Webmail Identities, Signatures, and Templates

TrekMail webmail gives you three tools that shape how you appear in every email you send: identities (the address people see in the From field), signatures (the block of text or HTML at the bottom of every message), and templates (pre-written emails you reuse). This guide covers all three with the actual limits and edge cases.

Identities: sending from different addresses

An identity is a combination of a display name and an email address that appears in the From field. By default, your identity is your mailbox address — for example, Alice Baker <alice@yourdomain.com>.

Add more identities when:

• Your mailbox receives mail for multiple aliases (info@, support@, billing@) and you want replies to come from the right one.
• You manage email on behalf of a team or shared inbox.
• You use a professional name different from your sign-in name.
• You handle multiple brand identities on the same mailbox (e.g. a freelancer with two client domains).

Which addresses can be an identity

You can only create identities for addresses that already belong to your mailbox:

• The primary mailbox address itself (this exists as an identity by default).
• Any alias that's been set up by your account admin and points at this mailbox.
• Any address on the same domain as your mailbox — for example, if your mailbox is alice@yourcompany.com, you can add marketing@yourcompany.com as an identity even without a separate alias (assuming you handle that role).

You cannot add arbitrary external addresses (like a personal Gmail) as a sending identity. If you try, the form returns an error explaining the identity must be on a domain your mailbox can use. This protects against spoofing — TrekMail won't send mail "from" an address you don't control.

Creating an identity

1. Go to Settings → Identities.
2. Click New identity.
3. Fill in:
   • Display name — what recipients see. Examples: "Alice Baker", "TrekMail Support", "Marketing Team".
   • Email address — the address you want to send from. Subject to the rules above.
   • Reply-to address (optional) — if you want replies to go to a different address than the one you sent from. Useful for "send-from-personal, reply-to-team" scenarios.
   • Signature (optional) — see the next section.
4. Click Save.

Using an identity

Open a new compose window. If you have more than one identity, a From dropdown appears at the top of the form. Pick the identity you want before clicking Send.

When replying, webmail tries to pick the right identity automatically by matching the To address of the original email against your identity list. If info@yourcompany.com was emailed, the reply defaults to your info@ identity. You can override by clicking the From dropdown.

Setting a default

Mark one identity as Default to make it the pre-selected option in every new compose window. Open the identity's edit panel, check Default identity, save. Only one identity can be default; checking it on another automatically unchecks the previous one.

Deleting an identity

Open the identity in Settings → Identities and click the delete icon. Your default identity can't be deleted — if it's the default and you want to remove it, set a different identity as default first, then delete the original. The error you'll see if you try: "Cannot delete the default identity. Set a different identity as default first."

Email signatures

A signature is a block of HTML (or plain text) automatically appended to the bottom of new messages, replies, or both. Common uses: name and title, phone number, company logo, legal disclaimer.

Signatures are per-identity — each identity has its own signature field, so you can sign emails differently when sending from alice@ vs support@.

Creating a signature

1. Go to Settings → Identities.
2. Click the identity you want to add a signature to (or your primary mailbox address).
3. Scroll to the Signature section.
4. Write your signature in the editor — formatting tools (bold, italic, links, lists, alignment) are available.
5. Use the Insert image button to add a logo, headshot, or icon.
6. Click Save.

Size limit: signatures cap at 10,000 characters of HTML. That's enough for several paragraphs with images and styling — most signatures are under 500 characters. If you bump the cap, trim the styling.

Signature images — inline vs hosted

Two ways to include images in a signature:

• Inline (base64-embedded) — image is stored as part of the HTML signature itself. Pros: works everywhere, no separate hosting needed. Cons: counts against the 10,000-char cap, balloons every email's size, and some email clients hide base64 images by default for security.
• Hosted URL — image lives on a web server (your company site, a CDN, an image hosting service) and the signature references it via <img src="https://...">. Pros: small signature footprint, sharper rendering, works in clients that block embedded images. Cons: requires reliable hosting; if the URL ever 404s, recipients see a broken-image icon in every old email.

For corporate / brand signatures, hosted URLs on a domain you control is the recommended pattern. Use a CDN that won't go down.

Image dimensions

Most email clients render images at their original dimensions — there's no responsive sizing. Keep signature images small: typically 200-400px wide for a logo, 80-120px square for a headshot. Anything larger pushes the rest of your email off-screen on mobile.

