CodeTwo: Centrally manage email signatures for Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365
One aspect of email messages, historically stuck in the “dark ages,” is the email signature. Traditional email signatures often come through with blocked images or emails requiring the signature images to be downloaded due to security rules and other policies. CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 represents a paradigm shift in how organizations can manage and add signatures to corporate cloud-based email. It brings email signatures into the era of centralized modern cloud management.
Features of CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365
CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 boasts many features for businesses looking for a solution to manage and implement modern signatures across their organization. What are they?
- It is cloud-based, so there is no infrastructure to deploy or maintain on-premises.
- It centralizes the management of email signatures and disclaimer additions to Office 365 (Microsoft 365) organizations – one person can manage all signatures.
- It is easy to configure and provision.
- CodeTwo signatures are not device-specific and work on Windows, Mac, mobile devices, and tablets.
- It provides a flexible email signature editor, including a fully web-based HTML editor with built-in templates.
- It supports Azure AD and user photos in email signatures.
- Graphics are embedded, so there is no need to download them.
- It provides email marketing and analytics capabilities.
Additional key features include:
- Signature rule automation
- High level of security and compliance with ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27018 certifications
- It is the only vendor with a modern signature add-in for Outlook and Outlook Web App
Let’s walk through getting up and running with CodeTwo and note the key capabilities CodeTwo provides.
Configuring CodeTwo
The process to configure CodeTwo is reasonably straightforward. For the review, I am using the fully featured 14-day trial version. As it is a cloud service, you sign up and wait for the confirmation email to confirm your account and access your management dashboard link.
Obviously, you need to add your Microsoft 365 tenant to begin using CodeTwo. If you attempt to use CodeTwo without your tenant correctly configured, you will receive the following error:
CodeTwo makes the tenant setup easy with a straightforward wizard that walks you through the process. The first step is the normal EULA agreement.
CodeTwo makes the tenant setup easy with a straightforward wizard that walks you through the process. The first step is the normal EULA agreement.
Next, you will need to sign in and grant CodeTwo access to your Microsoft 365 environment. This process grants the OAuth 2.0 token CodeTwo needs to interact with your Microsoft 365 account.
Review and accept the permission request for CodeTwo to integrate into your environment.
Choose the geolocation of the CodeTwo email service. This step configures CodeTwo to use a specific Azure region to house your service.
Choose the signature mode for CodeTwo. There are three different signature modes available:
- Server-side—In this mode, a signature is added after an email is sent and does not require the installation of the CodeTwo Signatures add-in. Signatures are added to emails sent from any device or mail application.
- Client-side—A signature is added as you type an email. This mode requires installation of the CodeTwo Signatures add-in to add signatures directly to Outlook & Outlook Web App.
- Combo mode—This mode provides the best of both types of processing (client-side and server-side). It requires you to set up Office 365 connectors and the CodeTwo Signatures add-in. In this mode, client-side signatures will be added to messages created in Outlook desktop and OWA, and server-side signatures will be added to emails sent from other email clients (including mobile devices).
Finish adding the new tenant. After you click Finish, you will receive a note that your environment is being provisioned and may take 15 minutes or so to finalize.
After adding the Microsoft Office 365 tenant, if you want to use the server-side signatures you will also need to configure Exchange Online connectors for CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 to add signatures to your emails. The connectors allow securely routing your email through the CodeTwo Email Azure service. CodeTwo can automatically create the required connectors for routing mail correctly, or you can choose to configure them manually.
CodeTwo Email Signatures rule automation
A great feature found in CodeTwo Email Signatures is its rule automation. Using CodeTwo, organizations can define how they want signatures added. CodeTwo provides many rule options that control when and how it adds email signatures to end user emails. In much the same way as Outlook rules work to move emails to folders and perform various actions, CodeTwo allows businesses to build rules based on:
- Senders—Add signatures to emails sent from specific users
- Recipients—Add signatures to emails sent to specific recipients
- Keywords—Apply signatures to emails containing one or more keywords
With the above, you can also apply negative logic so as not to apply or add, based on the criteria listed.
Highly secure with ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27018 certifications
Many organizations today must ensure that the solutions and software they use are compliant with modern regulatory standards. CodeTwo’s Information Security Management System (ISMS) is certified as compliant with the requirements of ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27018.
In addition, CodeTwo is both GDPR-compliant and meets the PCI data security requirements as defined by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
Modern signature add-in for Outlook and Outlook Web Access
CodeTwo has a modern add-in that works with both Outlook and Outlook Web Access (OWA). The new add-in was co-engineered with Microsoft and announced at the Microsoft Build 2021 event. The add-in adds signatures directly to Outlook as you type when you use the client-side signature mode.
HTML signature template editor
CodeTwo uses a web-based signature management UI and HTML signature editor. I found the editor to be very intuitive. It provides access to all the features and capabilities needed to form a signature and set up the signature rules. Their WYSIWYG interface allows you to easily create very complex signatures without any knowledge of HTML required.
Also, what most will undoubtedly take advantage of is CodeTwo’s vast collection of email signature templates. There are many templates to choose from and customize. You can select a template, customize the information, and save the signature.
After selecting the template from the CodeTwo library, you will see the template in the HTML editor for customization.
After you build your email signature template, it can be added to emails using the CodeTwo email signature rules-based automation, as shown earlier.
Wrapping up
Email signatures are not necessarily thought about when it comes to modern cloud-based email features. However, creating professional, secure, and consistent email signatures across the organization helps to bolster professional-looking and secure end user emails for business communications.
CodeTwo brings traditional email signatures forward with modern and advanced cloud-based management, beautiful signature templates, and rock-solid security and compliance features. It is undoubtedly a leader in the world of email signatures, made evident by the features and rich capabilities present in the solution.
