create the signature, type or paste it, set the defaults, then click back to your inbox. Gmail doesn't save signature edits on its own. The Save Changes button is at the very bottom of the General tab, below a long list of other settings, and it's easy to miss.

The fix:

1. Click the Settings gear at the top right, then See all settings.
2. Stay on the General tab and scroll to Signature.
3. Click your signature (or Create new if it vanished) and check its content.
4. Set the Signature defaults (see the next section).
5. Scroll all the way down and click Save Changes.

Then open a new compose window to check. A draft you started before saving may keep its old signature, so test with a fresh email.

Signature not set as default for new emails

A saved signature isn't automatically used. Directly under the signature editor, the Signature defaults area has two drop-downs:

• For new emails use
• On reply/forward use

If one is set to No signature, Gmail keeps your signature on file but doesn't add it there. Pick your signature in For new emails use, then click Save Changes.

For one email, you can add it by hand: at the bottom of the compose window, click Insert signature (the pen icon) and choose your signature. If the pen icon isn't there at all, Gmail has no saved signature for that address yet.

The same pen icon can also cause the opposite problem. If someone picked No signature there while writing, that email goes out without one. It only affects that one email, so the next new email should look normal again.

Gmail signature not showing in replies

There are three separate causes, and they look the same from the outside.

The reply default is set to "No signature"

Replies and forwards have their own setting. Go to See all settings > General > Signature, set On reply/forward use to your signature (or a shorter reply version), and click Save Changes. Many people set up a full signature for new emails and a two-line one for replies on purpose, so long threads don't repeat a logo in every message. Our Gmail signature guide shows how to set that up.

The signature is at the bottom, below the quoted conversation

By default, Gmail puts your signature at the very end of a reply, under the whole quoted thread. You may think it's missing because it's far down, hidden inside the quoted part. Under Signature defaults, tick Insert signature before quoted text in replies and remove the "--" line that precedes it, then click Save Changes. Your signature then sits right under what you wrote.

It's hidden behind the three dots

In a conversation, Gmail collapses repeated content behind a small button with three dots. Google's help page says the signature sits below the message body, separated by two dashes, and that you can see it by clicking Show trimmed content at the bottom of the message. That's a display choice in the reader's Gmail, not a fault in your signature: the signature is there, and the recipient can expand it the same way.

Wrong "Send mail as" address

If you send from more than one address in the same Gmail account, for example your own address and info@yourcompany.com, each address has its own signature and its own defaults. A signature set up for your main address does nothing when you send from the other one.

To fix it:

1. Go to See all settings > General > Signature.
2. Use the drop-down above the signature box to pick the address you actually send from.
3. Choose a signature for that address under Signature defaults and click Save Changes.

If there's no address drop-down, Gmail doesn't know about your other address yet. Open the Accounts and Import tab and check the Send mail as section. Addresses only show up in the signature settings once they're listed there.

Also check the From line when you write. If you don't see it, click the space next to the recipient's address and it appears. To send new emails from another address by default, click Make default next to it in Send mail as.

Two separate Google accounts (say, a personal Gmail and a work account) are a different case. Each has its own settings, so each needs its own signature.

Gmail signature not showing on iPhone or Android

The Gmail app has a separate setting called Mobile signature. It works differently from what most people expect.

How it works, according to Google: if you don't create a signature in the Gmail app, new messages from the app use the signature you set up on your computer. If you do turn on a mobile signature, it replaces the computer one for emails sent from the app. The mobile signature is a simple text box, so your logo, colors and links don't come along.

So the fix depends on what you see:

• No signature at all from your phone: first check that the computer signature is saved and set under For new emails use (see above). The app falls back to it only if it exists.
• A plain text signature instead of your designed one: a mobile signature is turned on. Turn it off to get your desktop signature back.
• The wrong account's signature: each account in the app has its own setting, so check the account you send from.

