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OpenPGP Thunderbird 3 With Enigmail

OpenPGP (Open Pretty Good Privacy) is a data encryption and decryption standard that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication such as email. We can use OpenPGP in Thunderbird 3 with the Enigmail addon. Enigmail adds OpenPGP message encryption and authentication to your email client. It features automatic encryption, decryption and integrated key management functionality. OpenPGP Thunderbird 3 with Enigmail works on multiple platforms such as Windows, Linux (32-bit) and Mac OS X, both 32-bit and 64-bit.

Requirements

You need to download Thunderbird 3 and set up an email account which you want to use with OpenPGP. After you install Thunderbird 3 you need to install the Enigmail addon to encrypt and authenticate OpenPGP messages automatically. You can download Enigmail from the Thunderbird addons site.
On Windows you need to install Gpg4win (GNU Privacy Guard for Windows), which is encryption software for files and emails. You can download Gpg4win for free.

Configure Enigmail

After you install Enigmail, you need to configure it so it can use GPG4Win to generate, encrypt and decrypt GPG keys. Configure Enigmail from: Tools->Add-ons->Enigmail->Options and set the PATH to GPG.EXE.

PATH to GPG.EXE on x64 editions:

%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%GNUGnuPGpubgpg.exe

PATH to GPG.EXE on x86 editions:

%PROGRAMFILES%GNUGnuPGpubgpg.exe

Now close and restart Mozilla Thunderbird.

Setup OpenPGP Thunderbird 3 With Enigmail

Follow the steps below to set up OpenPGP Thunderbird 3 with Enigmail:

  1. Create a new key pair in Menu->OpenPGP->Key Management
  2. In the Key Management window choose Generate -> New Key pair
  3. Choose your email account and enter your passphrase.
  4. There are a couple of options available, like key expiry and encryption type. I choose my key to expire in 5 years, for security reasons.
  5. Generate the key. It will generate both a public and private key.
  6. Now choose your new key pair, right-click it and choose to upload the public key to a key server.
  7. You can choose any key server you want to use. Enigmail comes with 4 default key servers. Uploading to all key servers is recommended.
  8. Now you are done setting up OpenPGP Thunderbird 3 with Enigmail.

Source:
Download and Install Enigmail