Apply a Signature to Email Replies or Forwards
Working with email signatures
Mimecast provides functionality to apply email branding and disclaimers to outbound and inbound email messages. This functionality is referred to as Stationery, and is available in both HTML and Plain Text formats. Stationery is applied to emails using a Stationery Assignment Policy.
Signatures can also be applied to emails with the use of Stationery and Attributes. Attributes can be LDAP linked (and therefore synchronized from the network Directory), or manually configured and managed using a spreadsheet import.
How does Stationery get applied to emails?
When an email is processed through the Stationery Assignment Policy, Stationery components are applied to the message. The original email is kept as a single unit, and through the use of HTML tags, Stationery components are placed around the original email message.
For example: a Stationery item is created in Mimecast to apply the company logo at the top of the message, a signature below the message, and a disclaimer below the signature. A sender would compose and send an email message as per normal. Mimecast would then wrap the Stationery components around the message body, and deliver the email contents to the recipient. In this way, the message is not modified in any way, and Mimecast has simply added content around the original email itself.
Without additional configuration, Mimecast will continue to re-apply the email branding to each email - i.e. if the recipient of the email replies, and then the original sender replies to the email as well, it is treated as a regular outbound email. Mimecast will then keep the original message intact (with all the replies), and apply the logo, signature and disclaimer to the whole email once again. This will lead to repetitive application of Stationery component.
Note: If a sender applies an email signature or other Stationery components from within their email application, and Mimecast is configured to apply similar elements, it is likely that multiple instances of the components will be applied to the same email message.
Preventing re-application of Stationery components
Mimecast can be configured to not re-apply email Stationery components through the use of Unique Identification Text (UIT). The UIT is applied as part of the first email Stationery set of components, so if that same message passes through Mimecast again, the UIT is recognized. Mimecast does not re-apply the Stationery components. For more information, view the full UIT article.
Adding Signatures to replies or forwards
As Mimecast treats an email message as a single entity, it is not possible to insert Stationery Components within a message that has had multiple reply threads. There are two reasons for this functionality not being available:
1. Regulatory
In order to maintain the evidentiary weight of an email for use in a legal environment, it is vital that Mimecast does not modify the email contents in any way. The chains of custody for each email message are preserved within the Archive to ensure the usefulness of email evidence, and therefore Mimecast will always treat an email as a single, unaltered entity.
2. Technical
Email messages formed in either Plain Text or HTML can be appended to using Reply and Forward options. However, there is no significant marker for when this takes place - and consequently, it is impossible to be completely accurate in determining the correct place to insert a signature on an email reply or forward. This problem is compounded by the number of email applications available to users, and how each application will treat reply and forward threads in a slightly different way.
Other solutions for email Signatures on replies and forwards
If an organization has a requirement for Signature application on reply and forward email threads, there are two potential workaround options:
· Use the native Signature functionality within the user email application for Replies and Forwards only. In this way, Mimecast will only apply full email Stationery components on new email messages, and the user application will correctly insert the signature for each reply/forward thread.
· Apply a hybrid model of Mimecast Stationery. Email branding and signatures are applied by the user's email server, and Mimecast applies components such as the legal disclaimer.
For more information troubleshooting Stationery items, view the full article.
