Using the program — Text Task

Where: Text → Text Task.

OpenPGP for text in boxes, not files. Yellow boxes are output.

Tabs

Encrypt text | Decrypt text | Sign and encrypt text | Decrypt/verify text | Clear-sign | Verify clear-sign

Rules for every tab

  • Do not encrypt an empty box; you get a notice and nothing is produced.
  • Recipients and signers must not be expired or revoked.
  • Signing needs a secret key and that key’s passphrase.
  • Optional armor comment: used when the tab builds a BEGIN PGP MESSAGE (or signed message). Blank = no Comment header. Version is this product name.

Encrypt text

  1. Paste or type plaintext.
  2. Choose recipient.
  3. Optional comment.
  4. Encrypt.
  5. Copy the yellow BEGIN PGP MESSAGE block.

Decrypt text

  1. Open Decrypt text (beside Encrypt text).
  2. Paste output from Encrypt text only (not sign-and-encrypt).
  3. Enter the secret-key passphrase.
  4. Decrypt and read the yellow plaintext.

Sign and encrypt text

  1. Plaintext.
  2. Recipient + signer (signer has secret material, not revoked).
  3. Signer passphrase.
  4. Optional comment.
  5. Copy the resulting message.

Decrypt/verify text

  1. Paste the sign-and-encrypt block.
  2. Recipient secret passphrase.
  3. Decrypt/verify.

Read both the text and the signature line (valid, signer, expired/revoked/changed).

Clear-sign

  1. Type the readable text.
  2. Signer + passphrase.
  3. Generate. Copy from BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE through END PGP SIGNATURE, including the text in the middle.

Verify clear-sign

  1. Paste that entire signed message.
  2. Verify.

If you paste only the signature, verify reports no signature or invalid.

Grid shortcut

Right-click a key → encrypt or decrypt clipboard. Decrypt checks for a real OpenPGP block. Use Text Task when you need tabs or a comment.

If it fails

Wrong tab, truncated paste, vault password typed instead of key passphrase, revoked signer, or empty source.