Outlook signature based on user information from Active Directory

To provide a consistent company image all users should use the same signature template in their Outlook profile. I`ve created a Windows PowerShell-script to deploy a consistent Outlook signature to users, based on user information retrieved from Active Directory. I`ve used the fields “Display name”, “Title", “E-mail” and “Telephone number”, however, additional fields may be added to suit your needs.

Step-by-step

1) Download the script from here. Save it to a UNC-path accessible for all users.

2) Adjust the custom variables:

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3) From an Outlook client, create a signature based on your company template:

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4) Copy the signature files from %appdata%\Microsoft\Signatures to the UNC-path specified in the SigSource-variable in the script:

 

 

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5) Open both Company Name.rtf and Company Name.htm in Microsoft Office Word and insert the following bookmarks:

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Mark each word, e.g. “EmailAddress”, go to “Insert”, press the “Bookmark”-button and name the bookmark “EmailAddress”. It`s important that the names of the bookmarks are “DisplayName”, “Title”, “TelephoneNumber” and “EmailAddress”.
This is because these bookmarks are replaced by the information retrieved from Active Directory for the logged-on user.

6) When appropriately tested, deploy the script to end users. This may be accomplished by e.g. Group Policy:

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Additional information

Sample signature created using Set-OutlookSignature.ps1:

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Active Directory object for sample user:

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Settings are stored in HKCU in the registry:

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A few notes:
-Existing signatures are preserved
-Users are allowed to make customizations to their signatures until a new version is deployed. Then the exisiting company-signature will be overwritten.

Comments

# janegil said:

Thanks!

Great you figured the root cause for your issue. Let me know if you need any assistance. If so I would need to know the MS Word version you`re using.

Monday, January 18, 2010 2:55 PM
# janegil said:

Wryland: I haven`t seen any way to lock down the signature editing feature in Outlook, however, the user would have to manually override the signature for each logon if the signature are enforced.

Ariel: Thanks! I would try disabling any addins in Word/Outlook to see if any of these might be the cause of your issue.

Friday, February 12, 2010 11:56 PM