How to Encrypt an Email in Gmail Easy Guide

Do you want to protect your emails? This guide will show you how to keep Gmail messages encrypted to keep your information safe and your inbox private.

Your Gmail has lots of personal details. You have holiday photos and chats with friends, workmates, and family.

If hackers get into your old emails, they can find encryption things like passwords, money details, and what you buy. This shows why you need to keep your inbox and emails safe.

The best way is to use a strong password for your Gmail and make your emails encryption to stop hackers from seeing them while they are sent and when they are not active.

We will tell you all about how to send encryption emails in Gmail, which includes:

What is email encryption?

Making emails encryption is a way to keep your messages safe by turning them into special codes. Sending an email that is not encryption is like sending a picture postcard; anyone who gets it can read it.

To keep important emails safe, most services that let you send emails keep your messages encryption. They use special maths to change your message into encryption text.

This means even if someone not allowed gets to your email or server, they will just see a mix of odd symbols. They cannot read what you really wrote.

When your encryption email gets to where it is going, the person can make it normal again using a special key. Most services that let you send emails make them encryption so no one else can read them and they stay as they should.

However, different services that let you send emails may use different ways of keeping email encryption. This may cause trouble in making them work together. These are the main kinds of email encryption you should know:

• At-Rest Encryption

Your emails get secured when they are in your inbox.

• In-Transit Encryption

Your emails are protected when they are sent to and from your inbox.

• End-to-End Encryption

Your emails get encrypted before they upload and stay that way until the person gets them.

Now, let us look at Gmail. How does Google keep your messages safe? Are your emails encrypted, and what kind of encryption code does Gmail use? We will look closer to find out.

How Does Gmail Keep Your Emails Safe?

Gmail gives strong protection for emails. Google’s clearness report says that by the start of 2024, 90% of emails going out and 96% of emails coming in will be encrypted.

Gmail uses two big encryption codes:

Transport Layer Safe (TLS)

TLS is the normal way to keep emails safe when they move. It keeps emails safe when they go between email places, but only if the other person’s email service also has TLS. When the email gets to where it’s going, its encryption depends on the other person’s resting encryption.

Secure Internet Mail (S/MIME)

Gmail gives S/MIME for some users who pay. It is a stronger encryption code. With S/MIME, emails are made encrypted with keys for each user, so only the right person can read them. But S/MIME has some problems:

• It only works if the other person also turns it on.
• Only some users who pay can get this.
• Messages are not kept encrypted from end to end.

Even with these problems, S/MIME improves Gmail’s email safety. To use S/MIME, you must switch it on in your account settings.

How to Turn on S/MIME Encryption in Gmail

To turn on S/MIME encryption code for your Gmail, do these steps:

Step 1: Go into your Google Admin console. Step 2: Go to Apps, then Google Workspace, and then Gmail.

Step 3: Click User Settings.

Step 4: Choose the domain or organization for which you want to use S/MIME.

Step 5: Click to turn on S/MIME encryption.

Step 6: Look over your settings and press Save.

Now, you can encrypt emails in your organization with S/MIME.

How to Use Gmail Confidential Mode

You can send safe emails using Gmail confidential mode if you have a free Gmail account. It keeps your emails more secure by:

• Stopping the person from copying, downloading or sharing the email.
• Adding a date when the email will expire.
• Sending a code by text to the person’s phone to let them read the email.

Here’s how to send a confidential email in Gmail:

Step 1: Open Gmail.

Step 2: Write a new email.

Step 3: Turn on Gmail confidential mode.

Step 4: Choose when the email will expire.

Step 5: Decide on password protection. If yes, you need the person’s phone number for a text code.

Step 6: Save your settings.

Step 7: Click Send.

You sent an email with some safety. Remember these points:

• When the email runs out, it’s still in your Sent folder.
• People cannot print or share the email, but they can take pictures.
• The messages are not encrypted from end to end, so Google can see them.

For extra safety, some people use additional tools to encrypt Gmail emails.

How to Check if a Gmail Message is Encrypted

To see if your Gmail messages are encrypted, do this:

Step 1: Open your Gmail.

Step 2: Choose the email you want to check.

Step 3: Click the down arrow below the sender’s name.

Step 4: A little window pops up. Look at the “Security” part to find the email’s encryption level.

• Green icon: S/MIME better encryption is on. Your email is safe.
• Grey icon: TLS standard encryption is there. It is good enough for most emails.
• Red icon: The message is not encrypted. It means your talk is not safe.

You can press on the lock sign and pick View details to change your S/MIME settings or know more about your contact’s encryption.

Now you can check if emails in Gmail are encrypted and keep your private info safe! If you want to get more from your Gmail, look at what DejaFlow gives.