How To Send Encrypted Emails From Your Mac.
Exchanging emails has usually been a secure business, and providers care about the security of the emails you send and receive. However, email encryption may not be available on all email services you use. If you want to further protect your email, you can use it in your email applications.
While you are using a Mac, you can send encrypted emails from the standard email application on your computer.
The built-in email app allows you to encrypt emails before sending them. This encryption process actually requires you to install an email certificate on your Mac. This certificate can be obtained from any available online provider. There is even a free service that will give you this certificate for free.
Once this is all set up, you can send encrypted emails from the Mail app on your Mac. The content of these emails will be encrypted, which means that if someone manages to access these emails, all they can read is encrypted text on the screen, which makes no sense at all.
Get a free email encryption certificate for your email address
The first thing you need to do is obtain a certificate from one of the online providers. This certificate will then be used to validate emails sent from the Mail app on your Mac.
While you can use any service to get a certificate, currently the one mentioned below gives you a free service to use in personal emails.
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- Open a browser and go to the Actalis website. Once there, find and click the Free S / MIME Certificates link.
- A form for requesting a certificate will appear on your screen. You need to fill it in with your personal information. Enter your email address in the “Email” field and click the “Send confirmation email” button.
- You will receive an email with a code. Copy the code from your email.
- Go back to the form page and paste the code in the Verification code field. Then enter the captcha, mark the required fields and click “Send request” below.
- The next screen will display the password for your certificate. You want to write it down as it won’t appear again.
Your application for an email certificate has been sent. You will soon receive an email with a certificate attached to it.
Install the free email certificate on your Mac
Once you receive your certificate, you will need to install it in the Keychain Access app on your Mac. It will then let you use it in the Mail app to send encrypted emails from your Mac.
- Download the .zip file of the certificate from the email and extract its contents to your Mac.
- Double-click the extracted certificate file to install it on your computer.
- You will be prompted for a password for the certificate. Enter the password you wrote down when you applied for the certificate. Then click OK to continue.
The certificate will be added to the app, however you will not receive any on-screen notifications.
Ensure that the certificate is already installed in the Keychain
If you want to ensure that the certificate installation process was successful, you can do so by running Keychain Access and accessing your certificate.
- Click on Launchpad, find Keychain Access and click on it. It will open.
- In the main interface, select “My Certificates” on the left sidebar and you can view the installed certificates.
- You will see the newly installed email certificate on the right side of the screen. side panel.
This means that the certificate has been successfully installed on your Mac.
Send encrypted email messages from the Mail app on your Mac
Now that the certificate is installed and you have verified it, you are ready to start sending encrypted outgoing emails from the Mail application on your computer. There is no further setup and all you have to do is compose a new email and send it.
If you already have the Mail app open, close it before doing the following.
- Launch the Mail app on your Mac using your preferred method.
- To create a new encrypted email, click the File menu at the top and select the New Message option.
- A new message creation window will open. Enter the recipient’s email address in the “To” field, enter a subject, enter the email text and, before clicking the send button, click the checkmark icon and make sure it’s blue.
- Your digitally signed email will be sent to the recipient. Once this exchange is complete, you will be able to send an encrypted email. Return to the window for creating a new letter and fill in the required fields. Then click on the lock icon next to the “Subject” field and it will turn blue.
You will then be able to send an email.
The email you just composed will first be encrypted using your certificate and then sent to the recipient.
Send unencrypted email from your Mac
You don’t have to send encrypted emails just because you have a certificate installed on your computer. You can still send and receive regular emails.
- Just compose a new email and don’t include lock and check marks.
Your letter will be sent as a regular letter without encryption.
Remove Email Encryption Certificate from Your Mac
If you no longer want to use your certificate or are looking to replace it with a new one, you can remove it from your Mac.
- Start the Keychain application.
- Find your certificate as you did in one of the sections above.
- Right-click your certificate and select Remove.
You will no longer be able to send encrypted emails from your Mac.
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