Guides/Chromebook

How to encrypt files on a Chromebook (properly)

Chromebooks are excellent field devices with a mediocre local encryption story. Elba fixes that with a single HTML file that uses Chrome's own crypto to seal a folder.

Setup on ChromeOS

Download Elba.html to the Downloads folder (or a Linux container, if you use one). Double-click. Chrome opens it, and Elba can then point at any folder you have file-system access to.

Managed Chromebooks

On managed devices, admin policy may restrict the File System Access API. Ask your admin, or test on a personal profile first.

Questions people actually ask

Does it work offline on a Chromebook?
Yes. Turn off wifi and Elba still runs.
Is Google looking at my files?
No — Elba does the crypto in the browser locally; nothing is sent to Google or anyone else.

Take the island

Elba is one HTML file. It runs locally in a Chromium browser, seals a folder with AES-256-GCM, never phones home, and becomes open source on 1 January 2030.

  1. €49MMXXVI· now ·
  2. €39MMXXVII2027
  3. €29MMXXVIII2028
  4. €19MMXXIX2029
  5. FreeMMXXX2030

the price falls each year · free to all 1 jan 2030

pay once · no account · nothing leaves

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