Paper backup of all keys

[antony at blazrsoft.com]

On February 3, 2017 6:28:03 PM EST, MyCraigs List <mycraigsl at ymail.com> wrote:
>I want a paper backup of all the keys I have for an email an address.
>
>How is this done?  (I have printed out my private key in the
>past....don't remember how I did it or if I did it correctly).
>

Just off the top of my head, I believe it can be done with:

gpg -a --export-secret-keys [key-id] > secret_key.txt

This creates a text file with the ASCII armored private key file which can then be printed.

>Also, let's say the key associated with the email address (not a paper
>backup) gets corrupted or I delete it or render the key unuseable- can
>the paper backup of the key be used to type the key back in?
>
You can type the key into a text file, say secret_key.txt, and then do:

gpg --import secret_key.txt

You could name it secret_key.asc as well. Not sure if that matters (I don't think it does).

This is just off the top of my head since I'm not at my computer at the moment to verify, but that's the gist of it.


-- 
HTH,
Antony