CloudM Automate does not push a signature update to Gmail every time something changes. Instead, it checks whether the signature assigned to a user has changed, based on the data held in CloudM, and only pushes an update when it detects a genuine difference.
How signature sync detection works
A sync check happens whenever one of the following is triggered:
- Immediate: An immediate, single-user sync.
- Daily: The daily automated signature sync.
- Weekly: The weekly full sync.
- Manual: A manual signature sync for a specific OU or Smart Team.
Each is explained below.
Immediate sync
CloudM automatically triggers a sync for a single user, within minutes, when signature-relevant data changes for that user. This includes:
- A user's profile being updated (e.g. name, job title, or any other field used in their signature).
- A user being renamed, having their primary email address changed, or being moved to a different OU.
- A user's Smart Team membership changing.
- A user's own signature configuration or template being saved.
- A change to the user's data picked up from Google (e.g. via directory sync).
Important: the immediate sync only ever fires for the single user whose data changed. Editing a signature template that's shared across many users will only auto-sync the person who made the edit, not everyone else using that template. Everyone else waits for the daily sync, or needs a manual OU/Smart Team sync to pick up the change sooner.
Daily sync
Once a day, CloudM checks every user with a signature assigned for a change, and pushes an update to Gmail for anyone whose signature has changed since the last check. This is the safety net for anyone who wasn't covered by an immediate sync, most importantly, everyone except the editor when a shared template changes.
Weekly sync
Every Saturday at 00:00, CloudM pushes every currently assigned signature to Gmail, regardless of whether a change has been detected. This is the mechanism that will eventually overwrite a signature that a user has edited directly in Gmail.
Important: all of the checks above only look at data within CloudM. If a user manually removes or edits their signature directly in Gmail's settings, CloudM has no visibility of that change and will not correct it until this weekly sync runs.
Recommendation: let users know that signatures should be managed through CloudM rather than edited directly in Gmail, since manual changes made in Gmail won't be detected or corrected until the next weekly full sync.
Manual sync
You can trigger a sync for a specific OU or Smart Team at any time, by selecting Actions > Sync Email Signatures. Like the daily sync, this checks for a genuine difference before pushing, so it will not correct a Gmail-side edit on its own; see Forcing a signature update sooner below for the full workaround.
Note: manual syncs for the same domain are rate-limited to once every 10 minutes.
Forcing a signature update sooner
If you need a signature corrected before the next weekly full sync runs, you have two options:
Option 1: Wait for the weekly full sync. This will push the currently assigned signature to the user's Gmail account without any further action from you.
Option 2: Force a change to be detected. Since CloudM only pushes an update when it detects a change, you can trigger one manually:
- Edit the signature template or the user's profile field(s) used in their signature. This registers as a change.
- Run a manual sync for the user's OU or Smart Team through which they inherit the signature.
- To check which OU or Smart Team a user inherits their signature from, go to the user's profile, then Actions > Inspect Configuration.
- To manually trigger a sync, select Actions > Sync Email Signatures.
- Edit the signature template or profile field(s) back to their original values, reverting the change from step 1.
- Run the manual sync again. This should push the correct signature to the user's Gmail account.
Note: remember the 10-minute rate limit above; allow at least this long between the two manual sync steps if you don't see the expected result straight away.
See Checking a User's Email Signature to confirm the update has taken effect.
Still not syncing? See Why is my email signature not synchronizing? for further troubleshooting steps, including the Reply/Forward signature limitation covered in our WATCHPOINT article.