diff --git a/admin/inc/class.admin_mail.inc.php b/admin/inc/class.admin_mail.inc.php
index 54003c46d4..3cd87c00a2 100644
--- a/admin/inc/class.admin_mail.inc.php
+++ b/admin/inc/class.admin_mail.inc.php
@@ -1030,7 +1030,8 @@ class admin_mail
 							// SMIME SAVE
 							if (isset($content['smimeKeyUpload']))
 							{
-								self::save_smime_key($content, $tpl, $content['called_for']);
+								$content['acc_smime_cred_id'] = self::save_smime_key($content, $tpl, $content['called_for']);
+								unset($content['smimeKeyUpload']);
 							}
 							self::fix_account_id_0($content['account_id'], true);
 							$content = Mail\Account::write($content, $content['called_for'] || !$this->is_admin ?
@@ -1096,7 +1097,8 @@ class admin_mail
 							// smime (private) key uploaded by user himself
 							if (!empty($content['smimeKeyUpload']))
 							{
-								self::save_smime_key($content, $tpl);
+								$content['acc_smime_cred_id'] = self::save_smime_key($content, $tpl);
+								unset($content['smimeKeyUpload']);
 							}
 						}
 					}
@@ -1148,7 +1150,7 @@ class admin_mail
 		}
 		// SMIME UPLOAD/DELETE/EXPORT control
 		$content['hide_smime_upload'] = false;
-		if (isset($content['acc_smime_password']))
+		if (!empty($content['acc_smime_cred_id']))
 		{
 			if (!empty($content['smime_delete_p12']) &&
 					Mail\Credentials::delete (
@@ -1157,13 +1159,13 @@ class admin_mail
 						Mail\Credentials::SMIME
 				))
 			{
-				unset($content['acc_smime_password'], $content['smimeKeyUpload'], $content['smime_delete_p12']);
+				unset($content['acc_smime_password'], $content['smimeKeyUpload'], $content['smime_delete_p12'], $content['acc_smime_cred_id']);
 				$content['hide_smime_upload'] = false;
 			}
 			else
 			{
 				// do NOT send smime private key to client side, it's unnecessary and binary blob breaks json encoding
-				$content['acc_smime_password'] = '';
+				$content['acc_smime_password'] = Mail\Credentials::UNAVAILABLE;
 
 				$content['hide_smime_upload'] = true;
 			}
@@ -1371,6 +1373,7 @@ class admin_mail
 	 * @param array $content
 	 * @param Etemplate $tpl
 	 * @param int $account_id =null account to save smime key for, default current user
+	 * @return int cred_id or null on error
 	 */
 	private static function save_smime_key(array $content, Etemplate $tpl, $account_id=null)
 	{
@@ -1388,13 +1391,11 @@ class admin_mail
 				));
 				// save private key
 				if (!isset($account_id)) $account_id = $GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['account_id'];
-				Mail\Credentials::write($content['acc_id'], $email, $pkcs12, Mail\Credentials::SMIME, $account_id);
-			}
-			else
-			{
-				$tpl->set_validation_error('smimeKeyUpload', lang('Could not extract private key from given p12 file. Either the p12 file is broken or password is wrong!'));
+				return Mail\Credentials::write($content['acc_id'], $email, $pkcs12, Mail\Credentials::SMIME, $account_id);
 			}
+			$tpl->set_validation_error('smimeKeyUpload', lang('Could not extract private key from given p12 file. Either the p12 file is broken or password is wrong!'));
 		}
+		return null;
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/api/src/Mail/Account.php b/api/src/Mail/Account.php
index 0849653c83..4ef292f0d3 100644
--- a/api/src/Mail/Account.php
+++ b/api/src/Mail/Account.php
@@ -1260,18 +1260,6 @@ class Account implements \ArrayAccess
 			Credentials::delete($data['acc_id'], $valid_for, Credentials::SMTP, true);
 		}
 
-		//Store or delete smime private key
-		if ($data['acc_smime_password'])
-		{
-			Credentials::write($data['acc_id'], $data['acc_smime_username'],
-			$data['acc_smime_password'], Credentials::SMIME, $valid_for,
-			$data['acc_smime_cred_id']);
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			Credentials::delete($data['acc_id'], $data['account_id'][0], Credentials::SMIME);
-		}
-
 		// store or delete admin credentials
 		if ($data['acc_imap_admin_username'] && $data['acc_imap_admin_password'])
 		{
@@ -1647,7 +1635,7 @@ class Account implements \ArrayAccess
 	 *
 	 * account_id == 0 == everyone, is multiple too!
 	 *
-	 * @param array|Account $account value for key account_id (can be an array too!)
+	 * @param array|Account|Imap $account value for key account_id (can be an array too!)
 	 * @return boolean
 	 */
 	public static function is_multiple($account)