Millions of people from all over the world use Gmail. 28.13% of people still use Gmail as their primary email service as of July. I include myself in that group even though I use other accounts in addition to Gmail and rely on it for communications connected to my job. I frequently have to email others sensitive information. Even while I’d like to use GPG encryption, which is available in programmer like Thunderbird, I don’t always have that choice—especially when using Gmail.
Confidential Mode, a useful feature that Google added to Gmail a few years ago, helps shield private data from unauthorized access. You can give communications a password and an expiration date with Confidential Mode, and you can even remove access at any moment.
You can give communications a password and an expiration date with Confidential Mode, and you can even remove access at any moment. Additionally, a recipient of a confidential message is not permitted to download, copy, print, or forward the message.
There is one drawback to Confidential Mode: there is no way to prevent users from taking screenshots of those private communications and transmitting them to other people. In other words, while it isn’t ideal, it is a step in the right direction.
Requirements
You simply need a Gmail account to use Confidential Mode, either on the web-based Gmail client or the mobile app (it works on Android and iOS). I’ll use the web-based client to demonstrate, but the email client also functions in a manner akin to that.
How to send an email in Confidential Mode
You simply need a Gmail account to use Confidential Mode, either on the web-based Gmail client or the mobile app (it works on Android and iOS). I’ll use the web-based client to demonstrate, but the email client also functions in a manner akin to that.
1. Open Gmail
Open your web browser, head to Gmail, and log in.
2. Compose an email
Click Compose to open the Gmail compose window. At the bottom of that window, click the padlock-and-clock icon.
The Confidential Mode icon is third from the right
3. Configure the Confidential Mode settings
In the resulting pop-up, click the Expiration drop-down and select one day, one week, one month, three months, or five years.
Configuring the Confidential Mode settings for this email.
If you want to add a passcode, click SMS passcode and click Save, which will return you to the Compose window.
4. Compose and send your email
Compose the email as you would normally and then click Send. This will bring up another pop-up, where you’ll be asked to type a phone number for the recipient.
Your email message leaves on its journey as soon as you click Send. An email with a link to view its contents will be sent to the recipient. When they click the link, a new web page will display in which they must click another link in order to receive the passcode. When they have the passcode, they can view the message by entering it in the browser pop-up and clicking SUBMIT.
No matter what type of email account you send the Confidential Mode message to, the recipient will have to open it in a web browser and the content is displayed in such a way that they cannot do anything with it other than read it (or screenshot it, as I explained earlier).
Your email message leaves on its journey as soon as you click Send. An email with a link to view its contents will be sent to the recipient. When they click the link, a new web page will display in which they must click another link in order to receive the passcode. When they have the passcode, they can view the message by entering it in the browser pop-up and clicking SUBMIT.
And that’s all there is to using Gmail’s Confidential Mode. Consider employing this feature for those missives that include sensitive information, so it doesn’t wind up in the wrong hands.
