Confidentiality
The safe default for most companies.
This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the addressee. If you received it in error, please notify the sender and delete all copies.
Free resource
Email disclaimer examples
Ten short, plain-language email disclaimers for the situations teams most often ask about: confidentiality, GDPR, legal privilege, financial services, medical/health, environmental, opinions-are-my-own, no-contract formation, virus/security and breach notification. Pick the one that fits and copy it straight into your signature. All templates are free to use and modify.
Please note: these texts are general information, not legal advice. If your industry is regulated or you operate in multiple jurisdictions, have counsel review the wording before you deploy it across a team.
GDPR / privacy
Organizations processing personal data of EU or UK residents.
This message may contain personal data processed in accordance with the sender's privacy notice. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this email and any attachments and do not further process the personal data it contains.
Legal privilege
Law firms and in-house counsel.
This email may contain information that is confidential, legally privileged or protected by the attorney work-product doctrine. If you are not the intended recipient, any review, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. Please notify the sender and delete this message immediately.
Financial services
Advisors, wealth managers, brokers.
This communication is for the intended recipient only and does not constitute an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial product. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please consult your advisor before acting on any information contained here.
Medical / health confidentiality
Clinicians, hospitals and health-tech teams.
This email may contain confidential health information about an identifiable individual. It is intended solely for the named recipient. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender, do not disclose or use its contents, and permanently delete this message and any attachments.
Environmental / print reminder
Sustainability-minded organizations.
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
Opinions are my own
Employees writing under a personal capacity.
Any views or opinions expressed in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the sender's employer or any affiliated organization.
No contract formation
Sales and procurement teams. Protects against 'agreement by email' claims.
Nothing in this email is intended to create a binding contract or commitment. Any agreement between the parties will only take effect once set out in a signed written contract executed by an authorized representative of each party.
Virus and security notice
Any organization exchanging attachments over email.
The sender has taken reasonable precautions to prevent the transmission of computer viruses, but does not accept liability for any damage sustained as a result of software viruses. The recipient is responsible for scanning this email and any attachments for viruses and other malicious code before opening them.
Breach-notification contact
Organizations subject to data-protection or security-breach laws.
If you believe this message was sent to you in error and it contains personal or otherwise sensitive information, please notify our data-protection contact at privacy@yourcompany.example, delete the email and any attachments, and do not disclose the contents to anyone else.
Common questions
Is an email disclaimer legally binding?
In most jurisdictions a disclaimer alone does not create or override a legal obligation — courts have generally treated one-way notices as informational. Their real value is signalling intent, giving misdirected-email recipients clear instructions, and satisfying regulator or client expectations in regulated fields (legal, healthcare, financial services).
Where should the disclaimer go in an email signature?
Below the signature block, visually separated with a thin divider and a smaller type size. It should feel like a footnote, not part of the signature itself. Wren has a dedicated 'legal / disclaimer' field for exactly this.
How long should an email disclaimer be?
One or two sentences is usually enough. Long walls of legalese are ignored by recipients and rarely add legal weight — the plain-language short versions above are more effective than paragraph-long templates.
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