<p><i>GnuPG</i> and <i>[[Kleopatra|encryption_and_privacy/kleopatra]]</i> allow you to work with OpenPGP encrypted text and files. Consider using <i>Kleopatra</i> instead of <i>Thunderbird</i> if you want to exchange encrypted text and files, but not by email.</p>
With a Primary Password, your private key is encrypted in your *Thunderbird* profile and is only unlocked while *Thunderbird* is running.If your *Thunderbird* profile is stored in your Persistent Storage, then your private key is encrypted twice: once by *Thunderbird* in your profile and a second time by the encryption of the Persistent Storage.