Frequently-Asked Questions
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For the purposes of this web site, a plain text file is one that ends in “.txt”; and a binary file is one that has any other ending.

  • What if I lose my passwords?
    There are no back doors. SYMKEY.EXE does not store your encryption passwords in any way. If you lose or forget them, we cannot help you recover your data. Choose passwords that are easy to remember so you won't forget them, but hard for others to guess.

  • Does encrypting & decrypting change my files in any way?
    Text files: After decrypting, your file may have changed slightly, but will still be completely legible.
    Binary files: After decrypting, file contents will be exactly the same as before encryption. Only the date last modified associated with your file, recorded by your operating system, will have changed.

  • What if I decrypt a file but still can't open it or the file contents look weird?
    Text files: You probably misspelled a password. Find out from the sender what the passwords should have been and decrypt from your original email again. If you decrypt with wrong passwords but do not have an incoming email to refer back to, your file is lost. To avoid this scenario, if you wish to secure plain text files without sending them over email, we recommend putting them in a zip file, then encrypting the zip file.
    Binary files: Re-encrypt the file with the same passwords you just used, then make sure the file is actually encrypted by trying to open it (you may have “decrypted” a file that was already decrypted). If the file is still encrypted, then you used the wrong passwords the first time. Find out from the sender what the passwords should have been, and decrypt again.

  • What if I inadvertently decrypt a file that's already decrypted?
    Text files: SYMKEY.EXE will not allow you to do this.
    Binary files: In this scenario, choose the Encrypt command to actually decrypt the file.

  • What if I inadvertently encrypt a file twice?
    Text files: SYMKEY.EXE will not allow you to do this.
    Binary files: Then decrypt it twice.

  • What about transferring encrypted files via FTP?
    FTP software assumes certain files are plain text (ASCII) files based on their filename ending, and automatically transmits them in ASCII mode. In some cases, this will result in file corruption because some files which FTP would identify as plain text become binary when encrypted; and FTP software doesn't know that.

    To circumvent this problem, put files which your FTP software would interpret as plain text in a ZIP file, then encrypt the zip file, then transmit the ZIP file (which is always treated as binary, so no corruption will occur). Such filename endings include, for example, css htm html ini js php and xml.

    When transmitting encrypted files ending in ".txt" or files that FTP software already identifies as binary, a ZIP file "envelope" is not necessary. This would include, for example, txt doc exe gif jpg mp3 mpeg pdf png psd wav xls and zip.


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