Gmail app on iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Tap Menu at the top left, then Settings.
3. Tap the account you send from.
4. Under Compose and Reply, tap Signature settings.
5. Turn Mobile Signature off to use your computer signature, or on to type a short text one.
6. Tap Back to save.

Gmail app on Android

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Tap Menu at the top left, scroll down and tap Settings.
3. Choose your Google account.
4. Tap Mobile signature.
5. Clear the text to use your computer signature (or type a short one), then tap OK.

You may not see the desktop signature in the phone's compose window, even when it works. Send a test email to another address and look at what arrives.

Not using the Gmail app?

If you read your Gmail in Apple's Mail app or in Outlook on your phone, Gmail's signature settings don't apply at all. Those apps add their own signature, so set it there. For Apple Mail, our iPhone email signature guide has the steps. The same goes for Outlook on a computer with a Gmail account added: Outlook's signature is used, and our Outlook signature troubleshooting guide covers that side.

Plain text mode is on

Plain text emails can't show bold text, colors, links or pictures. In plain text mode, a designed signature turns into bare lines of text, and the formatting buttons in the compose toolbar stop working.

To turn it off:

1. Open a new email (Compose).
2. At the bottom right of the compose window, click More options (the three dots).
3. Untick Plain text mode.

Google lists this as the fix when you can't format text in your signature.

"Signature is too long" error (the 10,000-character limit)

Gmail allows up to 10,000 characters per signature. That limit counts everything Gmail stores, not just the words you see: the formatting code behind the text, and images too, according to Google. A short-looking signature can easily go over. When it does, Gmail shows an error and won't save it, which looks like "my signature isn't working."

The usual causes:

• An image pasted as a file. When an image is pasted straight in (instead of linked from a web address), its data can count toward the limit and fill it on its own. Google notes that resizing a large image can fix the error.
• A signature copied from Word or Google Docs. Word processors carry a lot of hidden formatting into the paste.
• Long tracking links on every icon and link.

The fix: delete the signature completely, then paste it again from a browser preview rather than from a document. Add images through the Add an image dialog with Web Address (URL), so only the link counts. Our email signature size guide explains image sizes and file weight in more detail.

Signature images not showing

Start by working out who can't see the image: you while writing, or the person receiving the email.

For Outlook, Apple Mail and the recipient's side as well, see email signature image not showing.

You can't see or insert the image

Google's own checklist for image problems:

• Delete the image and add it again.
• Try the other option in the Add an image dialog. In the live Gmail settings it now offers two: Web Address (URL) and Google Drive. There's no upload-from-computer option, so a logo that only lives on your computer needs to be put online first.
• Clear the browser cache and the cookies for mail.google.com, or try an incognito window or a different browser.

Recipients see a broken image or a blank box

• The Drive image isn't shared publicly. If you inserted from Google Drive, the file must be shared so anyone with the link can view it. Otherwise only you see it. In a work or school account, your administrator may block public sharing, and then the Web Address (URL) option is the only one that works.
• The image was moved or deleted. If the file is removed from Drive, or the web address changes (a website redesign is a common one), the link breaks for everyone.
• The recipient blocks images. In Gmail, readers can choose Ask before displaying external images under Settings > See all settings > Images. Other email apps have similar settings. You can't change that for them, so keep your name, phone and email as real text and never put them inside a picture.
• The format isn't email-friendly. Use PNG for logos and icons and JPG for photos. SVG and WebP are fine on websites but unreliable in email apps.

The image is huge or squashed

Google recommends a signature image 70 to 100 pixels high and 300 to 400 pixels wide, with a maximum of 100 pixels high by 1,000 pixels wide. Click the image in the signature editor to pick Small, Medium, Large or Original size, or resize the file before you insert it.

Formatting lost or extra characters after pasting

Gmail's signature box has no field for HTML code. You can only paste a finished, rendered signature, and what survives depends on where you copied it from.

