ChatGPT made your email signature in HTML: how to put it in Gmail

You asked ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini for an email signature, and it gave you a block of HTML. You pasted that into Gmail, and the signature box now shows <table> and style= instead of your name. Gmail never reads the code. It takes the signature as it looks, so the fix is to let a browser draw it first and copy the result.

Google's Gmail Help pages quoted here were read on November 4, 2026.

Why pasting the code shows tags

HTML is the instructions for a page, not the page. A browser reads those instructions and draws the result: a table, your name in bold, a blue link. Gmail's signature box is a text editor. Google's help puts it this way: "add your signature text in the box. If you want, you can format your message by adding an image or changing the text style." There's no box for code.

So when you paste HTML into it, Gmail treats every character as text. Copy the drawn signature instead, and paste that.

Open the HTML in a browser and copy what you see

You need the signature on screen, drawn, before you can copy it. Two ways:

• You have the code in the chat. Paste it into Convika's free HTML viewer: click Paste code, paste ChatGPT's code, and click Show the page. The signature shows in your browser, with no file to save and nothing uploaded.
• You have a .html file. Open it in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. If double-clicking opens a text editor instead, see how to open it on Windows or on a Mac. You can also drop the file into the viewer: click Open file.

Then select the signature and copy it. Click in the page next to the signature, press Ctrl+A (⌘+A on a Mac), then Ctrl+C (⌘+C). You can also drag across the signature with the mouse.

What we tested. On November 4, 2026, we opened a ChatGPT-style signature (a table with a logo, a name, a title, a phone link, and a website link, all styled inline) in the viewer, in Chrome 156 on macOS. Both ways of selecting worked. The copied content held the table, the inline styles, the logo's image link, and both links, and pasting it into a rich-text editor kept all of them. We didn't paste it into Gmail's own signature box: Google's steps for that are next.

Add the signature to Gmail on a computer in 5 steps

1. Open Gmail's settings

In Gmail on a computer, click Settings (the gear icon) at the top right, then See all settings.

2. Go to the Signature section

On the General tab, scroll down to Signature. Click Create new and give the signature a name, or click the signature you already have to replace it.

3. Paste the copied signature

Click in the signature box and paste with Ctrl+V (⌘+V on a Mac). The signature should look the way it did in the browser. If you see tags again, you copied the code, not the drawn signature: go back to the browser and copy from the page.

4. Choose when Gmail adds it, then save

Under Signature defaults, choose the signature for new emails and for replies and forwards. At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.

5. Send yourself a test

Write an email to an address you read somewhere else, such as a work or a phone mail app, and look at what arrives. Check that the logo shows and that each link opens what it should.

Google limits a signature to 10,000 characters, and "your image also counts toward the character limit". A long signature with lots of inline styles can get close. If Gmail shows an error, cut what you don't need, such as extra lines or social icons.

Images and the logo link

Gmail's signature can carry an image, but in ChatGPT's code the logo is only a link to a picture somewhere online. Three things break it:

• A made-up link. ChatGPT often writes a placeholder such as https://example.com/logo.png or your-logo-url. No picture is at that address, so the logo shows as broken. Replace it with the real link before you copy.
• A link that needs a sign-in. The picture must open for anyone. A logo in a private Google Drive folder or behind a login shows for you and nobody else. Open the link in a private browser window to check.
• A file on your computer. A path like logo.png or C:\Users\... points to your own disk, which nobody else can reach.

Use a PNG or JPG at a public https:// link, such as the logo on your own website (right-click it and copy the image address). Gmail can also add an image from its own toolbar: Google lists 3 ways, a web address (URL), a public image in My Drive, or an upload from your device. Google recommends a signature image "70–100 pixels high by 300–400 pixels wide", with a maximum of "100 pixels high by 1000 pixels wide".

The Gmail app on iPhone and Android

The signature you set on a computer is Gmail's main one. The app on a phone has a separate Mobile signature, where Google's steps say to "Enter the text for your signature". Google's help, for both iPhone and Android: "If you don't create a signature in the Gmail app, new messages use the signature you created on your computer."

So, to send your formatted signature from the phone, leave the Mobile signature off. On an iPhone, it's under Menu → Settings → Signature settings. On Android, it's under Menu → Settings, then your account, then Mobile signature.

Common breaks and fixes

The last 3 rows are from Google's page on troubleshooting Gmail signatures. Google also notes that a signature image that's too large can stop the signature from displaying correctly.

If the layout still breaks, the HTML itself may be the problem, such as a layout built from <div> blocks or CSS classes in a <style> block. Fluxenic's free Email Signature Generator, on Blink Brief, builds the signature again from your name, title, phone, website, and logo link, as tables with inline styles, "the format email apps display most reliably" in its words. Its Copy signature button copies it formatted for Gmail. Fluxenic is the company that runs Convika.

A prompt that asks ChatGPT for an email-safe signature

Mail apps show less HTML than a browser does. Ask for the parts they keep. Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and fill in the brackets:

Write my email signature as one HTML snippet for pasting into Gmail.

- Name: [Ana Lopez]
- Title and company: [Graphic designer, Lopez Studio]
- Phone: [+1 555 0100], as a tel: link
- Website: [https://lopezstudio.com], as a link
- Logo: [https://lopezstudio.com/logo.png], at most 100 pixels high

Rules: build the layout with <table> only, put every style inline in a style
attribute, use no CSS classes, no <style> block, no <div> layout, and no
JavaScript. Use web-safe fonts such as Arial. Don't invent a logo link: if I
didn't give one, leave the image out.

Read the result before you copy it. An AI can change a digit in a phone number or put in a link you never gave it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I paste HTML into a Gmail signature?

You don't paste the code itself. Open the HTML in a browser, or paste it into a viewer such as Convika's free HTML viewer, and copy the signature the browser draws. In Gmail, click Settings, then See all settings, scroll to Signature, paste it into the box, and click Save Changes.

Why does my Gmail signature show HTML code?

Because the code was pasted as text. Gmail's signature box is a text editor with formatting buttons and has no place for code, so it shows each tag as written. Copy the drawn signature from a browser instead and paste that.

Can ChatGPT make an email signature?

Yes. ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini can write the signature as HTML from your name, title, phone, website, and logo link. Ask for a table with inline styles and no CSS classes, which mail apps keep. Then open the code in a browser and copy the result into Gmail.

Why doesn't my logo show in my Gmail signature?

The link to the logo doesn't open for others. It may be a placeholder the AI made up, a file on your computer, or an image that needs a sign-in. Use a PNG or JPG at a public https:// link. Google recommends a signature image 70 to 100 pixels high.

Does my Gmail signature work on my phone?

It does when you send from the Gmail app with the Mobile signature off. Google's help says that without a signature in the app, new messages use the one you created on your computer.

Sources

• Gmail Help: Create a Gmail signature (computer) (read November 4, 2026)
• Gmail Help: Create a Gmail signature (iPhone and iPad) (read November 4, 2026)
• Gmail Help: Create a Gmail signature (Android) (read November 4, 2026)
• Gmail Help: Troubleshoot issues with Gmail signatures (read November 4, 2026)