To make it quick and easy to contact you, you should include a structured signature at the end of your email that states which of the University’s organisational units you belong to.
You can add email signatures via your email client (Groupware, Thunderbird, Outlook etc.) and create a default signature. Generally, you will find the sections where you can adjust these settings by clicking on the ‘options’ button.
The custom of listing the country code before the postal code as part of the address information on letters and parcels was officially abolished on 1 September 1999.
Template for email signatures with names
University of Greifswald
Academic title Given name(s) Surname
Position
Organisational Unit/Institute/Department
Street name XX, 17489 Greifswald
Tel.: +49 3834 420 XXXX
fax number (if applicable)
mobile number: +49 XXX XXXXXXX (if applicable)
functional-email-addressuni-greifswaldde
orSample for email signatures without names
University of Greifswald
Organisational Unit
Street name XX, Entrance n, 17489 Greifswald
Tel.: +49 3834 420 XXXX
fax number (if applicable)
mobile number: +49 XXX XXXXXXX (if applicable)
functional-email-addressuni-greifswaldde
Occasionally, you may want to draw attention to upcoming events by using a linked image in your email signature. We create low resolution graphics for some events, which you are free to use. You can add and link these graphics in the settings of your default signature in the email client.
If you wish to refrain from using a graphic for
accessibility and sustainability reasons
, you can add a link or, even better, a short link (if available) at the end of your email signature.Please only send certified emails. can be found on the University Computer Centre’s internet pages. There are plenty of to use a certification-based signature.
Information on sustainability
There are several reasons to refrain from using images in your email signature. The ecological footprint of images in email signatures plays an important role.
1. Larger email size: Images in email signatures lead to a significant increase in the size of the email. This results in increased data traffic and a higher load on the servers, especially for institutions/companies with many employees. Larger emails come with longer loading times as well, which can have a negative impact on the efficiency of communication.
2. Environmental effects: Sending and saving large emails with images leaves an ecological footprint. This includes the power consumption caused by transmitting data via the Internet, as well as the resources needed to save emails on servers. Attached images increase the power consumption and consequently CO2 emissions as they require a higher volume of data and thus additional server capacity.
3. Avoidable burden: In terms of actual communication, images in email signatures often contribute little to no value. They can make it harder to read emails on mobile devices and cause unnecessary distraction. In addition, images in email signatures may lead to emails being classified as spam, especially when they are too large or contain external resources that require extra loading.
4. Data protection and privacy concerns: Images in email signatures can also cause privacy concerns, especially if they contain external resources that require extra loading. This could result in data about the recipient being transferred to third parties, which is not always desired.
The extent of the ecological footprint caused by images in email signatures depends on multiple variables, such as image size, number of emails sent per day, and how energy efficient the server infrastructure is. There is however no doubt that avoiding images in email signatures reduces data traffic and energy consumption and thereby contributes to a decreased ecological footprint.
Information on accessibility
Image files in email signatures can limit accessibility in various ways. The main reasons are:
1. Image files are not accessible to screen readers
- Screen readers: These technical aids read email texts out loud to the visually impaired. Image files cannot be interpreted by screen readers unless they contain alternative texts (image descriptions).
- Alternative text: Web editors often forget to add alternative texts, or they add insufficient descriptions, which leads to a loss of important information for the visually impaired users.
2. Mail clients block images by default
- Security measures: Many email clients block images by default in order to protect users from potentially harmful content. This means that the recipient may not be able to see the signature, unless they explicitly allow for the images to load.
- Displays: If the images are blocked, the recipient will only be able to see empty placeholders or broken image symbols, which could make the signature appear unprofessional.
3. Increased loading time and data consumption
- Slow connections: Image files can increase the loading time of emails, especially with slow Internet connections. This can be frustrating for recipients.
- Volume of mobile data: Recipients who use mobile data may have to use additional volumes of data to download the images, which can become costly.
4. Issues with scalability and display
- Responsive design: Often, images in emails have not been optimised for different devices and screen sizes. This can mean that they are distorted or displayed incorrectly on mobile devices or in different email clients.
- Image quality: Different resolutions and image sizes can impact the quality of images.
5. Compatibility issues
- Different email clients: Not all email clients support the same image formats or the way in which images are embedded. This can cause compatibility issues and lead to the incorrect display of your email signature.
6. Accessibility for colour-blind users
- Colour blindness: Colour-blind people cannot process information that is only communicated via colours in images. Here, textual information is far more effective.
Why should emails be sent with certified signatures?
There are multiple reasons why you should use a certification-based email signature:
1. Authentication: By using certificates, the identity of an email’s sender can be verified. This helps to ensure that the email was actually sent by the person or organisation the sender claims to be. This is particularly crucial when it comes to preventing phishing attacks, in which the attackers pretend to be someone else in order to steal information or cause damage.
2. Integrity: An email certificate guarantees the integrity of a message by ensuring that the contents of an email were not altered during the transmission process. Every change made to a message after it has been signed with a certificate would lead the signature to become invalid, which suggests that the message has been manipulated.
3. Non-repudiation: As the sender uses a private key to create their signature, they cannot deny they have sent the email afterwards. This is especially important in business or legal matters, as it represents a legally binding confirmation of the message’s authenticity and integrity.
4. Confidentiality: While an email signature is no guarantee for the confidentiality of the message itself, it can be used together with encryption to ensure that only the intended recipient is able to read the message. The use of certified signatures and encryption enhances communication security.
Overall, a certification-based email signature plays a vital part in ensuring the security, authenticity and integrity of emails and in increasing the trustworthiness of communication processes.
Please take note of the Guidelines for the standardised provision of information [de] (e.g. for telephone numbers and email addresses).
The short URL to this website is: www.uni-greifswald.de/en/mail-signatur