Read Mail from Your Server

GpgFrontend can fetch messages from your mail server, so you can check and decrypt them right away. It does this with the IMAP Controller.

IMAP is the way email apps talk to the server that keeps your mailbox.

Before You Start

You need a mail account with receiving turned on. See Mail Accounts and Sending. In short:

For a new account, choose Send and receive or Receive only.
For an account you already have, turn on Use this account to receive.

Disabled accounts are not listed in the IMAP Controller.

Open the IMAP Controller

Click Advanced > Open IMAP Controller.
The IMAP Controller window opens and connects to your account.

If you have no account with receiving turned on, a No mail account message appears instead. It asks you to set one up in Settings first.

It Only Reads

The IMAP Controller is for looking, not for changing. It does not delete, move or send anything. Opening a message here does not mark it as read on the server.

To answer, sort or delete mail, use your usual email app.

Find a Message

At the top of the window:

Account: pick the mail account to look in.
Folder: pick a folder, such as your inbox.
Search subject or sender: type a word to find matching messages.
The refresh button (Reload this folder from the server) fetches the folder again.

The message list shows the subject, the sender and the date. Click a message to see its details on the right: subject, sender, date, size, Message-ID and Folder.

Messages come in pages of 50. Use Previous and Next to move between pages. The bottom of the window shows where you are, for example Page 1 of 4.

If a search finds very many messages, only the first ones are shown. Type more words to get fewer results.

Remembered Folder Lists

When you open an account again, GpgFrontend first shows the list from your last visit, so the window is not empty while you wait. It says Shown from the previous visit to this account; refreshing. while it gets the newest list from the server.

Open a Message

Select a message in the list.
Click Open.

The message is downloaded and opens in a new tab. The window says Opened in a new tab.

From there you can check and decrypt it like any other message. See Verify and Inspect a Message. You can also save it as an .eml file.

Right-click a message for more: Open, Copy Subject, Copy Sender and Copy Message-ID.

While something is loading, the Close button turns into Stop. Click Stop to cancel the loading.

Very Large Messages

A message larger than 64 MiB cannot be opened. If you select one, the details say: “This message is too large for this application to open, so it cannot be imported.” Use your usual email app for such a message.

Work With Attachments

This part applies to every mail tab: a message you opened from your server, an .eml file, or a message you are writing.

Attachments are listed under the message, with their Name, Type, Size, and whether they are Signed. Click Expand to see every file, or Collapse to show only a summary.

The Signed column tells you if a file is covered by the message’s signature:

signed: covered, and the signature is good.
signed, not checked: covered, but the signature has not been checked yet.
signed, could not be checked: covered, but the check gave no answer.
signature not good: covered by a signature that failed. Do not trust it.
unsigned: not covered. Anyone could have added this file.

Attachment Actions

Click Attachments on the action row, or right-click a file in the list. Both menus have these:

Open: open the file with the app your computer uses for it. You can also double-click the file.
Save…: save the selected files to a folder.
Remove: take the selected files out of the message. This only works on a message you can edit.

Only the Attachments menu has:

Save All…: save every attachment to a folder.

Only the right-click menu has:

Import Key: import the file into your key database. This shows only when the file is an OpenPGP key.
Copy Name: copy the file name.

With Save All…, a file never replaces one that is already in the folder. If a name is taken, GpgFrontend saves the file under a new name and tells you.

Which Files It Will Open

GpgFrontend opens only files that are safe to look at:

Documents: such as PDF, text, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, CSV, RTF and EPUB.
Pictures: such as PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and HEIC.
Sound and video: such as MP3, WAV, MP4 and MKV.
Plain data files: such as JSON, XML, YAML, calendar (.ics) and contact (.vcf) files, and other emails (.eml).

Everything else is refused, for example programs, scripts, shortcuts, installers, archives such as ZIP, and SVG images. Here is why:

A file from a stranger may look like a document but really be a program. Opening it would run it, and that could harm your computer.
An archive is refused because you cannot tell what is inside until it is unpacked.

When a file is refused, GpgFrontend explains why. You can still click Save…, then open the file yourself if you are sure where it came from.

Size Limit When Attaching

When you add files to your own message, each file can be up to 48 MiB. See Attach Files.