Signatures are applied in the wrong place when underscores are in the message body

Scenario

You are using Exclaimer Cloud to apply signatures, but you notice that a signature is inserted in a wrong (usually quite peculiar) place for a particular message. This looks odd and gives the impression that the message has ended abruptly.

When you examine the message body, you find that it includes a series of underscores – perhaps denoting the start/end of a section or a ‘form’ field that needs to be populated with relevant information.

Reason

Reply separators determine where signatures should be placed in an email message.

Wherever a reply separator is found, the signature is inserted just above it.

When replying to messages in Rich Text Format, Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and other email clients/devices, identify a series of underscores (40 or more) as a reply separator. So, when the message reaches Exclaimer Cloud, the underscores inserted into the message body by the user are identified as a reply separator, and Exclaimer Cloud places the signature above it.

Resolution

This is standard behaviour within Microsoft Outlook, Gmail and other email clients/devices. We recommend that you try and avoid using a long series of underscores in the message content.