This article explains how to encrypt and decrypt email messages.
Please note that only your main address can be used to send encrypted messages. It is not possible to send encrypted emails from an alias address.
Encrypting a message
1. After composing a message, click on the Encrypt button.
2. When you are finished composing your message, click on the Send icon.
a. If your recipient also uses PGP encryption
You have to import your recipient's PGP key into your PGP keyring. Once this is done, StartMail will automatically choose PGP encryption.
After your email is sent, you will see the following message at the bottom of your screen.
b. If your recipient does not use PGP encryption, your message will be sent using Password Protected Messages (PPM encryption), and you will see a pop up window.
Choose a password for your email, and leave a personal message with hints to the password, or a mention of an alternative channel (e.g. chat message, SMS) you used to send the password to your contact.
Decrypting a message
Follow this instruction to decrypt PGP encrypted emails::
- To decrypt an encrypted message, click on the message and enter your PGP passphrase (this applies to both PPM and PGP-encrypted messages).
- Your PGP passphrase is by default your initial account password and we suggest changing it as soon as possible to a separate passphrase for security reasons.
- You may also want to check the box 'Remember my PGP passphrase until I log out' so you don't have to enter your PGP passphrase for each encrypted email you open within your email session.