<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="pgp-expired">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="index#pgp-keys"/>

    <revision version="0.1" date="2011-10-23" status="stub"/>
    <revision pkgversion="3.9" version="0.1" date="2013-07-03" status="review"/>

    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

    <credit type="author copyright">
      <name>Aruna Sankaranarayanan</name>
      <email its:translate="no">[email protected]</email>
      <years>2013</years>
    </credit>

    <desc>Can I still use it? Can expiration dates be changed?</desc>
  </info>

  <title>What happens if my key expires?</title>

  <p>When your key expires, it becomes invalid. This means:</p>

  <list>
    <item>
      <p>It can no longer be used to encrypt and decrypt messages.</p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>It cannot sign other keys or receive signatures from other
      keys.</p>
    </item>
  </list>

  <p>Depending on how long you want your key to be valid, you can
  <link xref="pgp-create#advanced">set an expiration date</link> for
  it. By default, <app>Passwords and Keys</app> sets all keys to be valid
  forever. That is, the keys never expire.</p>

  <p>The expiration date on a key can be
  <link xref="pgp-expiration-change">changed</link> anytime, even after
  the key has expired. However, if you want to stop using the expired key, you
  should <link xref="pgp-delete">delete</link> or
  <link xref="subkeys-revoke">revoke</link> it.</p>

  <note style="info">
    <p>If you have any messages encrypted with an expired key, you must change
    the expiration date on the key to decrypt such messages before deleting or
    revoking it.</p>
  </note>

</page>