Thunderbird Default Encryption Method

[baturayk]

Hello Guys,

I'm kind of new to Thunderbird. While I was looking for Thunderbird folders, I found some files that contain my mails in an encrypted way. I didn't use any extensions for encryption. What is the default encryption method of Thunderbird? Thanks

[DanRaisch]

Thunderbird doesn't have a default encryption method or a default encryption function. What files were you looking at?

[baturayk]

I was looking at .msf files in my Profiles>.. folder. Then why those files seem like encrypted if there is no encryption?

[DanRaisch]

They are not encrypted. They are simply index files so they don't contain the full message content, just elements of the message to speed sorting and filtering, plus status flags. Your message data is stored in mbox format which is basically a text file with some header elements plus any encoded attachments. (That's encoded, not encrypted.) The mbox files have the same name as the folders in Thunderbird and have no file name extension. e.g. Inbox, Sent, Trash, etc.