Including a button in your e-mail

Many e-mail programs let you have a Skype button in the e-mail signature so that the recipient can easily get back to you with Skype. Getting the Skype buttons to work in e-mail signatures requires some code editing.

For instructions about how to enable the Skype buttons on Mac OS X, see this post. Below are the instructions for Windows and some common e-mail programs — you’ll be set up in no time.

Creating the button

  1. Go here: http://www.skype.com/go/skypebuttons

  2. Complete the wizard according to the instructions. Make sure your Skype Name is entered correctly. In section 4, switch the button to “Email HTML”.

  3. Right-click on the text box in section 4 and click “Copy”. The HTML code is copied to your clipboard.

  4. Open Up Notepad (Start, Programs, Accessories, Notepad)

  5. Paste the code into Notepad (click Edit, Paste). Click File, Save As…, pick a file name and save to Desktop. (If you would like to have multiple buttons in your signature, repeat steps 1 to 3 and add the code for all the buttons to the same file.)

  6. Find the file you just saved on your Desktop. Right-click on it, click Rename, replace ‘.txt’ with ‘.html’. Hit Return. You will get a warning you are changing a file extension. Just answer Yes.

    Note: If file extension doesn’t show as .txt, then you need to go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, (untick) Hide extensions for known file types, Apply.

  7. You should now have a HTML file on your desktop. Double-click and it should open up a browser with your Skype Button. Make sure it works — click on the button and it should perform the action you wanted.

Configuring mailer — Microsoft Outlook

Open Micosoft Outlook, Tools, Options, Mail Format, Signatures, New, Add your title, (click) Use this file as a Template, Browse, Select, find the signature file that you created in bullet 5 above, Select.

Configuring mailer — Outlook Express 6

Open Outlook Express 6. Go to Tools, Options, Signatures tab. Check the radio button “File” instead of Text. Click Browse and find the signature file that you created in bullet 5 above. Use the Browse button to find signature. Then, go to Send tab and make sure that the Mail Sending Format is set to “HTML”, not “Plain Text”.

Configuring mailer — Mozilla Thunderbird

Open Tools, Account Settings. Find your e-mail account. Check the “Attach this signature” checkbox. Click Choose… and find the signature file you created in bullet 5 above. Then, go to “Composition & Addressing” section and make sure the “Compose messages in HTML format” checkbox is checked. Click OK.

Testing your setup and sending mail with the Skype button

Send a test e-mail to yourself to make sure your Skype button works as expected. All your mails should now have your Skype button in the signature.

If the above instructions don’t work for you, feel free to post comments or questions to the Skype Sharing forum.