Thunderbird 78 no longer uses GnuPG (GPG) for Email decryption, and as such GPG smartcards Like the Librem Key no longer work out of the box. To use the Librem Key to decrypt emails it is now necessary to manually enable GPG use in Thunderbird.
To make Thunderbird work with the Librem Key follow the steps bellow:
NOTE: These steps where done in `PureOS` and the Thunderbird `Menu Bar` in Thunderbird enabled. So these steps might be a little different in other setups.
NOTE: If you never used a Librem Key or a GPG Smartcard, and you are also setting them up for the first time, please check [[ https://docs.puri.sm/Librem_Key/Getting_Started/User_Manual.html#managing-gpg-keys | this manual ]] on how to create and add a GPG key to your Librem Key/Smartcard.
With this setup Thunderbird will use GPG and the smartcard to decrypt emails, but encrypting an email you send to someone else is still done via the new implementation that Thunderbird uses, so you still need import your Public Keys from GPG to Thunderbird as described here.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you have `GPG` and `GPGME` installed. If you already used a smartcard you should already have them set up. If this is the first time you are setting this up them please make sure those two applications are installed.
To enable Email decryption with a GPG Smartcard:
1. First we enable GPG in Thunderbird again
2. Then tell Thunderbird with Key should be used to decrypt emails.
### 1. Enable GPG again
Go to the preferences page by selecting: `Edit` > `Preferences`
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- At the bottom of the preferences page select: `Config Editor`
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- Press the `I accept the risk` button
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In the next page:
- Paste the following line in the search tool: `mail.openpgp.allow_external_gnupg`
- Then double click on the search result to change the setting from: `false` to `true`
- After that close the window
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And with this setting Thunderbird will now use GPG (and the Smartcard if you have one) to decrypt emails.
### 2. Select GPG key to be used to decrypt emails
To do this:
- Go to, `Edit` > `Account Settings`
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- Select the email account in question and then the option; `End-To-End-Encryption`
- Select the option to use an External GPG Key
- In the Text input field paste the Fingerprint of the GPG key you use in your smartcard.
- Press: `Save Key ID`
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Then it should look like this:
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And after that you should be able to use your GPG smartcard (Libremkey, Nitrokey, etc.) again to decrypt emails in Thunderbird.