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Are you looking for the best email encryption tools for Linux? Because it’s essential to protect the contents of your emails from being viewed by others. The best way to do this is to encrypt them, which will stop others from accessing them. Anytime you send or receive sensitive information through an email service provider, you should always use some protection. Besides, many of these email security programs and software are available for Linux.

Best Email Encryption Tools for Linux

There are many email encryption tools that can make your life easier. We are going to discuss the features of the best tools. Besides, why it’s a great technology to use tools when securing your messages. By the time you have finished reading this article, you will know which is the best software to protect your emails on Linux.

1. Enigmail

According to user ratings, Enigmail is one of the most useful email encryption tools. Those who use Thunderbird email client are also familiar with Enigmail. Because it is a Thunderbirds extension, but it requires both Thunderbird and GnuPG for proper functioning. Enigmail encrypts your email according to OpenPGP protocol and sends it to the receiver. Similarly, the receiver can easily decrypt your message if he has this extension too.

Important Features of Enigmail

• Enigmail has a graphical user interface for customization and better management.
• Postbox and Interlink Mail & News both have extensions to use Enigmail.
• GNU Privacy Guard allows Enigmail for cryptographic functionality.
• It supports Autocrypt, which allows automatic key discovery and exchange.

Get Enigmail

2. Evolution

Evolution is one of the best email encryption tools for Linux. It is mainly built for Gnome DE. Though it looks similar to Outlook, but it has lots of features. You can use it as a personal management application also. Because it has a calendar, address book, and task manager functionality. Evolution uses GnuPGP protocol for email encryption with automatic sign and keys. 

Important Features of Evolution

• You can use POP, IMP protocols, and SMTP for email transmission.
• You can integrate the Seahorse tool for key management and cryptographic features.
• To filter spam messages, there are two plugins. One is SpamAssassin, and another is Bogofilter.
• It supports both Google Calendar and iCalendar for calendar management.

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3. KMail

Another excellent email encryption tool is KMail. It is a component of Kontact, which is a Personal Information Manager (PIM). KMail supports most of the email protocols such as IMAP, POP3, and SMTP. You can easily save your encrypted passwords through KWallet. It supports native inline OpenPGP and GnuPG for email encryption with cryptography. Even it can view and forward HTML emails, along with multi-language and avatar support.

Important Features of KMail

• KMail supports both NTLM (Microsoft Windows) and GSSAPI (Kerberos) for authentication.
• By default, it comes with a spam detector and privacy protection. It can flag and tag emails for aid in shorting.
• It supports server-side filtering and inline OpenPGP, PGP/MIME, and S/MIME.
• KMail has groupware functionality so that you can collaborate with your teammates.

Get KMail

4. Tutanota

Tutanota is a freemium email encryption tool. That means it has both free and paid versions. It offers an end to end encryption feature for both mailbox and address book. The developers ensure the best security for their users. Besides, you will get a calendar encryption option and 2-factor authentication for the best protection. With a user-friendly interface, it runs on 100% eco-friendly energy.

Important Features of Tutanota

• Tutanota uses symmetric (AES) and asymmetric encryption (AES/RSA) to encrypt your data.
• It provides an encrypted search index to decrypt data locally and allows users to search for a specific keyword.
• Email aliases extension will help you to wipe out your track from spamming bots.
• Tutanota can encrypt all the data of email such as subject, body, and attachments.

Get Tutanota

5. Claws Mail

Claws mail is another best email encryption tool for Linux to mention. It is the most lightweight and highly configurable email client. It encrypts emails using GnuPG with OpenPGP standard. Claws mail is based on GTK+ and comes for both Linux and Windows. It supports autosave of email while composing and checking spelling mistakes with Enchant plugin. Besides, you can import address books from LDIF, Mutt, and other users via scripts.

Important Features of Claws Mail

• Claws Mail has the filtering capability to organize your emails and attachments.
• It allows you to install custom plugins such as RSS news reader, Mbox handler, and SpamAssassin.
• It supports POP3, SMTP, IMAP4rev1, and NNTP protocols along with GPG and SSL.
• You can use the Clam Antivirus plugin for scanning malicious emails and attachments.

Get Claws Mail

6. Sylpheed

Sylpheed is a free email encryption tool licensed under the GNU public license. It offers an extensive number of features and easy configuration. Sylpheed works on Unix-like platforms like Linux or BSD and is also usable on Windows. Furthermore, this program has many advanced features, including auto collection, mail filtering, junk mail, and subject line management. Moreover, it uses GnuPG for message encryption and POP3/IMAP4/NNTP over SSL/TLSv1 for encrypted communication.

Important Features of Sylpheed

• Sylpheed is a simple, lightweight email client along with easy to understand customization.
• You can easily store your passwords in plaintext in the configuration file.
• It has Autoenc plugin, which allows to encrypt the attachment of email automatically.
• You can use multiple accounts in Sylpheed besides multiple MH folder supports.

Get Sylpheed

7. Mutt

Mutt is a very exceptional email tool on our list. The uniqueness is it is a text-based email client. Being one of the oldest email clients, it has been giving services for more than two decades. Besides, it is supported by a very active developer community. Mutt uses the GnuPG standard to encrypt your emails. Moreover, you can use the Notmuch mail indexing tool for efficient email searching in your storage.