Export your mailbox
Take everything with you as one encrypted archive — mail, chats, notes and Drive. Built on your own device and encrypted before a byte reaches the disk.
An export is a copy of your whole mailbox in ordinary file formats, made on your device. Our server cannot read your mail, so it cannot build this for you: the app decrypts everything locally, writes it into a ZIP and encrypts the ZIP again before any of it touches your disk.
| Free | Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Export your mailbox | — | One encrypted archive |
The export runs in the browser. On a phone the row explains why: "Done from the web app on a computer — an archive can be larger than a phone should hold."
Make one
- On a computer, open Settings → Export → Export my mailbox.
- Choose the format. OpenPGP archive · .zip.pgp is the one that works today; a Private.Ki archive (
.pkia) is marked Coming later. - Take the generated passphrase — nine random words — or press Use my own passphrase and type one of at least eight characters.
- Write the passphrase down somewhere safe. We never see it and cannot recover it.
- Optionally tick Also openable with my Private.Ki key.
- Press Start export and leave the tab open until it finishes.
The nine-word passphrase is drawn from a list of 7 776 words, which is about 116 bits of randomness — far beyond anything that can be guessed. If you use your own, its strength is yours to judge; the app shows a rough meter.
The archive is encrypted with OpenPGP and AES-256. The passphrase, and nothing else, opens it. We hold no copy of the file and no copy of the passphrase, so there is no reset and no support route back in. Tick Also openable with my Private.Ki key if you would rather have a second way in.
While it runs
The export reads, decrypts and re-encrypts every message on your machine, so a large mailbox takes a while. The screen says so: "Runs on this device. Keep this tab open until it is done." Closing the tab stops it.
Where the archive is written depends on the browser. Some let you pick the destination and stream straight to it; others hold the archive in memory until it is complete, which needs enough free memory for the whole thing.
If something fails part-way the app tells you plainly: "Nothing was kept — a half-written archive is unreadable and was removed. Nothing in your mailbox changed." An export never alters your mailbox.
What is inside
The file is named private-ki-mailbox-<date>.zip.pgp. Decrypt it and you have a ZIP containing:
| Folder | What is in it |
|---|---|
mail/ |
Your mail as .eml files, in folders: Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Archive, Trash |
chats/ |
One folder per person you chatted with |
notes/ |
Your secure notes |
drive/ |
Your Drive files, in the tree you kept them in |
manifest.json |
What the archive contains |
README.txt |
How to open it |
.eml is the ordinary mail format — Thunderbird, Apple Mail and Outlook can open those files directly.
Open it afterwards
- GnuPG:
gpg -d private-ki-mailbox-<date>.zip.pgp > mailbox.zip, then unzip - Kleopatra (Windows) or GPG Suite (Mac): double-click the file and type the passphrase
As the screen puts it: "An export is always encrypted. There is no format in which your mailbox leaves this device readable." That is deliberate — an unencrypted copy of a mailbox is the single easiest thing to lose.
Restore
Restore from archive is marked Coming later. An archive you make today is a copy you keep and read with the tools above; it cannot yet be loaded back into an account.
On a Free account
The Export section is listed for every account, and the Export my mailbox row is never greyed, marked or hidden. Pressing it opens the Plus window: "Exporting the whole mailbox comes with Private.Ki Plus."
Cannot see
- The archive — it is built on your device and we never receive it
- The passphrase, which is generated or typed on your device and never sent
Can see
- That an export was requested, and how many items it covered
Can I export from my phone?
No. The export runs in the web app on a computer, because an archive can be larger than a phone should hold.
Can you send me my mailbox if I lose the passphrase?
No. We hold neither the archive nor the passphrase. Nothing on our side can open it.
How long does it take?
It depends on how much you hold; every message is decrypted and re-encrypted locally. Keep the tab open until it says it is done.
Does exporting change or delete anything?
No. It only reads. A failed export removes its own half-written file and leaves your mailbox untouched.
Is the archive readable without Private.Ki?
Yes, once decrypted. The mail is .eml, which ordinary mail clients open; the rest are plain files and folders.
Can I load the archive back into my account?
Not yet. Restore is marked Coming later.
Is this the same as a GDPR data request?
No. This is the whole mailbox, built on your device. A data request covers what the server itself holds — see GDPR data request.