1814012 - Better error message for "cannot decrypt OpenPGP message"

Status: NEW

(MailNews Core :: Security: OpenPGP, enhancement)

Description

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

This bug is based on feedback received during a past OpenPGP community meeting.

There was worry that our error message isn't sufficiently clear in the following scenario:

A user receives an encrypted email, but the message cannot be decrypted. If the key is missing, the user might currently be using a device, on which the key has not yet been imported.

Today, Thunderbird shows the following message:
The secret key that is required to decrypt this message is not available.```

Is that message sufficiently clear?

Should we show a more detailed explanation, perhaps with additional explanation about the possible causes? For example, text like "did you recently switch your device" or "do you have a backup of a key that you need to import on this device"?

Comment 1

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

I would advice not to do that.
These kind of detailed explanations are better suited for a KB article that we could offer with a direct "Troubleshoot" or "Help" link inline the notification.

It's better to keep the in-app notifications and error messaging short and direct as it reduced cognitive burden (users tend to skip large chunk of text), removes the burden of maintaining the correct meaning during translation, and it makes it easier for us to update a KB article when new info and guidelines arise rather than updating the strings inside Thunderbird.

Comment 2

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

For cases like this, I don't think a kb article could help too much, since it's really about the details of why it didn't work.

I agree we can't add too much into the notification on top. But, it would be nice to instead show error situations like this one as an error page inside the message (like firefox does with connection trouble etc.) Inside such a page we could have all the necessary details showing.

Comment 3

[Kai Engert [:KaiE:]]

Another alternative is: Keep the short text, but offer a link to a KB article, which can then explain more.