MS Outlook

Your animated gif signature will be delivered to you as [yourname].gif with [yourname] = your real name. Save your .gif to your hard drive. Put it in a place where you will not forget where it is. Your "Desktop" is reccommended. Do not use any other extention than .gif

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Format your e-mail so that it sends mail as HTML. To do this, in the Outlook Application, go to "Tools" on the menu bar and select "Options". Click on the "Mail Format" tab. Select "HTML" in the "Send in this message format." Best to re-start Outlook at this point.

(You can stop right here and create your e-mail. When you are finished, place the cursor where you want your animated gif to be. On the top menu select "Insert", "Picture", and browse to the place on your harddrive where you have saved your animated gif. If you want to place it automatically in your e-mails, follow from ** on.)

** Now go to the "Signature" section at the bottom. Click on "Signature Picker".

Click on "New"

Click on "Advanced Edit"

Enter a name your signature and select "Start with a blank signature as a template" . Click "Next"

An "Alert" will as you if you want to use Front Page or another HTML editor that you may have.

Click on "Insert" on the menu "Picture", "From File" and browse to where you have saved your .gif on your hard drive.

When you have found the .gif and added it, go the the menu at the top of Front Page and select "File" "Save As" and save it in the Signature folder that it will take you to.

Close Front Page and Click "Okay" to the signature picker page. You will be brought back to the "Format Mail" page.

If you want your animated.gif to appear in every single e-mail you send, you can pick it as your default signature on the "Format Mail" page.

You can also pick "<None>" for the default signature, and then when you want to use your gif, when you create an e-mail, go to the menu at the top and select "Insert", "Signature" and then you will see a list of the signatures that you have and can click on the one you want. Yes, you can use the method above to add many signatures.

If you are having trouble getting the gif to animate, shut down the Outlook Application and start it again.

Outlook Express

Outlook Express comes with Internet Explorer. If you have a Microsoft system, you will have Outlook Express where you have MS Office or not. Outlook Express will work independantly of your Outlook, but it will share the same address book. The functionality is a little different beween the two applications.

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With the Outlook Express Application, go to "Tools", "Options" and select the "Send" tab. Go to the "Mail sending format" section and select "HTML".

Create your e-mail. When you are finished, place the cursor where you want your animated gif to be. On the top menu select "Insert", "Picture", and browse to the place on your harddrive where you have saved your animated gif.

Other E-mail Programs

If you use a web based or e-mail client created by your ISP, such as AOL, MSN, or PEOPLE PC, you will have to check your documentation from those companies for instructions.