Programmatically set Outlook 2013 Signature Defaults?

Question

Is it possible to programmatically set the Outlook 2013 Default Signature settings? We can generate the user's signature OK but would like to also set the signature to appear by default in user's emails:

The setting itself seems to be tucked-away in the Registry under an Outlook profile:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook\9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6677\00000002

Reg Values:

• New Signature
• Reply-Forward Signature

... (which have binary data, presumably encoding the HTML file name/reference).

Not sure if I can use the Outlook Object Model to access and set settings? And whether this would be possible with a ClickOnce application?

Answer 1

I haven't cleaned up the code yet, but this works for me to set the signature in Outlook 2013. In python (yes I know its ugly and not PEP8).

import _winreg
def set_default():

    try:
        #this makes it so users can't change it.
        outlook_2013_key = _winreg.OpenKey(_winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, r"Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\MailSettings", 0, _winreg.KEY_ALL_ACCESS)
        _winreg.SetValueEx(outlook_2013_key, "NewSignature", 0, _winreg.REG_SZ, "default" )
        _winreg.SetValueEx(outlook_2013_key, "ReplySignature", 0, _winreg.REG_SZ, "default" )

        # sets the sigs in outlook profile
        outlook_2013_base_key = _winreg.OpenKey(_winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, r"Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles", 0, _winreg.KEY_ALL_ACCESS)
        default_profile_2013_tup = _winreg.QueryValueEx(outlook_2013_base_key,'DefaultProfile')
        default_profile_2013 = default_profile_2013_tup[0]
        print default_profile_2013
        outlook_2013_profile_key = _winreg.OpenKey(_winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
                                                   "Software\\Microsoft\\Office\\15.0\\Outlook\\Profiles\\" + default_profile_2013 + "\\9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6676", 0, _winreg.KEY_ALL_ACCESS)
        for i in range(0, 10):
            try:
                outlook_2013_sub_key_name = _winreg.EnumKey(outlook_2013_profile_key,i)
                print outlook_2013_sub_key_name, "sub_key_name"
                outlook_2013_sub_key = _winreg.OpenKey(outlook_2013_profile_key, outlook_2013_sub_key_name, 0, _winreg.KEY_ALL_ACCESS)
                _winreg.SetValueEx(outlook_2013_sub_key, "New Signature", 0, _winreg.REG_SZ, "default" )
                _winreg.SetValueEx(outlook_2013_sub_key, "Reply-Forward Signature", 0, _winreg.REG_SZ, "default" )
            except:
                pass

    except:
        print('no 2013 found')

Answer 2

Outlook signatures are set on the per account basis in profile data (stored in the registry). You can see the data in OutlookSpy - click IOlkAccountManager button and double click on the account.

IOlkAccountManager can be accessed only in C++ or Delphi. If using Redemption is an option (it can be used from any language, including VBA or .Net, I am its author), it exposes the RDOAccount.ReplySignature and NewMessageSignature properties.