How to change my gmail signature based on the language of the recipient
March 18, 2022 12:44 AM Subscribe
In my daily work life, I reply to or compose about 50-60 emails a day, in 4 different languages.
I have an email signature at the bottom of my mail. I have to manually modify the greeting and some words in the signature to match the recipient's language.
Is there a more effective way? I'm sure google recognizes the language I'm using in the text. How to link that to the correct signature?
My signature is a closing greeting + my "business card" (name, title, contact info, picture).
I find myself manually modifying the signature about 75% of the time.
Right now I have the signature in English, then modify manually as needed for the other 3 languages.
I also tried loading the 4 different signatures in one block and manually deleting the "wrong" languages every time, but that's also quite annoying.
I'm using spell check extensions that very easily recognizes all 4 languages and corrects accordingly (LanguageTool extension, so like Grammarly but for many more languages). So it seems the technology to detect the correct language is available.
Maybe even something based on the IP of the recipient could be a possibility, although unfortunately my correspondents are often based in tricky countries like Belgium or Switzerland, where the mailer can write in either French, Dutch or German for example, and I should reply in the same language...
Is there some kind of plugin or extension that will detect the language of the incoming email, and match the signature to the correct language?
I can't imagine I'm the only one with this issue, it seems it would be very common for companies dealing with customer service etc?
My signature is a closing greeting + my "business card" (name, title, contact info, picture).
I find myself manually modifying the signature about 75% of the time.
Right now I have the signature in English, then modify manually as needed for the other 3 languages.
I also tried loading the 4 different signatures in one block and manually deleting the "wrong" languages every time, but that's also quite annoying.
I'm using spell check extensions that very easily recognizes all 4 languages and corrects accordingly (LanguageTool extension, so like Grammarly but for many more languages). So it seems the technology to detect the correct language is available.
Maybe even something based on the IP of the recipient could be a possibility, although unfortunately my correspondents are often based in tricky countries like Belgium or Switzerland, where the mailer can write in either French, Dutch or German for example, and I should reply in the same language...
Is there some kind of plugin or extension that will detect the language of the incoming email, and match the signature to the correct language?
I can't imagine I'm the only one with this issue, it seems it would be very common for companies dealing with customer service etc?
Best answer: Forget about email signatures. Get something like TextExpander, and turn your different language closings and signature into macros. Once you are used to using them, you’ll be surprised why people type the same stuff over and over.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 3:53 AM on March 18, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 3:53 AM on March 18, 2022 [11 favorites]
Best answer: On Mac use TextExpander or Alfred snippets or a similar app, on Windows use AutoHotKey (which has many, many other uses).
Either way you'll create something that let's you type ";sig1" and signature 1 gets inserted, ";sig2" and signature 2 gets inserted, etc. The ";sig1" part can be whatever you want.
posted by Awfki at 5:26 AM on March 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Either way you'll create something that let's you type ";sig1" and signature 1 gets inserted, ";sig2" and signature 2 gets inserted, etc. The ";sig1" part can be whatever you want.
posted by Awfki at 5:26 AM on March 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Ooooh TextExpander looks perfect, not only for the signature, but for a lot more repetitive customer service/sales tasks. Thanks!
posted by PardonMyFrench at 8:06 AM on March 18, 2022
posted by PardonMyFrench at 8:06 AM on March 18, 2022
Do you even have to delete anything? What I mean is, is there any harm in your email recipients seeing the other languages in your signature (or knowing that you deal in four languages)?
In bilingual parts of Canada it's very common to see signatures that show both English and French, separated by a slash.
Thank you / Merci,
Name
Director of... / Directrice...
Address
Of course with four languages it would be more info so reformatting might be needed.
posted by tinydancer at 8:07 AM on March 18, 2022
In bilingual parts of Canada it's very common to see signatures that show both English and French, separated by a slash.
Thank you / Merci,
Name
Director of... / Directrice...
Address
Of course with four languages it would be more info so reformatting might be needed.
posted by tinydancer at 8:07 AM on March 18, 2022
Response by poster: @tinydancer Yes, exactly, if it was only 2 languages I would keep it, but because it's 4 it makes it look visually sloppy and quite impersonal. I feel it also gives the impression that I run a giant multinational corporation, when really it's just me and a part-time assistant...
posted by PardonMyFrench at 8:12 AM on March 18, 2022
posted by PardonMyFrench at 8:12 AM on March 18, 2022
Gmail also has a templates feature that may be of use to you, which inserts whatever text you want at the cursor.
posted by ssg at 10:03 AM on March 18, 2022
posted by ssg at 10:03 AM on March 18, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
When composing, there is a pen (or marker) icon on the far right on the very bottom. Click that, and you can choose the appropriate signature from the dropdown.
Not automated, but simple enough that a more complex solution shouldn't be necessary.
posted by wile e at 12:57 AM on March 18, 2022 [7 favorites]