This article describes how to encrypt email with PGP Desktop 9.0.x for Macintosh
When PGP Messaging is enabled, you will find that PGP will begin encrypting your email accounts by default. This will occur when you open your email application for the first time after installing PGP Desktop 9.0.x, and you send/receive email. If you are communicating with other PGP users through email, PGP Desktop can automatically encrypt and sign messages to PGP users depending on the policies that have been set within PGP Desktop under the PGP Messaging section.
Note: PGP Desktop does configure default policies if you do not wish to create your own. These default encryption policies as well as configuring new encryption policies will be described in this article. |
Review Default Email Encryption Policies
Two encryption policies are set by default. These policies are:
Caution: Do not put Opportunistic Encryption first in the list of policies (or anywhere but last, for that matter) because when PGP Desktop finds a policy that matches, and Opportunistic Encryption matches everything, it stops searching and implements the matching policy. So if a policy is lower on the list than Opportunistic Encryption, it will never be implemented. The list of policies is read from the top down, so be sure to put Opportunistic Encryption last in the list. The default policies Require Encryption: [PGP] Confidential and Opportunistic Encryption cannot be modified or deleted, but they can be disabled. |
Create New Email Encryption Policies
If you would like to create additional encryption policies, the steps to do so are described as follows:
Understanding the PGP Messaging Log
The PGP message log describes the actions taken by PGP in processing email. You can open the log by clicking on the PGP tray icon and clicking Show Log. Alternatively, you can open the log once PGP Desktop is open, by clicking on Messaging and then Show Log from the PGP menu.