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PGP Encryption

Email client EverDesk can encrypt mail that you exchange with others. One main advantage of EverDesk is that all encryption and decryption is done on-the-fly when mail is sent or received, so that you can still view the messages in their unscrambled form when working with them on your computer.

To send and receive encrypted mail, you need to exchange encryption keys with the contact you wish to correspond with.

Creating an encryption key

You can create a unique encryption key for each Identity which you use in EverDesk. 

When you create a key, a public and private key will be created. The private key is stored on your computer and is used to open encrypted messages when you receive them.

The public key is the key you share with your contacts to enable them to encrypt messages which they send to you.

  • To create a key, go to Settings > Mail > Encryption
  • Under the Private Keys section, click Create
  • Select the Identify for which you wish to create a key
  • Sit back for a few minutes whilst EverDesk generates a key
  • When complete, you will see the private key appear in the Private Keys list, and the respective public key will appear in the Public Keys list.

Deleting a key

Select the key from either the Private or Public Keys list and click Delete.
Deleting a private key will also automatically delete the respective public key.

Exchanging Encryption keys

  • Sharing your public key
  • In order for a contact to send you an encrypted message, you must first send them your public key.
  • Create a key as described above.
  • Select your public key from the Public Keys list and click Export
  • Specify a location where you want to save the key (.asc file)
  • Click Save
  • You now need to send this file to your contact. You can do this either by email, as you would any other file in EverDesk, or you can transfer it via a USB stick or by any other means.

They will then need to import the key to enable encryption for messages they compose to you.

  • Importing a contact’s public key

For you to send someone an encrypted email, they must first generate a key and share with you their public key, as detailed above.

  • Once you have received their key and saved it to your computer, go to Settings > Mail > Encryption
  • Under the Public Keys list, click Import
  • Specify the location of the key file, select it and click Open
  • If your contact emails you their key, you can import it directly from EverDesk’s file list view. Simply click the attachment to open it, and you will be asked whether you wish to Import the Key.

You will now see the contact in your Public Keys List

Using Encryption in Email

Once you have set up the encryption keys with your contact, you can exchange encrypted emails.

To send an encrypted email:

  • Compose a new message as you would normally.
  • In the Compose New Mail window, click the Encryptionicon icon in the toolbar to enable encryption.
  • Click Send.

You can send encrypted mail to multiple contacts, so long as you have all of their encryption keys imported.

If you try to Send a message with encryption enabled to a contact or group of contacts that includes a contact for which you do not have the encryption key, you will see a warning message, and encryption will be disabled. The email will not be automatically sent without encryption.

You will see a Sentencrypted icon in the file list view next to any emails which are waiting to be sent. Once the email is sent, the icon will revert to the standard Sent Mail Sentenvelope icon.

Receiving encrypted email:

When you receive an email message that is encrypted, you will see a Receivedencrypted icon in the file list to indicate that the message is encrypted.

Since the message was intended for you and was therefore encrypted with your public key, you will be able to view it, just like any other email.

You can click on it to open or preview it just as with any other email and the Smalllock icon will now disappear.

You can see whether read or sent messages are encrypted by hovering your mouse over the date/size field in the file list view. In the pop-up note you will see “Encrypted” at the bottom if the message is encrypted.