You switch apps on Monday and every mail leaves without your name, designation and company line. Signatures and saved templates are small files with a big embarrassment potential - and they do not all travel.
In classic Outlook, signatures live as local files - each signature is a small set of files in the Signatures folder, with images and formatting - and templates live as .oft files or Quick Parts and AutoText in your profile. The new Outlook uses roaming signatures stored with your Microsoft 365 account for supported accounts, and a simpler template story. Some signatures roam, some must be rebuilt, and classic-only items like OFT templates have no direct home. This page maps what travels, what does not, and the rebuild order that avoids the naked-email Monday.
Example panel - roaming depends on account type; POP and local only setups behave differently.
Classic Outlook stores signatures locally per Windows profile. You can craft rich signatures with tables, images and multiple versions - one for new mail, one shorter for replies. Microsoft added roaming signatures for Microsoft 365 accounts in classic too: the signature stores in the mailbox and follows the user. The new Outlook builds on that roaming model, editing signatures in settings with a simpler editor. The friction appears at the edges: signatures built with precise local HTML, image sizing tricks, or multiple signatures for shared identities may arrive simplified or not at all, depending on account type and how they were created.
Rebuild rather than wrestle. Create the signature fresh in the new app's editor, typing the text, then adding the logo image at the display size you actually want. Set the defaults for new messages and for replies separately - reply signatures should be shorter, a courtesy every long thread appreciates. Then send two test mails to an external account: one new, one reply, and read them on a phone. Signatures break on phones more than on desktops - wide logos and tiny legal text are the usual failures, and the phone view is what your clients judge.
Classic offices accumulate sending machinery: OFT template files for quotations and complaints, Quick Parts for bank details and address blocks, AutoText for long standard paragraphs. None of these classic stores roam into the new app today. The new Outlook offers a lightweight My Templates style add-in for short reusable text, which covers simple snippets honestly but is not an OFT replacement - no rich pre-built message with attachments and formatting. Desks whose day is sending templated quotations should treat templates exactly like add-ins: a blocker list item until a replacement workflow is built and tested.
Personal signatures roam with a personal account. Shared mailbox signatures - sending as info@ with the company block, or a department signature applied for a team - were often handled in classic by local signature files, third party tools or transport rules. In the new app, check what appears when sending as the shared address: the From identity and the signature block must match, every time, including replies. Central signature management tools that stamp mail at the server are the robust answer for larger offices, because server stamping does not care which app sent the mail at all.
The full safe routine fits in an hour. Back up the Signatures folder and note your OFT and Quick Parts locations. Switch one user. Rebuild their two working signatures. Move short snippets into the new template tool. Send the four tests - new and reply, personal and shared - to an external mailbox and read them on a phone. Only then move the next user. Offices that skip this discover signature problems from clients, which is the most expensive possible testing department.
See both Outlook apps side by side in the full video - every difference shown on a real PC, step by step.
Watch Full VideoFor Microsoft 365 accounts, roaming signatures can follow the account. Locally built classic signatures may need rebuilding in the new app - back up the Signatures folder and test both new mail and replies.
OFT template files and classic Quick Parts are classic Outlook features. The new app offers a simple template add-in for short snippets, which does not fully replace OFT workflows.
Usually an oversized logo image or wide table layout from the desktop design. Rebuild with the image at final display size and test every signature on a phone before rollout.