Add organization-wide email disclaimer or html signature with embedded images in IIS SMTP Service and Exchange 2003 - Tutorial¶

How Disclaimer Plugin works?¶

In IIS SMTP Service or Exchange Server 2003, Disclaimer Plugin works as a SMTP event sink, it can append/insert disclaimer or signature to email body based on specific rules.

A disclaimer/signature rule can be set for specified sender, domain, group, recipient or email subject.

Install Disclaimer Plugin in IIS SMTP Service or Exchange Server 2003¶

To enable Disclaimer Plugin in IIS SMTP Service or Exchange Server 2003, download EA Disclaimer and S/MIME Installer and install it on your server.

Double click the installer file and the installation will be executed automatically. The installer requires IIS SMTP Service or Exchange Server to be installed. If no IIS SMTP Service or Exchange server detected in your operation system, Setup will be aborted.

After the installation is completed, click “Disclaimer and S/MIME Manager” from “Windows Start menu” -> “All Programs” -> “EA Disclaimer and SMIME for IIS and Exchange Server” to begin the setup.

Create a simple server-side disclaimer/signature rule¶

You can create a test disclaimer/signature rule for a user like this:

• Click Disclaimer/Signature -> New,
• Input any description for current rule,
• Input user email address in Sender Address,
• Click Edit disclaimer/signature to open html disclaimer/signature editor, input some text, click OK,
• Finally, click Save to save current rule.

After rule is saved, click Test, current rule will be executed with a virtual email message, you can find the result in test dialog box.

If Test all rules is checked, all rules defined on current machine will be executed with a virtual email message.

If test result looks good, you can send a test email from that user, and check if received email body has disclaimer/signature appended.

If Sender address matches the following pattern, add disclaimer/signature
    test@emailarchitect.net

# This rule is enabled for all emails from test@emailarchitect.net

If Sender address matches the following pattern, add disclaimer/signature
    *@emailarchitect.net

# This rule is enabled for all emails from *@emailarchitect.net

If Sender address does not match the following patter, add disclaimer/signature
    test@emailarchitect.net

# This rule is enabled for all emails except test@emailarchitect.net

If Sender address does not match the following pattern, add disclaimer/signature
    *@emailarchitect.net

# This rule is enabled for all emails except *@emailarchitect.net.

Sender group, recipient and subject conditions¶

Besides sender address pattern, you can set additional conditions for sender group, recipient and email subject.

For example, click Add more conditions and change sender condition like this:

If Sender is from user in organization:

Above condition means current rule is just enabled for internal users, you can use ADSI variables in disclaimer.

If Sender is not from user in organization:

Above condition means current rule is just enabled for external sender, you may add some caution information in disclaimer.

If Sender is in one of group:
    IT
    Sales

Above condition means current rule is just enabled for sender that is in “IT” or “Sales” user group.

HTML disclaimer/html signature editor¶

You can use html disclaimer/signature editor to change font style, size, color and etc. Moreover, it provides two advanced functions:

• Insert ADSI variables,
• Insert disclaimer/signature from templates.

Use ADSI variables in dynamic email html disclaimer/signature¶

ADSI Variables is used to personalize dynamic disclaimer or signature by utilizing user’s Active Directory objects attribute. To add an attribute, use this syntax: {$adsi:AttributeName}, where “AttributeName” is the attribute you want to include in the disclaimer.

Build dynamic signature with variables¶

To learn how to use variables, let’s create a rule is like this:

If Sender address matches the following pattern, add disclaimer/signature
    *@emailarchitect.net

The above rule is enabled for all emails from *@emailarchitect.net, then include some ADSI variables in the disclaimer/signature like this:

The following illustrates what email recipient see - all ADSI variables were replaced by the actual value in Active Directory User Attributes.

From the above example, you can see one rule can generate dynamic disclaimer/signature for individual user at domain level.

