3 Ways to Fix Outlook Signature not Working

You could easily learn why Outlook signature not working and 3 effective ways to solve it as well as how to always keep Outlook safe. Continue reading and scroll down for more detailed information.

By @Clytze Last Updated February 28, 2023

Why Outlook Signature not working?

Recently some users have complained that Outlook is not inserting signatures. When the user clicks the Signature button in Outlook settings, the signature creation dialog does not appear, or Outlook hangs/closes. If you encounter this problem, you can read further in this article to understand the possible causes and find the best fix for you.

  • Issue with Language ID: Users may face a similar issue even when selecting the Stationery and Fonts button in Outlook. Both these issues were found and were isolated to Office users with Language ID=”en-gb”.
  • Wrong Registry: The signature button may be frozen because a registry entry is pointing to the wrong location of Outlook.exe.
  • Pre-installed Microsoft Office desktop apps: Another reason could be that you have installed an Office subscription on a PC that has pre-installed Microsoft Office desktop apps.
  • The Signature button is disabled by Group Policy: Sometimes, your organization may have set up the signature in their own way and disabled the Signature button. This way, employees won’t be able to make any changes to the signature format.

How to Fix Outlook Signature not Working

Now that you know what might be causing this problem, you can continue reading the article for three helpful solutions. Each method contains detailed graphic steps. You can try these methods in turn, I believe there is always a method that can help you solve the problem.

Fix 1. Update Microsoft Office Software or APPs

In case your PC has pre-installed Microsoft Office desktop apps, apart from the one you instgalled, it may cause the freezing of the Signature. This issue is fixed in Office Version 1802 (Build 9029.2167) or higher.

When you install an Office subscription with that build or higher, it will automatically remove the pre-installed Microsoft Office Desktop apps. However, if these pre-installed applications aren’t removed automatically, you can remove the old Office version as follows:  

Step 1. Click on the Windows Start button and type Settings.

Step 2. When the Settings window opens, choose Apps, and then select Apps and Features.

Step 3. Now go to the Search this list box in the right-side pane and search for Microsoft Office apps.

Step 4. Select the Microsoft Office desktop Apps and click on Uninstall.

After you uninstall the apps, restart your PC.

Fix 2. Run Office Repair

This method basically fixes many problems caused by Microsoft apps.

To repair Microsoft Office, follow the next steps:

Step 1. Click on the Windows Start button and type Settings.

Step 2. When the Settings window opens, choose Apps, and then select Apps and Features.

Step 3. Now go to the Search this list box in the right-side pane and search for Microsoft Office apps

Step 4. Select the Microsoft Office desktop Apps and click on Modify.

Step 5. Inside the Modify window, you will see options such as Add or Remove Features, Repair, Remove, and Enter a Product Key. Click on the radio button in front of Repair.

Step 6. Click on Continue. This starts the Repair process.

This should resolve the issue of frozen Signature in Outlook.

Fix 3. Remove the Office setup registry keys

If the above solutions are not successful, then you can try to remove the Office setup registry keys. To remove the registry keys, follow the next steps:

Step 1. Press the Windows key + R and open the Run window.

Step 2. Now type regedit and click on OK. This opens the Registry Editor.

Step 3. Now, press CTRL + F to launch the Find.

Step 4. Enter the following key in the search box:

0006F03A-0000-0000-C000-000000000046

Step 5. Click on Find Next. It will find the registry key.

Step 6. Select the key by right-clicking on the entry. Now click on Delete.

Step 7. Press F3 to repeat the search until no more registry keys are found.

How to Always Keep Outlook Safe

After you have solved the problem of Outlook signature not working problem, in order to prevent this problem from happening again and always keep your Outlook data safe, it is recommended that you create a backup of Outlook. The professional Outlook backup software - AOMEI Backupper Professional can backup Outlook data easily.

  • Backup any data: It provides you with the Outlook backup function to backup any data you want to back up, except for emails, you can also backup attachments, calendars, contacts, etc. on Outlook.
  • Multiple target locations: It allows you to back up Outlook to multiple locations such as internal and external disks, USB drives, NAS devices, network locations, SD cards, cloud services, etc.
  • Schedule backup: You can create automated Outlook backups according to your needs. You can set daily, weekly, monthly, and event-triggered scheduled backup tasks.
  • Different operating systems: This software also supports multiple Windows PC operating systems, including Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP, and Vista.

You can download and install this professional backup software, and then start backing up Outlook according to the graphic tutorial below. If you are a Windows Server user, you can choose the AOMEI Backupper Server version.

Download Free Trial Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
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Step 1. Open Outlook, type email and click Connect, then follow the on-screen instructions to add the Outlook account.

Step 2. Open AOMEI Backupper Professional. In the main interface, click Backup > Outlook Backup.

Step 3. Click Add Outlook data and select the Outlook folder you want to backup. Then click OK.

Step 4. Then click the box below to select the backup destination. It can be a local path, network or NAS location, or cloud drive to store your Outlook emails.

Schedule Backup: You can set different  backup frequencies, like“Daily”, “Weekly” or “Monthly” . Make sure the option “Wake the computer to run scheduled task” is selected.

Backup Scheme You can Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup to delete old backups regularly. This feature can solve the storage full issues.

Step 5. Click Start Backup to backup Outlook automatically

Summary

This article explains why this error occurs and how to fix it with the three methods mentioned in the article. You can try these methods in turn, I believe there is always one that can help you fix this error. In order to better protect the data security of Outlook, it is recommended that you use the professional Outlook backup software AOMEI Backupper to help you.

This software can not only help you back up Outlook emails easily, but you can also backup Outlook emails to different destination paths according to your needs. It also provides incremental and differential backup methods to help you improve backup efficiency and save disk space. You can download this software to explore more.