Manage Your Keys

The KeyPair Management window is where you look after your keys. Open it with the Manage Keys button in the toolbar.

The Key ToolBox in the main window and this window show the same keys, but they are for different jobs. The Toolbox is for picking a key for a task. This window is for doing something to a key.

What You Are Looking At

Three parts:

• Down the left: your categories. Click one to show only those keys. See Key Categories.
• In the middle: your keys, one per row.
• Above the list: buttons for refreshing, ticking keys, making a key group (New Key Group), choosing columns, and switching key database.

Find a Key

Type in the search box at the top. It looks at the name, the email address, the key ID, and the fingerprint, so any of those will find the key.

You can paste a fingerprint with spaces in it and it still matches.

• Ctrl+F jumps to the search box.
• Escape clears it.
• F5 reads the key list again (View > Refresh Key List).
• Click a column heading to sort by it. Click again to reverse it.

The Line Along the Bottom

The bottom of the window keeps a running count: how many keys you have, how many you own the private half of, how many run out soon, and how many have expired or been revoked.

It is the quickest way to notice that something needs your attention. If it says a key is expiring soon, the Expiring Soon category shows you which one.

Right-Click a Key

This is where most of the work happens. Right-click any key for a menu of things you can do to it. All of this is new in v2.2.2.

Look at it

• Show Key Details: everything about the key. See Key Pair Details.

Copy something

These are in the Copy submenu.

• Copy Fingerprint: the long code people use to check they have the right key. This is the one to read out over the phone.
• Copy Key ID: the short code. Easier to type, but less exact.
• Copy Email: the address on the key.
• Copy Public Key Block: the whole public key as text, ready to paste into an email or a web page.

Save it to a file

These are in the Export submenu.

• Export Public Key…: saves the half you can safely give away.
• Export Private Key…: saves the half you must keep.
• Export As OpenSSH: saves one key in the format SSH uses. It is hidden when your engine cannot do it, such as rPGP.

Be careful with the private one

A private key file is your identity. Anyone who gets it can read messages sent to you and sign things as you.

Save it somewhere only you can reach, such as an encrypted drive, and never send it anywhere.

Change it

These are in the Key Operations submenu.

• Certify Key…: certify (sign) every user ID of a key, to say you have checked it is really theirs. See Trust Chain Management.
• Set Expiry…: change when the key runs out, or stop it expiring.
• New Subkey: add a subkey to your key. See Subkeys.
• Set Owner Trust Level: say how much you trust the key’s owner to check other people’s keys. See Trust Chain Management.
• Generate Revocation Certificate…: make the file that lets you cancel this key later. Do this now, not when you need it. See Key Revocation.

You also find these in the Operations menu at the top of the window.

Sort it or delete it

• Category: put the key in one of your categories, take it out with Remove From This Category, or make a new one with New Category…. See Key Categories.
• Delete Selected Keys: delete the keys you selected. Del does the same. GpgFrontend asks first. To delete the ticked keys instead, use Key > Delete > Delete Checked Keys.

Caution

Deleting a private key cannot be undone. Make a backup first.

Key servers

A key server is a website that stores public keys, so people can find each other’s keys.

• Publish Public Key to Key Server: upload your public key so others can find it.
• Refresh Public Key From Key Server: fetch the latest copy of a key, in case the owner has changed or revoked it.

You also find both items in the Operations menu at the top of the window.

Both act on the keys you have ticked. If you have not ticked any, they act on the row you clicked. They do not work on a key group.

To look someone up on a key server, open the Import Key menu and choose Key Server.

See Key Server Operations for what these do in full.

Changed in v2.2.3

The key server items now come from a module that comes with GpgFrontend. If the module is turned off, these items are gone. See Module Controller.

Work on Several Keys at Once

1. Tick the box beside each key you want.

2. Open the Operations menu and choose Bulk.

   

3. Pick what to do:

   • Set Owner Trust for Checked Keys…: give them all the same trust level.
   • Extend Expiry of Checked Keys…: push back the expiry date on all of them at once. Useful when several keys expire around the same time.
   • Back Up All Private Keys…: save every private key you have into one file, a KeyPackage. The best way to make a full backup.

What “checked” means

Ticking a box and clicking a row are two different things.

Actions that say Checked work on the ticked boxes. If you have not ticked anything, they fall back to whatever row you have clicked.

When an Action Is Greyed Out

If a menu item is greyed out, hover over it. The tooltip says why.

The usual reasons are simple:

• “Select a key first.” Nothing is selected.
• “Select exactly one key for this.” The action only makes sense on one key at a time.
• “Only available for a key you own the private half of.” You cannot change someone else’s key.
• “This key carries no email address.” Nothing to copy.
• “You need a private key to certify with.” Certifying uses one of your private keys, and you have none.

Actions your OpenPGP engine cannot do at all are hidden rather than greyed out, so a short menu usually means you are on the rPGP engine. See Multi-Key Database.