Getting the best out of your forum signature

This post has also been published as a TechNet Wiki article on: https://aka.ms/forumsignature.

Surf to the Wiki article, and feel free to add more useful hints and tips to get the best out of your forum signature.

Introduction

When you participate in the forums, by creating a new discussion or question, or responding to a question/discussion, you'll notice that a few things get added automatically.

First of all:

• your Profile name + link
• time stamp
• some additional actions (reply, ...)

Some of the more experienced users will also have a nice signature added, before the profile footer...

Suppose you want that nice signature too, how does that work?

Steps

Then scroll down the page, on the bottom you'll find the signature section

You can simply add some text... or some nice HTML. (That's what we'll explain in detail below).

Don't get scared by the converted layout (the HTML gets converted into special characters), but we'll handle that.

Below you see some examples of advanced layout, using

• hyperlinks to personal websites or profile pages
• colored fonts
• smaller sized fonts
• images

See sample below:

Check this article for more samples:
How to Get Hyperlinks in Your Microsoft Forum Signature .  

Hints and tips

It's highly advised to design your signature with an offline editor first.

Don't make it too complex, the online editor might clean some special HTML code. So stick to the HTML basics.

It's highly suggested to keep your signature small and compact (therefore using the smaller fonts). Even for small posts your signature should not 'fill the screen', or take the majority of the post.

Use paragraph blocks (using <p> before and </p> after) or break lines (<br>)

You can manage the font size in explicit (px or pt sizes) or relative heights (smaller... )

You can set some nice colors in your signatures, see example

You can also add images to your signature, but please be aware of the limitations, as discussed below.

The horizontal line can be inserted using <hr>

It's highly advised to avoid this as the editor will automatically add a horizontal line before your signature, by default.

Example

<``p``>

Your Name (Your Company) (<``ahref``=``"https://aka.ms/Wiki"``>Link to user page</``a``>)

</``p``>

<``pstyle``=``"font-size:x-small"``>

[If a post helps to resolve your issue, please click the

<``fontcolor``=``"blue"``>

"Mark as Answer"

</``font``>

 ``of that post or click

<``imgalt``=``"Answered"src``=``"https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/getfile/179394"title``=``"Answered"``>

<``fontcolor``=``"green"``>

"Vote as helpful"

</``font``>

 ``button of that post. By marking a post as Answered or Helpful, you help others find the answer faster. ]

</``p``>

Your Name (Your Company) (Link to user page)

[If a post helps to resolve your issue, please click the
"Mark as Answer" of that post or click "Vote as helpful" button of that post. By marking a
post as Answered or Helpful, you help others find the answer faster. ]

Limitations

When you post an reply or new thread, the signature is added automatically. When you've got too many images in the final post, you can't add any images later on.

Carefully check this article:
How to Get Hyperlinks in Your Microsoft Forum Signature, as it discusses some other possible limitations.

See also

• Forums Help (FAQ)
• Forum Moderation Guide: User Profiles - Signatures
• How to Get Hyperlinks in Your Microsoft Forum Signature

•   forum signature

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2016
  Great
• Anonymous
  August 29, 2016
  Great "How To" and tons of information here!
• Anonymous
  September 25, 2016
  Very Useful and informative :)
• Anonymous
  October 05, 2016
  Great post. Thank you.