How Can I Send an Encrypted or Signed Message?

If S/MIME is enabled at your site, you can send an encrypted or signed messages.

To send a signed or encrypted message:

1. Click the Write icon in the mail toolbar.

   A new Compose tab is created.

2. Click the Security button from the message toolbar of the Compose tab.

   You can set specific options for composing this message.

   The following security related options are available:

   • Digitally Sign: Check the box corresponding to this option to sign the message. If you do not have a signing certificate selected, this option is disabled. To select a signing certificate, see How do I Select a Signing Certificate for my Messages?

   • Encrypt: Check the box corresponding to this option to encrypt the message.

   • A drop-down list containing the list of all the certificates. If you have multiple certificates, select the certificate you want to use for this message.

   To both sign and encrypt the messages, check both the boxes.

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   Note - By default the sending options are selected or deselected based on the options set for your messages under the Local Account —>Security option of the Mail options in the left panel. If you have set the option to always sign and encrypt your messages as a preference, these options are selected when you compose your message. See Security.

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3. Include the recipients of the message in your To, Cc, or Bcc list.

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   Note - The recipients of the message you send must have public keys. Convergence queries CAPI and looks up for the public key for each of the recipient. If any of the recipients do not have a public key, a dialog box appears with the following message: Encryption certificate for the following recipient(s) was not found:. You must remove the recipients from message.

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4. Compose your message.

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   Note - You can attach files to the signed or encrypted messages like normal messages. If you use the spell check facility when sending an encrypted message, a dialog box appears prompting if you want to do this. The spell check mechanism reads through the content in unencrypted format. The message appears in unencrypted form at the time of spell checking.

   Click Yes to proceed with the spell checking or No if you do not want to proceed with spell checking.

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5. Click Send.