Auto-insert vs manual insert

By default, your signature is automatically added to new messages. Adjust the behaviour in Settings → Preferences → Compose → Signature insertion:

• Always insert — signature appears in new messages and replies.
• New messages only — signature in new messages; replies stay clean (avoids signature pile-up on long threads).
• Never — signature is not inserted automatically; click the Signature button in the compose toolbar to add it manually.

What HTML is allowed

Signatures are HTML-sanitised on save. Safe formatting (<b>, <i>, <a>, <img>, <p>, <br>, <ul>, <li>, tables, basic inline styles) goes through. JavaScript, scripts, form elements, and other interactive elements are stripped — same standard you'd expect for any email content.

If you paste a signature from another email client (Outlook, Gmail), the formatting usually carries over but some inline styles may shift slightly. Inspect the result before saving heavily.

Multi-language signatures

If your customers span multiple languages, you have two patterns:

• Single signature with both languages stacked: English on top, Russian below, separated by a horizontal rule. Works but doubles signature length.
• Multiple identities, each with its own signature — alice@yourdomain.com (English) and a alice-ru@ alias with the Russian signature. Pick the identity based on the recipient. This requires the alias to exist.

Message templates

Templates are pre-written emails you insert into a compose window with one click. Ideal for messages you send repeatedly: weekly reports, client follow-ups, support replies, invoice reminders, NDA notices.

Limits

• Up to 20 templates per mailbox. If you hit the cap, the form returns "Maximum number of templates reached."
• Subject: up to 500 characters.
• Body: up to 50,000 characters of HTML (sanitised on save, same rules as signatures).
• Templates are per-mailbox — not shared across mailboxes in your account.

Creating a template

1. Go to Settings → Templates.
2. Click New template.
3. Give it a name (this is just for your reference — recipients never see it). Examples: "Weekly client report", "Invoice reminder", "Support: password reset acknowledgement".
4. Optionally fill in a default Subject — leave blank if it varies per send.
5. Write the Message body with the full formatting toolbar.
6. Click Save.

Using a template

1. Open a new compose window or a reply.
2. Click the Templates button in the compose toolbar (document icon).
3. Select the template you want from the list.
4. The subject and body fill in. Edit them as needed before sending — the template is a starting point, not a locked form.

The template fills the subject and body but does not override the To field or attachments. Add recipients and files after inserting.

Editing or deleting

Go to Settings → Templates. Click any template to edit, or click the delete icon to remove. Changes to a template do not affect emails already sent — those messages are independent copies.

Template tips

• Use placeholders manually. Templates don't auto-fill names or dates. Write Hi [NAME] or Hi [CLIENT] so you remember to swap before sending. (No automatic placeholder substitution today — what you see is what gets sent if you forget.)
• Keep templates short. A template that needs heavy editing every time isn't saving you much. If you find yourself rewriting 80% of it, the template is too specific.
• Match templates to repeat-rate. Templates earn their keep on messages you send 5+ times a month. Once a quarter? Just keep the draft in a notes file.

Common questions

Can different identities have different signatures? Yes. Each identity has its own signature field. The signature attached to the identity you're sending from is the one that gets used.

Can I use images in my signature? Yes — see the inline-vs-hosted section above. Keep in mind that some email clients block images by default; always include the important text (your name, phone) as actual text, not inside the image.

Can my teammates see my templates? No. Templates are personal to your webmail account — they're not shared across mailboxes in your TrekMail account or visible to other users.

Can I export my templates to use on a different mailbox? Not via UI today. If you need to migrate templates between mailboxes, copy-paste the bodies manually. Reach out to support if you have a large set; we may be able to help with a one-off copy.

Why is my signature image showing as a broken icon? Either the image URL is dead (check by opening it in a browser — does it load?) or the recipient's email client is blocking external images (Gmail and Outlook do this by default until the recipient marks you as trusted). Inline base64 images sidestep the blocking but have other tradeoffs.

Can I have an HTML signature with a button? Technically yes — write an <a href="..." style="display:inline-block; background:...; padding:..."></a> in the editor. In practice, email-client HTML support is limited: buttons in signatures often render inconsistently. Keep it simple if signatures matter.

Does my signature go on auto-reply messages? No. Auto-replies use their own template configured under Settings → Auto-reply and don't pick up your identity signature.

Can identities use different SMTP servers? No. All your outbound mail goes through TrekMail's SMTP infrastructure regardless of which identity you select. The identity only changes the visible From, display name, and (optionally) Reply-To.