I have a new Mac Book Air (M2) and it's running Ventura 13.1. I finally got my email to work the way I like it and then discovered that Mail would not and could not save signatures. they disappear when I quit the app and start it up again.
MacBook Air, macOS 13.1
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:
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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.
Try turning MAIL back on in iCloud after the 30 minutes and you've started Mail.
Mail is the application that you’re looking for to turn off of iCloud Drive. If you can’t do that, then this fix sadly isn’t for your problem
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.
Using Ventura 13.5, this 100% does not work. Have turned off mail sync in iCloud. Have adjusted signatures in Mail. Have quit mail. Have relaunched mail - all old signatures reappear, changes are gone - and iCloud mail is off. Frustrating.
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
Apple isn't here. We're all end users like yourself. So to get your concerns to Apple use the feedback link Feedback - macOS - Apple.
hi James, I tried this and it didn't work. Even with iCloud Mail turned off it fails to remember my signatures. I have to say, this seems like a pretty well-attested bug. At least it shows up in the Apple Support Community a lot. In any case, thanks so much for attending to my posting and suggesting a fix. Hopefully my input will be helpful in the long run.
well, while I love the update, signatures still fail. I'm curious, how many email accounts do you have. I have a lot, of various kinds, and wonder if I'm confusing Mail. in any case, I have no idea what's going on.
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
hello bradyinreno,
unfortunately it only work partly for me. Some signatures stayed, others vanished. I have 3 mail addresses, and 7 signatures. Any recommendations? It's pretty annoying.
Also, I don't understand why the signatures do not synchronize between devices (ipad, iPhone).
Thanks for help
I know signatures on phones and iPads are entirely different. I just thought there might be a way to sync them. Would be great!
Ok, so far it seems to work with the signatures. I hope it stays. I use quiet elaborate signature with many different colors, so its always a lot of work to recreate them as the colors seems to vanish when I copy them.
I hope for the best. Thanks anyway!
I have attempted the "fix" three times. I turned off iCloud mail (the correct setting) and re-created my email signatures. I closed out mail and when I reopened mail the signatures were gone.
What gives Apple? This is a significant flaw that needs urgent attention.
PLEASE HELP!
Thanks,
Jess
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.
This does not work for me on Ventura 13.5 (22G74). This is driving me nuts and only happens on one of my computers but it's the most recent one, so it's the one I want to use for work. Going insane....
The 30-mins tip (thanks Ducarmur) seems to have worked for my Signatures on new M2 Mac Studio. Have done a full re-start and the signatures remain (for all mail accounts. iCloud; Gmail; and 3 different private domain email accounts).
I hope it holds true after any future macOS update!
Mail loses signatures
