Email Signature Standardisation

[jthompson]

Anyone using any signature standardisation tools with G Suite? I'll be looking to put together some GAM (or equivalent) commands to run when setting up new accounts, so that new staff don't start off with a blank signature and have the template already in place.

[FishCustard]

Ughhh, just the sort of sig I can’t stand. Loads of fluff (none of which has any real legal standing) and asking not to print it as if that’s people’s’ default with an email.

 

I like the idea of a standardised sig, perhaps even down to corporate font, but I’m not a fan of anything which can really bulk up an email thread.

 

Agreed. It's generally thought that most of the "legal" disclaimers in emails wouldn't actually stand up under any real legal scrutiny, and only serve to make people scroll further to find the actual content in a thread.

[jthompson]

Agreed. It's generally thought that most of the "legal" disclaimers in emails wouldn't actually stand up under any real legal scrutiny, and only serve to make people scroll further to find the actual content in a thread.

 

In any case, if an organisation wants to include a disclaimer, there are perhaps better methods for doing that than putting it into email signatures. That way it can be omitted from internal messages, not added a second time, etc.

[FishCustard]

In any case, if an organisation wants to include a disclaimer, there are perhaps better methods for doing that than putting it into email signatures. That way it can be omitted from internal messages, not added a second time, etc.

 

Exactly!

[themightymrp]

One of my guys has been experimenting getting the signatures applied in Office 365. If you build it all into a disclaimer rule, you can get images to display without being blocked by linking them to images stored on a HTTPS website. He has got his set to show both our logo and the alliance we are part of plus his signature is built dynamically using the correct field headings from within 365.

[dmj]

*Please* stop using the terminology of signature/signed emails when you are talking about meaningless graphics !

A signed email, in the IT sense, is an email that has been digitally signed to prove that it has come from the sender and that the message has not been tampered with. Putting an image at the bottom of an email isn't going to help with these things and is a security red herring, it just makes the school look stupid. If the SLT has asked for signed emails, as IT professionals we should at least be implementing this properly !

[DJ-1701]

*Please* stop using the terminology of signature/signed emails when you are talking about meaningless graphics !

A signed email, in the IT sense, is an email that has been digitally signed to prove that it has come from the sender and that the message has not been tampered with. Putting an image at the bottom of an email isn't going to help with these things and is a security red herring, it just makes the school look stupid. If the SLT has asked for signed emails, as IT professionals we should at least be implementing this properly !

 

Where has this come from? No one appears to have said 'signed' and as for 'signature' it's a standard term for that thing at the bottom of your e-mails, there is even a button for it in Outlook.

[dmj]

Where has this come from? No one appears to have said 'signed' and as for 'signature' it's a standard term for that thing at the bottom of your e-mails, there is even a button for it in Outlook.

 

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

[Boredguy]

you appear to be referencing a different signature than this thread is referring to

[FishCustard]

*Please* stop using the terminology of signature/signed emails when you are talking about meaningless graphics !

A signed email, in the IT sense, is an email that has been digitally signed to prove that it has come from the sender and that the message has not been tampered with. Putting an image at the bottom of an email isn't going to help with these things and is a security red herring, it just makes the school look stupid. If the SLT has asked for signed emails, as IT professionals we should at least be implementing this properly !

 

Do you honestly believe that SLTs at most schools would even know what signing in the sense you mean is (e.g. PGP), let alone want it implemented?

[DJ-1701]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

 

Maybe you should write to the Elders of the Internet.

[jthompson]

Putting an image at the bottom of an email isn't going to help with these things and is a security red herring

 

I've never met anyone who thinks that a signature block at the end of a message is there as a security measure. As for 'proper IT terminology', signature is correct.

[TechMonkey]

Two very different things that you, but no one else in this thread, seem to be confusing.

Email Signature

Email Signing

[leegcvcc]

One of my guys has been experimenting getting the signatures applied in Office 365. If you build it all into a disclaimer rule, you can get images to display without being blocked by linking them to images stored on a HTTPS website. He has got his set to show both our logo and the alliance we are part of plus his signature is built dynamically using the correct field headings from within 365.

Doesn't a disclaimer just display at the bottom of the email and duplicate unless you make a text exception to the disclaimer rule to stop them being applied every time a response is made? I use it as a signature internally, but it's only good for the first email, it's not seen again unless you scroll to the bottom of the email chain. Would love to know if a break through has been made in 365 to make a disclaimer more useful as a signature.

[mavhc]

It's possible to set disclaimers to only be added for external email at least.

 

Doesn't solve the problem of multiple copies in a thread, which is why the entire idea of signatures is stupid until software returns to having standards about signature separators.

 

Less stupid than email disclaimers though.

 

Structured information such as job title, phone number etc should be put in a public ldap server, otherwise it'll just be out of date unstructured data.

[FishCustard]

Structured information such as job title, phone number etc should be put in a public ldap server, otherwise it'll just be out of date unstructured data.

 

This I partially agree with - it should be pulled from AD. Public LDAP - eh, overkill for schools.

[MartinT]

Pulling signature data from AD keeps it structured. Doing it at the time of sending is better as job titles in the sent items are a snapshot of the info at that time. If a job title changes, it'll change some way along the thread.

[leegcvcc]

It's possible to set disclaimers to only be added for external email at least.

 

Doesn't solve the problem of multiple copies in a thread, which is why the entire idea of signatures is stupid until software returns to having standards about signature separators.

 

Less stupid than email disclaimers though.

 

Structured information such as job title, phone number etc should be put in a public ldap server, otherwise it'll just be out of date unstructured data.

You can choose not apply the disclaimer if it's been applied once by setting an exception to the rule using the disclaimer text as the exception text. Stops all that kronky business!

[themightymrp]

Multiple disclaimers can be applied to an email, you just need to put them in the correct priority order of the mail flow rules. You should be able to have one which just builds the email signature dynamically for your emails i.e. name, job title etc which is applied to each email. Then use a separate disclaimer rule to add all the legal blurb at the bottom and add the exception to that one so that it doesn't repeat on every message sent. You could also specify that this secondary disclaimer only applies to messages going outside the organisation.

 

Unless I'm missing something?

[leegcvcc]

You can do whatever you like with rules and order of rules, but it will still place the disclaimer rule texts at the bottom of the email. There is no way to position it other than that. The only thing to do is tidy it up and make it not apply to every email reply, so at least that bit is tidy