Mail loses signatures

Hello everyone.

I have had this issue for a few years now, but yesterday needed to make it work, so I found a lot of topics about this problem on the internet; it is evident that this issue affects many people and despite that, there's still no fix from Apple. So I tried to figure it out.

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I located the directory where the signatures are stored in the system library. Three files are basically needed to assemble the single signature. The first file is .mailsignature (the file with your actual signature [you can have multiple of these .mailsignature files — one for each signature]), and the other two types are .plist files (one where you can find information about your signatures associated with accounts, and the other for listing of all your signatures). 

I found that when you create a new signature it is successfully written into a file called AccountsMap.plist, but there are no .mailsignature files created and that's probably the reason why it is not written into another .plist file (AllSignatures.plist). You can not write and create these files manually (at least, it didn't work for me). So I tried to turn off iCloud for Mail to see what is happening inside the library and it started to work perfectly and create all files you need to work with signatures. So it seems to me there is some problem with syncing into iCloud. 

(Don't try renaming or deleting any library files if you don't know what you’re doing, it can have fatal consequences (and if you do, always back up the original files).

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The solution.

All you need to do is temporarily turn off iCloud for Mail, then create signatures and turn the iCloud for Mail on again, so it's an easy fix (unless Apple fixes it properly). To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Quit the Mail app.
2. Turn off iCloud for Mail (go to System Settings —> (your name) —> iCloud —> iCloud Drive —> Options —> (uncheck the Mail).
3. Launch the Mail app.
4. Create signatures as you want them, assign them to accounts, etc.
5. Quit Mail
6. Turn on iCloud for Mail (go to System Settings —> (your name) —> iCloud —> iCloud Drive —> Options —> (check the Mail).
7. Launch the Mail app; all your signatures should be there.

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Note 1:

You need to repeat this process every time you'd like to make changes or add a new signature. 

Note 2:

Signatures are still not synced over other devices (I am not sure if it's a bug or expected behavior and it is not supposed to be synced across all devices).

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I hope this helps.

1. Close Mail
2. System Settings -> click on your name-> iCloud -> iCloud Drive -> Apps syncing to iCloud Drive -> unselect Mail toggle button
3. Open Mail
4. Create all the signatures in Mail Settings
5. Close Mail
6. Go through Step 2 above, and toggle Mail button back to select position

Hey Zachary, make sure you are going into icloud drive and selecting mail there, NOT the first mail you see. This worked for me.

Exit Mail

System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options... >

Turn Mail OFF (Important: this is NOT the first Mail you see, in the

main iCloud window, this is the Mail in the iCloud Drive options

window). Click done.

Open Mail and input your signatures. Close Mail. Open Mail to test. Close it once again. Go back to system settings and turn back ON Mail the same way you turned it off. Open Mail again. Should be there. Hope this helps.

hi genieen,

It's great that you took the time to post a reply, however simply reiterating the instructions available on "help" is not adequate. Firstly I suspect most of us here are intelligent enough to have had a look at that resource before appealing to the apple community; secondly, if you took a minute to look at the question and replies carefully you would see that this is a recurrent problem that has still not been addressed by apple after at least five years. It would be much more helpful to the community if you followed the thread subsequently and reported the issue back to apple engineers for the next update.

Many thanks,

Alex

About time that this is fixed. I am just in the process of setting up my M2 MBP, and although I configured signatures for all my email accounts at least 3 times, they always vanish into the mist. Google search indicates that the issue has been around since at least 2017. Apple, we need a fix for this. I don't have time to create a new signature every time I send an email.

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

Welcome Zachary Smith1,

We can understand wanting to have your signatures save for use with future emails. For more information on how to create and use email signatures on your Mac, check out the information on this page: Create and use email signatures in Mail on Mac - Apple Support. Follow the steps under the section labeled "Create signatures." Once the signatures have been created, you'll have to option of the signatures being automatically added to your email or you can choose to add them manually.

If an expected signature isn’t in the Signature pop-up menu, or the menu isn’t showing, choose Mail > Settings, click Signatures, then verify the signature has been added to the correct email account.

We hope this information helps you out.

Best wishes!

Check out the suggestion further up in this thread. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254556408?answerId=258674617022#258674617022

It doesn't look like it resolves this for everyone, but it certainly fixed it for me and others

After the latest iOS update on my iMac, I also lost all signatures from my mail preferences. When I recreated them from old sent emails, I could not get them to show up as available choices when composing a new email.

My problem, solved by a good Apple support tech, was that I had multiple internet accounts for the same email address from my mail provider (Comcast), one for Notes and one for Email. They were not named clearly enough so in the Mail preferences, these accounts showed similarly on the left when in the Signature editing panel. I had created my signatures for the Notes account, which will not show when composing an email. When I recreated the signatures in the correct email account, all the signatures showed up as expected.

I then renamed the internet Notes account in System Preferences to include "Notes" in the account name to avoid making the same mistake again. You can also match your account name in the Mail Inbox on the left hand side to the account name in System Preferences under Internet Accounts to ensure you get your signatures attached to the correct account.

This will not apply to everyone's missing email signatures, but may help others like me. Below shows the

account names after renaming to include "Notes" to clearly identify which ones were for Notes only. Prior to renaming, they were almost identical. Thanks Apple Tech Support.

NMSP - I genuinely thought I was clicking on the correct mail setting but was not. It must be the mail which comes up when you click on the "Apps synching to iCloud" on the setting pane below - not the one that comes up on the previous screen. I really did not get this until Apple support walked me through it. I hope this also comes right for you, because it was driving me mad. The attached is from my system, 13.5.1

I'm not sure if you managed to find a solution for this, but after a bit of Googling it seems there is an easy fix.

When you quit and restart Mail your signatures are lost.

Go into System Settings - Click on your name and go to iCloud Settings - Select iCloud Drive

If you are on Ventura you need to then click on Options (for App Syncing to iCloud Drive). You then get a list of Apps. Turn off Mail.

Now go back into Mail and create your signature. You can quick out of Mail and back in again to check it is working.

Then go back into your iCloud Settings and turn Mail back on again. It should all work now.

Good luck

Well that shoots down that brilliant idea. 😭

What did originally when I created my signatures is I added each manually to a email, sent it to myself, selected and copied it and then pasted into a new signature window for that account. Give the a try.

Hello everyone.

I have had this issue for a few years now, but yesterday needed to make it work, so I found a lot of topics about this problem on the internet; it is evident that this issue affects many people and despite that, there's still no fix from Apple. So I tried to figure it out.

—

I located the directory where the signatures are stored in the system library. The single signature is basically assembled by three files. The first file is .mailsignature (the file with your actual signature [you can have multiple .mailsignature files, one for each signature]), and the other two types are .plist files (one where you can find information about your signatures associated with accounts, and the other for listing of all your signatures).

I found that when you create a new signature it is successfully written into file called AccountsMap.plist, but ther are no .mailsignature files created and that's probably the reason why it is not written into other .plist file (AllSignatures.plist). You really can not write and create this files manually (at least it didn't work for me).

So it seems to me there is some problem with creating and syncing into iCloud.

(Don't try rename or delete any libraby files if you don't know what are you doing, it can have a fatal consicvences. (and if you do, always backup original files).