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How to delete existing signatures from Microsoft Outlook (Windows)

Payal Arya
  • Updated

Description

You have installed Exclaimer Cloud - Signatures for Microsoft 365, but some of your users still have manually created signatures within Microsoft Outlook. You want to delete their existing Outlook signatures.

Resolution

There are multiple ways to delete users' existing signatures - please click on the required options listed below to go through the detailed description:

Delete the signatures manually in Outlook

To delete the signatures manually:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook.

  2. Navigate to the File menu, then select Options.

  3. Click Mail, then select Signatures.

    Example:


  4. Select the signature you wish to delete and click Delete.

    Example:


  5. Click Yes to confirm. 
Use the Exclaimer Cloud Signature Update Agent to delete the signatures

This option is suitable for organizations that have enabled client-side signatures and have installed the Exclaimer Cloud Signature Update Agent on the users' machines.

To use the Exclaimer Cloud Signature Update Agent to delete the signatures:

  1. Log into the Exclaimer Cloud portal.

  2. Enable the option Remove all existing signatures from Outlook as per the steps described here: Exclaimer Cloud Signature Update Agent to delete the signatures. 

  3. Wait up to 1 hour.

    The manually created signatures will be removed from all machines where the Exclaimer Cloud Signature Update Agent is installed.
CAUTION! If you uninstall the Agent at a later date, the users' original signatures will be reinstated as part of the uninstall process.
Deploy a script via Microsoft Endpoint Manager (Intune)

This option is suitable for Azure AD-joined machines, and users sign in with their Azure AD accounts.

NOTE: Once the script executes, it doesn't execute again unless there's a change in the script or policy.

A PowerShell script to delete signatures is necessary for this option.

Here is an example of a basic PowerShell script which will backup and then delete the signature files:

<# .SYNOPSIS Script to backup and then delete all signature files from the signatures folder used by Microsoft Outlook on Windows.
.DESCRIPTION
This script is designed to be deployed by Microsoft Endpoint Manager or by Group Policy to delete signature files from a machine for the logged-in user.
.NOTES Date:
23rd January 2023.
.PRODUCTS Exclaimer Cloud - Signatures for Office 365.
.USAGE
Check that the variables $SignaturesFolder and $SignaturesBackupFolder are set to the best values for your organisation. The backup of the signature files is optional can can be removed if desired.
#>
#Declaring Signatures folder location $SignaturesFolder = "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Signatures" #Declaring Signature backup folder location $SignaturesBackupFolder = "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\SignaturesBackup" #Backup Existing signature files If (! (Test-Path -path "$SignaturesBackupFolder")){ Copy-Item -Path "$SignaturesFolder" -Destination "$SignaturesBackupFolder" -Recurse
}
#Delete original signature files
Get-ChildItem -Path "$SignaturesFolder" -Include *.* -Recurse | foreach { $_.Delete()}

Save the above script as a PowerShell file; for example DeleteSignatures.ps1.

  1. Browse to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager and sign in.

  2. From the left-hand pane, click Devices. From the right-hand pane, select Scripts, then click Add. Select Windows 10 and later.
    Example:
  3. Give the script a name; for example: Delete Signatures.

  4. Click Next.

  5. In Script location, select your PowerShell script file.

  6. In Run this script using the logged-on credentials, select Yes.

    Example:

  7. Click Next.

  8. Click Add groups and specify a group in Azure or click Add all users to include the required users for this script.

  9. Review the settings, then click Add.
    The script will run the next time the user logs into the machine

Deploy a script via GPO

This option is suitable for machines which are domain-joined (on-premises), and the user is signing in with their domain user account.

A PowerShell script to delete signatures is necessary for this option.

Here is an example of a basic PowerShell script which will backup and then delete the signature files:

<# .
SYNOPSIS Script to backup and then delete all signature files from the signatures folder used by Microsoft Outlook on Windows.
.DESCRIPTION This script is designed to be deployed by Microsoft Endpoint Manager or by Group Policy to delete signature files from a machine for the logged-in user.
.NOTES Date: 23rd January 2023.
.PRODUCTS Exclaimer Cloud - Signatures for Office 365.
.USAGE Check that the variables $SignaturesFolder and $SignaturesBackupFolder are set to the best values for your organisation. The backup of the signature files is optional can can be removed if desired. #>
#Declaring Signatures folder location $SignaturesFolder = "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Signatures" #Declaring Signature backup folder location $SignaturesBackupFolder = "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\SignaturesBackup" #Backup Existing signature files If (! (Test-Path -path "$SignaturesBackupFolder")){ Copy-Item -Path "$SignaturesFolder" -Destination "$SignaturesBackupFolder" -Recurse
}
#Delete original signature files
Get-ChildItem -Path "$SignaturesFolder" -Include *.* -Recurse | foreach { $_.Delete()} The script should be saved as a .ps1 file in the Netlogon folder
e.g. \\ExampleDomain.com\NETLOGON
or C:\Windows\SYSVOL\sysvol\ExampleDomain.com\scripts
  1. Open Group Policy Management.

  2. Select the required domain.

  3. You can either click on the Action menu and select Create a GPO in this domain>Link it here… or right-click the required domain and select Create a GPO in this domain>Link it here…

    This example screen displays the right-click menu:


    The New GPO window is displayed.

  4. Specify a name for the new Group Policy Object (GPO) and click OK.

    Example:


  5. Right-click the newly created GPO and click Edit.

  6. Expand User Configuration>Policies>Windows Setting and navigate to Users Administrative Templates.

  7. Double-click Scripts (Logon/Logoff).

  8. Double-click Logon.
    Example:


  9. Now, navigate to the PowerShell Scripts tab.

  10. Click Add...

  11. Click Browse...

  12. Select the script from the NETLOGON folder
  13. Click OK. 
    The script will run the next time the user logs into the machine.