In my day job, we use Gmail for our email correspondence. So it stands to reason that I know a tiny more than casual users. One thing I’ve seen a lot of Gmail users ignore, and probably don’t even know they can fix, is their signatures*. They turn up at the bottom of each email they answer. Not below their answer, but below the original email, the one they didn’t even send.
If you prefer your signature to show up in the correct place in your emails, do this.
Click on the GEAR at the top right side of the screen in Gmail.
It should show your GENERAL settings, starting with the Language section. If not, click on GENERAL.
Scroll down to “Signatures.” Look beneath the big box with your signature. Click on the small box next to the sentence that reads “Insert this signature before quoted text in replies and remove the “–” line that precedes it.”
[Updated: be sure to click on SAVE CHANGES at the bottom of the page when you’re through.]
That should do it. Open an email you’ve received from a friend, and you’ll see it shows up at the top. Now you can type directly above your signature. The correct way.
Hope that helps make your emails look more professional.
Carla Swafford, Author 