Team Signatures
What are Groups?
Groups are how SyncSignature turns a single template into signatures for a whole team. A group holds a set of teammates and points at one template. Every teammate in the group gets a signature built from that template, filled in with their own name, title, and contact details.
Without groups you would edit each teammate's signature by hand. With them, you edit the template once and every signature in the group follows.
What a group controls
A group decides three things:
- Which template each teammate's signature is built from.
- Who gets updated when you edit that template. Changing a template updates every signature in every group linked to it.
- Who you select when you install signatures to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Installation is triggered from inside a group.
A teammate belongs to one group at a time. That limit is deliberate. It guarantees each teammate has exactly one current signature, with no ambiguity about which template won.
Before you start
You need three things in place:
| Requirement | Where it lives | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Owner or Manager role | Your workspace | Teammates cannot create or edit groups |
| At least one saved template | TEMPLATES | A group with no template produces no signatures |
| Teammates in the workspace | TEAMMATES | Added manually, by CSV, or from your directory |
Roles matter here. An Owner creates the workspace and has full control over it. A Manager can manage templates, teammates, and signatures inside a workspace they have been added to. A Teammate can only edit their own details and copy their own signature.
How to create a group and assign a template
- Build the template first. In TEMPLATES, create a template or save an existing signature as one. A group is only useful once it has something to point at.
- Open GROUPS and create a new group. Name it after how your signatures actually differ: by department, by role, by office location, or by client. If Sales and Support use the same layout, they do not need separate groups.
- Assign the template to the group. This is the link that does the work. Everything else follows from it.
- Add teammates to the group. Signatures are generated automatically as each teammate is added. You do not create them one by one.
- Install or share the signatures. For Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, select the teammates inside the group and install directly. Turn on Auto install for that integration under Integrations and this step runs itself. Otherwise, send each teammate their signature to copy.
How groups work with your directory
If you have connected Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, you do not have to build your teammate list by hand. Import teammates from your Google Directory or Microsoft Entra ID, and scope templates by the organizational units or groups you already maintain there. How much of the group membership then keeps itself current depends on the platform, and the two are not the same.
Because the directory is already the system of record for who works at the company and what their title is, this keeps working after the first import. On Google Workspace, your organizational units sync as groups in SyncSignature, so a new hire lands in the group matching their OU. If their OU is not one you selected, they fall into the default group. A signature is generated either way, with no re-import and no manual group add. It is still a directory read, not SCIM: it creates the signature, not a login.
Microsoft 365 differs on this one point. Organizational unit to group auto sync is Google Workspace only, so on Entra ID an admin still assigns the new teammate to a group. Directory changes reach signatures on the next sync cycle either way, generally within 5 to 10 minutes on the SyncSignature side.
What happens when you edit a template
Editing a template updates every signature in every group linked to that template. This is the point of groups, and it is also the part that surprises people, so it is worth being precise:
- The signatures themselves update automatically. No per teammate action.
- Google Workspace signatures need to be installed again, unless Auto install is on. With Auto install off, which is the default, open the group, select all users, and click Install signature. One action covers the whole group.
- Auto install removes that step. It is an option on the integration under Integrations, set once per integration rather than per group, and available on both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. With it on, template edits install themselves and newly synced users install themselves. See how to fully automate email signatures.
- Teammates copying signatures manually need to be told to grab the new version, or sent it by email.
Common issues and fixes
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Cannot send an invite to a teammate | The teammate has no group assigned | Assign them to a group first, then send the invite |
| A teammate has the wrong signature | They are in the wrong group | Move them to the correct group. Their signature regenerates |
| Template edit is not showing in Gmail | Google Workspace signatures were not reinstalled | Open the group, select all users, click Install signature. Turn on Auto install under Integrations so later edits install themselves |
| A teammate needs two different signatures | A teammate belongs to one group at a time | Use a separate template with the alternate layout, or handle it as a second teammate entry |
| A new hire has no signature | They were added to the workspace but not to a group | Add them to a group. The signature is generated on assignment |
Related articles
- Create teammate signatures using groups walks through the full flow end to end.
- What are workspace templates explains the template side of the pairing.
- Import and manage teammates covers getting people into the workspace first.
- Install email signatures to Google Workspace covers deploying from inside a group.
Still stuck? Email support@syncsignature.com and include your workspace name and the group you are working in.