How to set active directory user attributes¶

Go to Administrative Tools -> Active Directory Users and Computers -> Users, then select the user account you want to edit, right click -> Properties and edit it. In Exchange 2010 or later version, user can edit his contact information via Exchange Server Web Access -> Options -> Account Information.

How to get attribute name¶

ADSI variable syntax is: {$adsi:AttributeName}. Please note “AttributeName” is not the same as what you see in Active Directory User properties. You need to use “ADSIEdit” tool to find out the real “AttributeName”.

Open “ADSIEdit” by Administrative Tools -> ADSI Edit, then right click -> Connect To and Click OK by default setting, go to CN-Users node, and select one of Exchange User -> right click -> Properties. You will see the real “AttributeName” in the first column of the following dialog:

Common ADSI variables¶

In disclaimer editor -> “Insert ADSI variable”, it lists most common active directory user attributes. You can click the attribute name to insert it into editor current position.

// for example, if your signature is like this:

{$adsi:displayName}
{$adsi:title}
{$adsi:company}

// and title is not set for the user, the signature will become

displayName
company

// for example, if your signature is like this:

{$adsi:displayName}
{$adsi:title?Engineer}
{$adsi:company}

// and title is not set for the user, the signature will become

displayName
Engineer
company

// for example, if your signature is like this:

{$adsi:displayName}
{$^Phone: $adsi:mobile}
{$adsi:company}

// if mobile is provided, the signature will become

displayName
Phone: 123123899
company

// and if mobile is not provided for the user, the signature will become

displayName
company

Insert embedded image in email html disclaimer/html signature¶

Although a remote logo/image can be used in html disclaimer/signature, by default, the image won’t be displayed due to email client security policy.

To fix it, you can add logo/image by clicking Insert image, those images will be attached as embedded attachment in an email.

Embedded image is always displayed in email client by default.

Download remote image/picture as embedded attachment¶

If there are some remote images in disclaimer/signature content, the editor will prompt “Do you want to download remote image as embedded attachment?” after OK is clicked. You can click Yes to download all remote images as embedded attachments.

Use html disclaimer/html signature templates¶

In disclaimer/signature editor, four Signature Layout Templates and one Confidentiality Notice are provided.

You can click Insert content from templates from the toolbar, select a template, edit necessary variables, images, click Insert, template content will be inserted into editor.

Insert or append disclaimer/signature intelligently¶

This is a default option to specify disclaimer/signature position in email body.

It appends disclaimer/signature to the end of email body in new email. On the other hand, it inserts disclaimer/signature before original body content in replied/forwarded email.

Using this option can place disclaimer/signature at better position in email body.

Multiple disclaimer rules¶

You can define multiple rules for individual user or a group. If If current rule is applied, skip next rule is not checked in Advanced options, all rules will be applied to the matched email based on rule priority.

For example:

# rule 1
If Sender address matches the following pattern, add disclaimer/signature
    *@exch27.server

# add personal signature for users in domain level.

#rule 2
If Sender address matches the following pattern, add disclaimer/signature
    *

# add a global Confidentiality Notice

Then the disclaimer/signature for a domain user is like this:

Disclaimer Plugin troubleshooting¶

If your email does not have disclaimer/signature added after you set correct rule, you should use Log Level to generate debug log like this:

Verify IIS SMTP Service/Exchange 2003 installation¶

To verify S/MIME SMTP event sink, you can open DOS prompt, and change directory to EA Disclaimer and S/MIME installation path\installer and input:

cscript smtpregex.vbs /enum
Press enter.

Check if there is EA Smime Sink installed and enabled in output.

If there is no EA Smime Sink found, you can re-run installer directly (do not uninstall) to fix this issue.

You can also contact our support team for assistance.

Appendix: Digital signature and email encryption¶

• Add Digital Signature (S/MIME) to Email in IIS SMTP Service and Exchange Server 2003
• Encrypt Email (S/MIME) in IIS SMTP Service and Exchange Server 2003

Free Email Support¶

Not enough? Please contact our technical support team.

Support@EmailArchitect.NET

Remarks

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