How can I get the Private Key

  • rnils
    Asked on July 1, 2016 at 3:58 AM

    when a form is submitted and it asks for my key by choosing a file, I do not have the key stored anywhere

  • Irshad
    Replied on July 1, 2016 at 6:36 AM

    When you create an encrypted form, the private key is given to you to download it. This file should be in your Downloads folder if you have not moved it, or saved in some other location.

    We do not store Private Encryption Key on our side, so this is essential you keep such file in a secure place.

    My colleague Mike has given a nice explanation of how you can find the Private key it in this thread: Unable to view the information submitted via an encrypted form?

     

    Please note that if this key is lost:

    1. We can not restore your data since it is encrypted with the public key of the RSA algorithm which can only be decrypted using your own private key.

    2. We do not store nor make a backup of your private keys

    3. You will need the private key for the matching public key, so each time you create an encrypted form, unless you upload the previous public key, you will need to save that same private key (of that form) next to the other private keys.

    4. The only way to get the data back would be to ask the people that have filled out the forms to submit them again (either after getting a new key or after removing the encrypted forms feature).

    Now what I would suggest is to actually remove all encryption from your forms. In most cases, and please do not get me wrong, but if you are not sure of the option, it is better to avoid it and in a case such as the encrypted forms, this is definitely the best approach because otherwise you might not be able to restore your data at some other time (for example if you remove or delete the private key, there is a drive failure etc).

     

    If you do need this option, then I would recommend storing the keys in the specific place where only you can get to it (them) and have it in multiple places.I hope that this helps, but please feel free to ask any additional questions and do let us know how it goes with your private keys

    Thanks