How to Get Cursive Signatures in Windows Mail
ALLEN BETHEA
TECH
Plain, typed email signatures lack the charm and personality of your name written in cursive with a pen or pencil. While Outlook.com allows you to create a signature using a cursive script font, the Windows Mail app limits you to basic, unadorned, unformatted, sterile text. If you must add that personal touch to your email, however, you can get around Mail's restrictions by pasting a graphic image of your signature typed using a cursive font into the body of your message.
Launch Paint, click "Text," the "Font family" drop-down list and then select a cursive-style font like Blackadder ITC, Vladimir Script, Vivaldi or Palace Script MT.
Click your mouse near the left side of the drawing area, hold down the mouse button and then drag the pointer down and to the right to create an rectangular area large enough to contain your signature.
Type your name and then click anywhere outside of the rectangle holding your name.
Press "Ctrl-A" and then click "Crop."
Place the cursor above and to the left of the first letter of your signature, hold down the left mouse button and then drag the cursor down and to the right until the rectangular selection area surrounds all the letters.
Release the mouse button, click "Crop" and then "Save" to save the image of your signature for future use.
Press "Ctrl-A" and then "Ctrl-C" to copy your signature from Paint.
Launch Windows Mail and start your new message.
Press "Enter" after the last line of your message and then press "Ctr-P" to paste your signature into the body of the message. It may take a few seconds for the image to appear.
Click "Send" to send your message and signature. You signature will be included as an email attachment.
- Information in this article applies to Windows Paint and Windows Mail running on Windows 8.1. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions of Paint or Mail.
- In addition to pasting the signature image, type your name to prevent any confusion over who the email is actually from. While some Web-based email services like Gmail, Mail.com and Yahoo Mail will display your scanned signature, some email apps will strip out the image before it ever reaches the recipient's inbox.
- If you want to use your actual, handwritten signature with Windows Mail instead, sign your name on paper with a pen or pencil, scan the page and then save the scan as a PNG or JPEG file. Use Paint to crop the scanned image to a size you can insert into your email messages.
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