Documentation

Installation

1. Download Paraph from the Mac App Store
2. Open Paraph from your Applications folder
3. You'll see the signature list on the left and the editor on the right

First Launch

When you first open Paraph, a setup sheet invites you to enter your details — name, title, company, phone, email, and more. These become your defaults, so every new signature starts pre-filled with your information. You can also import from your Contacts card with a single click.

You can update these defaults anytime in Settings → Your Info.

Creating Your First Signature

1. Click the + button in the sidebar to create a new signature
2. Give it a name (e.g., "Work" or "Personal")
3. Start typing in the editor, or click Templates to start from a design
4. Use the formatting toolbar to style your text
5. When ready, click Install to Mail to add it to Apple Mail

Paraph includes 15 professionally designed templates spanning minimal, corporate, creative, developer, and social styles.

Dynamic Previews

The template gallery shows live previews rendered with your own information from Settings → Your Info. You see exactly what each template will look like with your name, title, and company before choosing one.

Applying a Template

1. Create a new signature or open an existing one
2. Click the Templates button in the toolbar
3. Browse the template gallery — each preview uses your saved info
4. Click a template to apply it

Applying a template replaces the current editor content. Your signature name and Mail.app assignments are preserved.

Customizing After Applying

After applying a template, everything is editable. Your information is already filled in — adjust the text, swap images, change colors, and tweak the layout to match your brand.

Colors

Set default brand colors in Settings → Colors. These are used when generating new signatures from templates. You can also override colors per signature using the color pickers in the editor toolbar.

The editor is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) rich text editor. Changes appear in real time exactly as they'll look in your email.

Top Bar

The bar above the toolbar contains editor-wide controls:

Icon	Description
	Name — click the signature name to rename it
	Size — shows the signature size in KB with a color-coded indicator (green/yellow/orange/red) relative to the 1 MB cloud sync limit
	Visual / Source — toggle between the WYSIWYG visual editor and raw HTML source view
/	Light / Dark — preview how your signature looks in light or dark mode email clients
	Share — copy signature to clipboard or export as an HTML file
	Install to Mail — install the signature directly into Apple Mail

Formatting Toolbar

The toolbar provides quick access to all formatting options, organized into groups:

History

Icon	Tool
	Undo
	Redo

Clipboard

Icon	Tool
	Cut
	Copy
	Paste — click for regular paste, or use the dropdown for Paste as Plain Text

Text Style

Icon	Tool
	Bold
	Italic
	Underline
	Strikethrough
	Superscript
	Subscript

Font

Icon	Tool
	Font Family — choose from sans-serif, serif, monospace, and casual typefaces
	Font Size — adjust text size from 8 to 72 px using the stepper
	Line Height — adjust spacing between lines (1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0)
	Text Color — pick from a palette, enter a custom hex value, or clear to use the default
	Background — set the signature background color, or leave transparent for natural dark mode support

Alignment

Icon	Tool
	Left
	Center
	Right

Lists

Icon	Tool
	Numbered List
	Bullet List
	Indent
	Outdent

Insert

Icon	Tool
	Link — insert a hyperlink to a website, email (mailto:), or phone (tel:)
	Image — insert from a file or URL; you can also drag and drop images into the editor
	Table — insert a table for structured multi-column layouts
	Divider — insert a horizontal line

Tables

Tables are the best way to create structured, multi-column signature layouts. Use Tab to move between cells. Right-click a table for options like adding/removing rows and columns.

Source Mode

Click the Visual / Source toggle to switch to raw HTML editing. Source mode includes a live validation indicator that flags common issues. Switch back to Visual mode to see your changes rendered.

Add logos, headshots, or icons to your signature by dragging them into the editor or using the image button in the toolbar.

Supported Formats

• PNG (recommended for logos with transparency)
• JPEG (recommended for photos)
• GIF

Smart Image Sizing

Email signatures need to be compact. When you add an image that's too large, Paraph will evaluate it and present resize options:

• Acceptable — Image fits within size limits, no action needed
• Needs Review — Image is large; choose from suggested dimensions and quality levels
• Rejected — Image exceeds 1MB even at minimum quality; use a smaller source image

Resizing in the Editor

Click any image in the editor to see resize handles. Drag the corners to resize while maintaining aspect ratio. You can also click the image properties button to set exact pixel dimensions.

Paraph can install signatures directly into Apple Mail, complete with images. No copying and pasting HTML.

Installing a Signature

1. Design your signature in the editor
2. Quit Apple Mail if it's running
3. Click Install to Mail in the toolbar
4. Select which Mail accounts should use this signature
5. Click Install
6. Open Apple Mail — your new signature will be ready to use

Updating a Signature

After editing a signature that's already installed, quit Apple Mail, then click Install to Mail again. Paraph will update the existing signature in Mail.app.

Removing a Signature

To remove a signature from Mail.app, open Mail's Preferences (Settings > Signatures), select the signature, and click the minus button.

Permissions

To discover your Mail accounts and install signatures, Paraph needs access to Mail's data folder on your Mac. The first time you use Install to Mail, Paraph will ask you to select this folder in a standard macOS file dialog. macOS remembers your choice, so you only need to do this once.

Specifically, Paraph accesses:

• Mail account list — to show which accounts are available for signature assignment
• Mail signature files — to install, update, and manage your signatures within Apple Mail

Paraph does not read your emails or any other personal data. The access is strictly limited to Mail's signature and account configuration files.

Contacts Access (Optional)

When you use Import from Contacts in Settings → Your Info, macOS will ask for permission to access your Contacts. This is entirely optional — it simply pulls your name, title, phone numbers, and email from your Me card so you don't have to type them manually. Paraph never accesses other contacts.

Paraph uses Apple's CloudKit to sync your signatures across all your Macs signed into the same Apple ID.

What Syncs

• Signature content (HTML, name, images)
• Image attachments (headshots, logos)
• Social links and metadata

What Stays Local

• Mail.app assignments (which account uses which signature)
• Template data (bundled with the app)

Mail.app assignments stay local because each Mac may have different email accounts configured.

Besides installing directly into Mail.app, you can export your signature for use in other email clients.

Copy to Clipboard

Click the Copy HTML button to copy your signature as rich HTML to the clipboard. You can then paste it into the signature settings of Gmail, Outlook, or any email client that supports HTML signatures.

Signature doesn't appear in Mail.app

• Make sure Apple Mail was quit before you installed the signature — Mail overwrites changes made while it's running
• Quit Mail, reinstall the signature from Paraph, then reopen Mail
• Check Mail > Settings > Signatures to verify it was installed

Images missing in received emails

• Verify the signature shows images in Mail.app's compose window
• Some recipients' email clients block images by default — this is normal
• Reinstall the signature to ensure images are properly embedded

Mail.app reverts to old signature

• Mail.app overwrites signature files while running — always quit Mail before installing
• Mail.app sometimes resets signatures after macOS updates; quit Mail and reinstall from Paraph
• Check that iCloud Mail signature sync is disabled in Mail preferences if it conflicts

No Mail accounts found

• When prompted, make sure you select the correct Mail data folder — Paraph will guide you to the right location
• If you previously denied access, click Install to Mail again to re-trigger the folder selection prompt
• Ensure Apple Mail is configured with at least one account
• See the Mail.app Integration section for details

Editor feels slow or unresponsive

• Very large images can slow the editor — resize them using the image size tool
• Extremely complex tables with many cells may cause brief delays