Guides/Forgotten passwords
What happens if you forget your encryption password?
If you forget the password to an Elba-sealed folder, the contents are unrecoverable. That is not a bug — it is the exact property that makes Elba trustworthy in the first place.
Why there's no ‘forgot password’ link
A reset link is a back door. If the maker can reset it, so can anyone who convinces the maker to. Elba has neither the link nor the capability.
How to make sure you never need one
Use a four-word passphrase you can remember. Write it on paper and put it somewhere physical. Optionally, put a copy with your will or in a safe deposit box. This is the digital equivalent of a spare house key.
Questions people actually ask
- Can the maker recover my folder?
- No — the publisher has no access, no key escrow, no ability to help.
- What about brute force?
- AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2 makes brute force impractical for a strong password. Use one.
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.
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the price falls each year · free to all 1 jan 2030
pay once · no account · nothing leavesRelated guides
- How to encrypt a folder with a password (properly)
The right way to encrypt a folder with a password: local, strong algorithm, and no recovery link. Elba does exactly that.
- Zero-knowledge encryption, explained without jargon
Zero-knowledge means the service can't read your files even if it wanted to. Here's the idea, and how Elba goes one further.
- AES-256-GCM, explained without a maths degree
AES-256-GCM in one page — what it is, why Elba uses it, and what it does and doesn't protect against.