It is possible to add an attachment as a signature to every outgoing email, but this is not desirable & there is a better way.
Why to NOT use an attached graphic as a signature
- If you always send an attachment with every email then people can’t tell when you are sending a real attachment because all messages from you will have that little paperclip on them.
- It is annoying for people to receive the same little attachment from you hundreds of times. For example, if you attach your VCF card to every email. Bleh.
- Many internet companies are now charging by the kb, so it is wasteful and possibly expensive to send and/or receive an attachment with every message. You don’t want people to resent getting an email from you! Those who need to conserve their bandwidth can turn off displaying linked images, or only download the first X number of kilobytes.
TIP: Instead of sending the attachment as part of your signature, store the graphic on a web server & include a link to display it.
The Best way to use a Graphic Signature:
1) Using FTP or any convenient method, store your signature graphic on a webserver.
2) View your graphic on the web server with your web browser (Safari, Firefox, etc). Leave this window open, we’ll come back to it.
I suggest using the web server that matches your email address if possible. Ideally make a folder at the web server root for your linked files.
Example: www.server.com/myname/SigFile.jpg
Advanced Tip: If using DreamHost, you can (optionally) create make a “remapped” User so you can FTP or SFTP to that folder without risk of affecting the rest of the website accidentally, or vice versa.
3) Open Apple Mail Preferences, and in the top toolbar, click Signatures.
Click the + plus sign to create a new signature.
You usually do want to X the box for “place signature above quoted text”.
4) Drag the graphic from the web browser window into the signature window of Apple Mail. A placeholder will appear.
That’s it! You Did it! Close the signatures window. :-)
Here is the final product, as received.
Note the lack of a paperclip in the highlighted line below, and the tiny message size! No attachment.