• Copy from a browser, not a document. Select the signature in a web page or a generator's preview and copy it, or use the generator's copy button. Pasting from Word or Google Docs brings hidden code and odd spacing.
• Don't paste the HTML code itself. Pasting code turns it into a wall of text. Copy the signature as you see it.
• Clean up stray styling. Google's fix for display problems and extra characters is to select the signature in settings and click Remove formatting (the T with a line through it in the editor toolbar), then format it again.
• Check in dark mode. Email apps in dark mode can change colors, and a dark logo on a transparent background can disappear. Our dark mode signature guide covers the fixes.

Tables, fixed image sizes and simple fonts survive pasting best, which is why signature generators build them that way.

Extra footer or a signature you didn't add (Google Workspace)

If you use Gmail at work or school, your administrator can add a footer to every outgoing email. Google's admin documentation says users don't see this footer while writing, and can't change or remove it. By default it's added only to emails sent outside your organization, so colleagues may never see it while clients do. After an admin changes it, it can take up to 24 hours to apply.

So if your signature looks doubled, or a legal line appears that you never typed, ask your IT person before you edit your own signature. Remove the details that the footer already covers, so recipients don't read them twice.

When it's faster to rebuild the signature

If your signature was pieced together from Word, a screenshot or an old template, you can lose an afternoon to "too long" errors, broken images and odd spacing. Starting from a clean signature is usually quicker.

Signguin is a free email signature generator that builds signatures for exactly this: table-based HTML with inline styles, fixed-size PNG images hosted on Signguin's servers (so nothing breaks when your website changes), and a preview in light and dark mode on phone and desktop. Every Signguin signature fits Gmail's 10,000-character limit. Installing it in Gmail is copy and paste: click Copy signature, then in Gmail click the gear icon > See all settings > General > Signature, paste it into the box, set the Signature defaults and click Save Changes. The free plan needs no sign-up.

For ready-made designs, see our Gmail signature templates.

What no generator can fix: a default that isn't set, a forgotten Save Changes, a mobile signature that overrides your desktop one, a recipient who blocks images, or a footer added by your admin. Those are settings, and the sections above cover each one.

FAQ

Why is my Gmail signature not showing in new emails?

Usually the signature isn't selected under Signature defaults, or the edits were never saved. Go to See all settings > General > Signature, pick your signature in For new emails use, then scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes. If you send from several addresses, check that you set it for the address in your From line.

Why is my Gmail signature not showing in replies?

Replies have their own setting, On reply/forward use. If it says No signature, pick your signature and save. If it's set and you still can't see the signature, it's probably below the quoted text or hidden behind the three dots. Tick Insert signature before quoted text in replies under Signature defaults to place it right under your message.

Why is my Gmail signature not showing on my iPhone or Android phone?

The Gmail app uses its own mobile signature if one is turned on, and that replaces your desktop signature with plain text. If none is set, Google says new messages use your computer signature. Turn off Mobile Signature (iPhone) or clear Mobile signature (Android). If you send from Apple Mail or Outlook, set the signature in that app instead.

Why does Gmail say my signature is too long?

Gmail's limit is 10,000 characters, and it counts hidden formatting code and images, not just the visible text. A signature copied from Word, or an image pasted as a file instead of linked by web address, often goes over. Delete it, paste it again from a browser preview, and add images with Web Address (URL).

Why are the images in my Gmail signature not showing?

Most often a Google Drive image isn't shared with "anyone with the link", the image was moved or deleted, or the recipient has set their email app to ask before showing images. Re-insert the image with Web Address (URL) from a stable public address, and keep your contact details as text so the signature still works without pictures.

Why does my Gmail signature look different after I paste it?

Gmail only accepts a rendered signature, not HTML code, and pasting from Word or Google Docs adds hidden formatting. Copy the signature from a browser or a generator's preview, paste it into the Signature box, and if odd characters appear, select it and click Remove formatting, then format it again.