This post has also been published as a TechNet Wiki article on: http://aka.ms/forumsignature.

Surf to the Wiki article, and feel free to add more useful hints and tips to get the best out of your forum signature.

Introduction

When you participate in the forums, by creating a new discussion or question, or responding to a question/discussion, you'll notice that a few things get added automatically.

First of all:

your Profile name + link
time stamp
some additional actions (reply, ...)

Some of the more experienced users will also have a nice signature added, before the profile footer...

Suppose you want that nice signature too, how does that work?

Steps

1. Surf to TechNet.com

2. Go to forums

3. Login

4. Double check Logon

Go to your profile settings via Quick Access

Click My Settings

Signature section

Then scroll down the page, on the bottom you'll find the signature section

Add text... and layout

You can simply add some text... or some nice HTML. (That's what we'll explain in detail below).

Don't get scared by the converted layout (the HTML gets converted into special characters), but we'll handle that.

Sample

Below you see some examples of advanced layout, using

hyperlinks to personal websites or profile pages
colored fonts
smaller sized fonts
images

See sample below:

Other samples

Check this article for more samples:
How to Get Hyperlinks in Your Microsoft Forum Signature.

Hints and tips

Use offline editor

It's highly advised to design your signature with an offline editor first.

Keep it smart and simple

Don't make it too complex, the online editor might clean some special HTML code. So stick to the HTML basics.

Balance your signature against content

It's highly suggested to keep your signature small and compact (therefore using the smaller fonts). Even for small posts your signature should not 'fill the screen', or take the majority of the post.

Line Breaks

Use paragraph blocks (using before and after) or break lines ( )

Font Color

You can set some nice colors in your signatures, see example

Images

You can also add images to your signature, but please be aware of the limitations, as discussed below.

Horizontal line

The horizontal line can be inserted using <hr>

It's highly advised to avoid this as the editor will automatically add a horizontal line before your signature, by default.

Example

HTML

Your Name (Your Company) (<a
href="http://aka.ms/Wiki">Link to user page</a

>)

<p
style="font-size:x-small">

[If a post helps to resolve your issue, please click the

<font
color="blue">

"Mark as Answer"

of that post or click

<img
alt="Answered"
src="http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/getfile/179394"
title="Answered">

<font
color="green">

"Vote as helpful"

button of that post. By marking a post as Answered or Helpful, you help others find the answer faster. ]

Result

Your Name (Your Company) (Link to user page)

[If a post helps to resolve your issue, please click the
"Mark as Answer" of that post or click "Vote as helpful" button of that post. By marking a
post as Answered or Helpful, you help others find the answer faster. ]

Limitations

When you post an reply or new thread, the signature is added automatically. When you've got too many images in the final post, you can't add any images later on.

Carefully check this article:
How to Get Hyperlinks in Your Microsoft Forum Signature, as it discusses some other possible limitations.

Getting the best out of your forum signature