Forums › Help & support › How to share encrypted file keys
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DanielHi,
I’m am currently testing this functionality out for use within our organisation. I can export the sharing key from one account, then import that key to another axcrypt account, but when i send a file thats been encrypted from the first account, to the second, it asks me for the password.
That password is the one that has been setup by the first account.
Hello Daniel,
Not 100% sure what you are trying to do – but you should probably stay away from the import/export key functionality. It’s not intended for general use, it’s only for some very special scenarios.
Can you please explain what you are trying to achieve, i.e. what is the situation you’re testing out?
If it’s about sharing encrypted files within the team, you should look at the key sharing functionality. There’s a introductory video about that as well via http://www.axcrypt.net/ .
CarolineI am lost as to how to share an encrypted file. When I select encrypt the software does not ask me for a password for my file. I would like to have an easy to remember password for an encrypted file for the person opening it the other end. The password I use to open the software is too complicated to send to someone receiving an encrypted doc. The link you published above just seems to take me to the AxCrypt home page.
JulietteHello Caroline,
Concerning the password issue, with AxCrypt 2 you only need to enter the password once, per session. It’s by design. AxCrypt will sign out automatically when your screen saver goes active etc. Svante wrote a blog post about some common concerns here: http://www.axcrypt.net/blog/leaving-computer-axcrypt/.
For the easy key sharing feature, you don’t have to share your password. To share a file key without sharing password, go through the following steps:
• Choose an encrypted file ;
• Press the icon « + » on the software ;
• Select the team member you want to share it to, with his email address.
• Send the team member the encrypted file. The person will be able to decrypt it, without password.
Note that the person you’re sending the file has to use AxCrypt 2 with the email address you shared the file.
See our YouTube tutorial about Key sharing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z3KOZD-Yks
Best Regards,
Juliette
PatrickI have the same problem as Daniel, who first asked the question.
The option to export/import Public Sharing Keys implies that, when you send your Public Sharing Key to someone, he/she can open files you encrypted. However, the file still asks for a password. If this is not what the Public Sharing Key is for, then what IS it for? Because the tooltip in the menu does say it’s for sharing encrypted files.
Hello Patrick,
It works as you say, but you must realize that nothing is sent to the recipient when you enter his/her email to share with. We just share the file encryption key *in the file* using the recipients public key.
So, encrypt the file, share the key using the recipients email address as identifier, then send the actual encrypted and key-shared file to the recipient (or share it using a cloud service).
If this still does not help you, please provide a detailed set of steps we can use to reproduce your problem.
PatrickI’m not talking about the premium key sharing feature, that works as it should.
But in the free version you under File -> Key Management you can export your own and import another persons Public Sharing Key. The tooltip there says ‘Ask your contact to export and send his/her Public Sharing Key to you and import it here. Then you can share encrypted files.’
Because this is available in the free version, to me it seems as though you should be able to use this to share encrypted files with others without using the premium key sharing feature, albeit in a more roundabout and difficult way.
Otherwise, what is the use of this function if you can just share a file by typing in someone’s email??
Hi Patrick,
Actually that feature is there so advanced users and users without Internet access can import and export keys, and also feel safe about it. You still need Premium to share a file key at this time, even if manually imported. We should definitely consider making it possible to do so in the Free version. Thanks for pointing this out.
The use of the function is to do what the server otherwise does, when you share the key to a file (we don’t share actual files) by typing in someones email, what happens is we get the public key from our server and then use it to share the file key.
PatrickAllright. I think what makes this confusing is that you can import keys even if you don’t have premium, even though at that point importing keys is useless. Exporting your key obviously is useful even if you’re a free user.
And I do agree that some form of file sharing in the free version should be available, even if it’s only something like a file-specific password, so that you can share that file without sharing your account password.
For me it’s discouraging that even if I only want to share 1 file, only once, I would need to buy at least 3 months of premium to do this.
Hello Patrick,
Good points, all. We actually already have an issue logged for password based key sharing ( https://bitbucket.org/axantum/axcrypt-net/issues/131/add-sharing-password ) , and you’re probably right that manually imported public keys should be possible to use in the Free version, so I’ve added that to the issue list of things to do: https://bitbucket.org/axantum/axcrypt-net/issues/233/manually-imported-public-keys-should-be .
We’re also considering making all key sharing free in the future – that would also solve this issue ;-)
Thanks!
Khurram KhwajaI have the premium version. I share the file with a non-premium user, however, the user never receives an email and is unable to open the file which is located on a shared dropbox folder. What am I doing wrong here?
ThorKhurram Khwaja watch this video for a tutorial.
- Make sure you enter the recipient’s email address correctly.
- Ask him to check his Spam/Junk folder
- After you’ve used AxCrypt to share the file then re-upload the file to your Dropbox shared folder
Tom SellgrenPerson A wants to send an encrypted file to Person B.
Person A encrypts the file using Person B’s public encryption key.
Person A then send the encrypted file to Person B.
Person B then uses Person B’s private Encryption key to decrypt the file.
Questions related to this exchange:
How does Person A (an AxCrypt user) get the public key from Person B?
What if Person B is not an AxCrypt User but has another encryption vendor? (pubic/private key encryption should not depend on the application software)
Hello Tom,
Person A (Alice) get’s the public key from person B (Bob) by asking our server for it when you enter Bobs email address as a person to share it with.
If Bob isn’t yet an AxCrypt user, our server will generate the key pair (public and private), and send Alice the public key while encrypting the private key using our transient key for the purpose, and also send an invitation to Bob.
Bob, when he recieves the invitation goes to our server, sets his password at which point the transiently encrypted private key is re-encrypted with his password.
Bob needs AxCrypt (or compatible software).
All encryption software, public/private or symmetric, depend on the the application software. Of course, some application software is compatible with others, but it’s really quite arbitrary. There is no such thing as “the” standard for file encryption. AxCrypt is actually among the top contenders to become a defacto standard, but nobody is there yet.
DanielHello,
I have just used the AxCrypt for the first time…I followed the instruction and was able to encrypt a single file. The icon of the file was chaned after the encryption. The problem is that when I tried to open the file I could to it without applying any password – just a simple double click on it and it was opened. It looks like it was not encrypted at all.
What did I do wrong?
Thank you in advance!!
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