This guide explains how to use StayPrivate, whether as an individual or as a company user, and also how to set up a company so that any employee can use StayPrivate.

StayPrivate is designed to be easy to use, so hopefully there should be little need to refer to this guide. But if you do find anything that doesn't work how you'd expect, we'd really like to hear from you at support@stayprivate.com.

You can access your StayPrivate account using either the web portal, the desktop app, or one of the StayPrivate mobile apps, available free from the Apple and Google app stores.

If you have chosen to receive notifications of incoming StayPrivate emails into your existing email account, simply click on the link and enter your 4-digit PIN (or, on the mobile apps, use biometric authentication) to access the email. If you are accessing from a new device, you may be prompted to verify your identity by entering a 6-digit code. You can change your notification settings under 'Preferences' in any of the apps.

To send a new email, first log into your account using either the web, desktop or mobile app. Click on the compose icon in the top left corner of the screen.

Add recipients and compose your email as normal. A useful feature of StayPrivate is that as well as being able to add attachments from your device you can also add attachments directly from your StayPrivate personal vault.

Once you are ready to send, simply click Send.

All emails are protected in your StayPrivate account and in transit to the recipient. If you wish to ensure the email stays private after delivery, then simply upgrade the encryption setting by clicking on the shield in the email compose pane.

StayPrivate makes it very easy to store files privately, so that only you can see them, or to share with contacts privately.

To store files privately, add them to My Vault. In the web and desktop apps, you will find this under the drop-down menu under your name top right of the screen. In the mobile apps, tap My Stuff at the right-hand-side of the tabs at the bottom of the screen, then tap My Vault from the options at the top of the screen.

Your private vault is a fully-functioning document storage tool. You can search, see previews, see previous versiona and file histories and also create folders to organize your files however you like.

Each email you send to a new set of recipients creates its own private channel; each group you set up, the same. And each private channel also has its own private file sharing area.

To access the file sharing area in the web and desktop apps, first select the contact, either using the left-hand-menu or by clicking on a recent communication from that contact. Then click on Shared Files top right. In the mobile apps, either use the Contacts tab at the bottom of the screen or click on a recent communiation from that contact, then tap on the ... icon top right and select See all from contact. Then tap on Shared Files at the top of the screen.

A really useful feature is that you can also, at a glance, see all attachments you have sent to or received from that contact in the Attachments folder.

You can also use StayPrivate to compose and store private notes, accessible on all your devices, and private to you.

To make a new note or to see your existing notes, go to My Notes. In the web and desktop apps, you will find this under the drop-down menu under your name top right of the screen. In the mobile apps, tap My Stuff at the right-hand-side of the tabs at the bottom of the screen, then tap My Notes from the options at the top of the screen.

When you sign up to StayPrivate you are assigned an email address such as: example@spmail.com . This is your email address for encrypted emails. Emails you send out will come from this email address, and you should use this email address whenever you want to be able to receive sensitive information safely over email.

This section explains how StayPrivate works for StayPrivate Professional users on email domains that have been configured to work with StayPrivate. For details on how the setup process works, see the Company Setup section. If you have a company email account but your domain has not been yet been configured to work with StayPrivate, you can still use the web, desktop and mobile apps to send encrypted emails to new recipients, and you can use your company email account to reply to any encrypted emails.

To send a document for signing using StayPrivate, attach it to your email and include the text '#sign' anywhere in the body or subject of the email, and send as normal. Your recipients will receive your email and a link to take them to the StayPrivate secure environment, where they can open, edit and sign the document.

To send an encrypted email using StayPrivate, simply include the text '#private' anywhere in the body or subject of the email, and send as normal. The email and any attachments will be encrypted and sent via StayPrivate.

You receive encrypted emails into your normal company email account. These replies will be identified as coming via StayPrivate and if the email is from a new sender this will be indicated to, making it easier for you to spot potential phishing scams.

All paying business users can add their own company branding and can send partially encrypted emails. The Pro Business version gives you access to further functionality, including auto-deleting emails and electronic document signing.

To send an email in which the content is sent through normal email, but only the attachments are encrypted, there are two steps:

It is also possible to encrypt only part of the message content. This is done by using two keywords as follows:

To send an auto-deleting email, simply append the text -expire to your company keyword. So, for example, if your keyword is #stayprivate , then simply include #stayprivate-expire to send an auto-deleting email.

To configure the company auto-deletion timings, log into the StayPrivate dashboard.

As well as document signing, StayPrivate provides a simple, convenient way to request an electronic signatures either ‘Accepting’ or ‘Rejecting’ the contents of one or more attachments. To accept or reject a document, the recipient needs to log into StayPrivate and either download or read the document. StayPrivate automatically records the IP address, device and time/date of each signature, and sends an email notification to the sender.

To request an electronic signature simply use your keyword as usual and also include the text ‘#esign’ in the subject field of the email. This will automatically request an electronic signature from each recipient In the ‘To’ field. You can use the ‘Cc’ field to copy in other recipients you do not want to sign.

By default, electronic signatures are requested for each attachment separately. If you are sending an email with multiple attachments, but do not want to request electronic signatures for all attachments, then include the names of the attachments for which you want electronic signatures in the subject field.

To set up StayPrivate for anyone in your company to use, follow the steps below:

This completes the provisioning process at the StayPrivate end. The next step is to configure your email server to work with StayPrivate. This is different depending on whether you are using Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or a different email setup.

For Microsoft 365, you have a choice between automatic and manual configuration. The automatic configuration process is usually much easier and quicker.

To automatically configure your email server to work with StayPrivate:

To manually configure your Microsoft 365 email server to work with StayPrivate, choose Manual setup and Follow the simple on-screen instructions.

If you do not have admin access to your Microsoft tenancy, simply copy the link in the grey box at the bottom of the page and send it to your administrator. This link contains all the instructions they will need to complete the configuration process.

To configure your Google Workspace email server to work with StayPrivate, simply follow the on-screen instructions. If you do not have admin access to Google Workspace, simply copy the link in the grey box at the bottom of the page and send it to your administrator. This link contains all the instructions they will need to complete the configuration process.

If you are not using either Microsoft or Google, then you will need to configure your email server manually. There is a choice between Standard and Direct configurations. Provided your email server will support it, we recommend using the ‘Standard’ configuration.

In the Standard configuration encrypted emails are routed back from StayPrivate to your email server for sending externally. Whereas in the Direct configuration, StayPrivate sends encrypted emails directly, on behalf of your organization. This requires you to make a couple of small updates to your DNS records, to allow StayPrivate to send on your behalf.