Encrypting folders with Gnome EncFS Manager

Encrypting folders (directories) in Ubuntu Linux is very easy because the opensource world has got many solutions.

One of them is Gnome EncFS Manager.

This application uses EncFS to encrypt, so it permits to manage the same directory encrypted with cryptkeeper.

Gnome EncFS Manager is managed in the system tray notifications bar but there isn’t in the Ubuntu’s official repository so you can install it easily using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gencfsm
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-encfs-manager

To create and manage one or more encrypted directories you have to start the application from the Unity Dash like in this picture.

so, the following window appears (if it doesn’t appear you have to click on Show manager in the Gnome EncFS Manager‘s icon you find in the tray notifications bar on the top-right)

click on the PLUS button (+) and input the requested information like in this picture

the path of the directory to encrypt (in the example I choose a folder inside Dropbox, in this way it’s available in every PC where I use the same Dropbox account)

the path of the directory where it will be mount (you can leave the default)
the password used to encrypt

Now you have to click on the Create button and the encrypted directory will appear suddenly in your file manager like in the following picture.

By default the directories encrypted using Gnome EncFS Manager aren’t automatically mounted at startup, but it’s possible to change the default editing the directory’s definition in the Gnome EncFS Manager settings like in the following image.

In any cases it’s possible to mount and unmount the encrypted directory from the Gnome EncFS menu in the tray bar.

The directory where there is the tick is mounted and clicking on it, it will be unmount. If there isn’t the tick, clicking on it you have to input the password to mount the directory.

At last I want to put in evidence that Gnome EncFS Manager will be started in the tray notifications bar at next LOGIN. If it doesn’t happen, edit the preferences and tick the choice Launch at startup and Show the icon in the tray