I recently started a new job and created an Outlook signature by copying a coworker's signature and replacing the personal details. The text works, but the company logo repeatedly shows: "The linked image cannot be displayed. The file may have been moved, renamed, or deleted."
This happens with any image I try, regardless of whether I place it on the desktop, in my user profile, under AppData, or at the root of the C: drive. Our Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders are redirected to an encrypted file server, but I also tested images stored in locations that remain local to the computer.
The same signature works correctly in Outlook on the web, so the issue appears limited to the Outlook 2021 desktop app on Windows 11 Enterprise. I also tried changing the location Outlook uses for signatures, but that did not resolve the problem. Is there another fix or workaround I should try?
3 Answers
Try recreating the signature directly in Outlook instead of copying the complete signature from another user. Go to File > Options > Mail > Signatures, create a new signature, and insert the logo again. Outlook normally stores the image alongside the signature under the local AppDataMicrosoftSignatures folder and references it with a relative path. A pasted signature can retain a stale or inaccessible file path, which would explain why moving the image around does not help. Also verify that the local Signatures folder has not been redirected to the encrypted file server.
Another option is to use a logo hosted at a stable web address rather than embedding an image that Outlook has to load from a local path. Some companies use a signature-management product to centrally deploy signatures and handle logos, branding, and future changes. This is usually more reliable than manually copying signatures between users, but check your organization’s security and policy requirements before hosting the image externally.
This may be related to a recent Outlook update affecting embedded signature images. As a temporary workaround, switching the message format from HTML to Rich Text has worked for some users, although it is not ideal for normal email formatting.
That sounds worth testing as a short-term workaround. I was hoping to keep HTML formatting, but it could confirm whether the issue is specific to how Outlook renders the signature.