Download Arca

Go to privacyeverywhere.net and download Arca for your system — Windows 10/11 or macOS. Run the downloaded file to install.

Need help with downloading or getting past browser, antivirus, or macOS security warnings? See Installing Arca — troubleshooting.

Using Classic Microsoft Outlook? There’s a separate tutorial for the Outlook plugin.

Get started

Choose how to set up your encryption keys:

• New User — Create new keys. Choose this if you’re new to Arca.
• Get keys from email — You already use Arca on another device.
• Get keys from drive — You have existing PGP/ECC key files on any device or drive.

Click (?) for more help on keys.

Create your key

Enter your name and the email address you use most. Your name helps contacts find and identify you.

Your password is less important than you think. Your email is always sealed with unbreakable encryption in transport — neither a hacker nor the email company can ever read it, with or without a password.

The password is only needed in the unlikely case that someone steals your computer.

You can change your password later.

Generating your secure keys

Arca is creating your encryption keys. This usually takes less than a minute.

Back up your keys

Arca has created a backup of your keys, protected by a 12-word password. If you ever lose access to your keys — or forget your password — this backup is the only way to recover them. No one else can help you, so store these words somewhere safe.

Click Print to print them, or use the copy button and paste them into a document or password manager. A backup copy saved in a second location is a good idea.

Click I printed out and saved the 12 keywords to continue.

Your lock is ready

Arca has uploaded your lock (public key) to the server so your contacts can find it. The lock is only used to encrypt messages to you — it cannot decrypt anything, so it’s safe to share publicly.

Sign in

Enter the password you just created and click Open. The first sign-in may take up to a minute — subsequent logins are much faster.

Tip: Click the moon icon anytime to switch between light and dark mode.

Connect your email

Arca will now connect to your email account. Choose your provider:

• Google — Gmail
• Outlook — Hotmail, Outlook.com, or Microsoft 365
• Yahoo — Yahoo Mail
• AOL — AOL Mail
• Other — all other email providers

Note: Microsoft 365 and corporate email accounts may require approval from your IT administrator before Arca can connect.

Grant permission in your browser

Clicking your provider takes you out of Arca and into your web browser, where you’ll sign in directly with your email provider.

Your provider will ask you to grant Arca permission to read, send, and manage your email. This is expected — Arca is your tool for handling your own mail, so it needs access to do its job. Your email and password stay between you and your provider; Privacy Everywhere (the maker of Arca) never sees them — just as your fridge doesn’t report its contents back to the manufacturer.

Once you approve, you’ll return to Arca automatically — it’s waiting for you behind the browser.

For the full picture on your data, see the Your Data and Privacy Policy tabs on our website.

Download your email

Choose how far back Arca should download your email. The default is the last 7 days — a quick way to get started.

You can change this later and download more at any time.

Click Finish when ready.

Syncing your emails

Arca is downloading your email in the background. This may take a few minutes depending on how much you chose to download.

You don’t need to wait — you can already start using Arca to send email right now.

You’re all set! Arca is installed and ready to use. When you’re ready, explore the next tutorials in any order:

• The Arca interface — features, shortcuts, and things worth knowing.
• Sending email — regular email, and sending encrypted (“locked”) email.