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1.1 - Why is there an xxx at the start of my email address? Why am I being told my email address is bad?
Because users sometimes change email addresses without changing their settings, ProZ.com needs to check in an automated way to see when emails start bouncing back to its servers.
When the system sees bounces, it marks the (usually bad) emails by appending an xxx prefix to them, which tells the mailing program don't try sending to this address. In cases where a user has entered both primary and secondary emails, the system promotes the secondary address and from then on, attempts to mail to that one. Note that the system will not make a point of going back and restoring the old order if your secondary address starts working again —if you want it back, you have to do it yourself.
The KudoZ asking page, and other pages, check for a valid email address format before allowing anyone to ask. If you try to ask a question, and you have an xxx at the start of your email, the system will tell you your email address is bad.
1.2 - What is a group mail?
If you are a ProZ.com member you can send group mails to up to 100 colleagues.
To do so, search the directory to select a group that meets certain parameters (for example, language pair, credentials, areas of expertise, etc.) Select the check boxes to the left of the translators in your search results who you wish to contact. Then click the Mail all now link at the bottom of the page. Your message will be sent to up to 100 people who met your criteria.
You can use this function for finding someone to help you on a project, starting a team, etc. This feature is not to be used for advertising your own services.
You can restrict who is allowed to send you mail through your profile, or disable profile mailing altogether. See the email preferences FAQ for more information.
1.3 - How do I view the complete headers of an email message?
To view the complete headers of an email message, follow these instructions:
Gmail: Click on the down arrow, next to the Reply button, at the top right corner of the message. Select Show original.
Hotmail: Click on the down arrow, next to the Reply button, at the top right corner of the message. Select /i>View Message Source.
Yahoo!: At the bottom right corner of the message, click the link for Full Headers.
Outlook: Open the email in a separate window. Click the File tab. Select the Properties button. They are in the Internet Headers box.
1.4 - I got an email virus that appeared to come from ProZ.com
ProZ.com email notifications do not allow attachments, so propagating viruses through them is very unlikely. The email virus you received probably did not come from ProZ.com.
An increasingly common technique used by viruses and worms is to scan the infected user's email client for email addresses, subject lines, and message bodies, and then compose an infected email out of a random collection of these. The infected message is then sent to everyone in the user's address book. So, while the email you received may have claimed to be from ProZ.com, or have the subject line of a KudoZ notification, for example, those features of the email were likely randomly selected from emails on the infected user's computer.
The only way to tell for certain where an infected message originated is to look at the complete headers attached to the message by the mail servers that delivered it. If, by examining these headers, you ever find that an infected message truly originated at ProZ.com, please submit a support request including the message with complete headers, and we will take immediate action to resolve the problem.
1.5 - I think I received an email virus from the ProZ.com site—is that possible?
Not really. Most email viruses exploit security holes in Microsoft software. As ProZ.com servers do not use any Microsoft software, it is extremely unlikely that a virus would be sent from ProZ.com. It is possible to receive viruses from other ProZ.com members, and it may even be possible for viruses to be attached to mail from ProZ.com, but only after it has left our servers and been processed by an infected machine.
No virus has ever been spread by the ProZ.com site or servers.
1.6 - How can I get a @proz.com email account?
It is not possible to obtain a @proz.com email address as @proz.com addresses are reserved for ProZ.com staff.
If you don't receive any email from ProZ.com, the problem might be caused by email filters in your mail program, spam filtering by your ISP, or transient Internet connectivity problems that can go away by themselves. Please see the mail delivery problems page for more information.
2.2 - I receive some email from ProZ.com, but I don't receive all the email notifications that I should.
First, ensure that your dashboard is set appropriately. To receive more KudoZ notifications, select more notification subject areas, or accept both pro and nonpro questions. For job notifications, select more fields and/or specialties in your dashboard, or check the All fields check box so you don't miss any notifications in that language pair. (Some job posters elect to restrict notifications based on more detailed criteria, such as geographic location, credentials, skill set, etc.)
If you are certain that your dashboard is set correctly and you are not getting all the emails you should be from ProZ.com, we may be having intermittent problems delivering mail to your domain. See the I don't receive any email from ProZ.com FAQ for more information.
2.3 - My Mail Monitor says that notifications are being sent but still I can't get them.
If you check your mail monitor and it shows notifications that we have sent to you, it actually means that the servers of your email provider confirmed us that the notifications have reached them. In other words, it means that we are sending them but for some reasons not related to ProZ.com they are not reaching your mailbox. If you don't get those messages, the problem is between those servers and your email account. See the I don't receive any email from ProZ.com FAQ for more information.
2.4 - How can I prevent ProZ.com emails from being sent to spam?
To make sure you receive emails from us, please add @proz.com.com to your list of safe senders, following the instructions below or the FAQ from your email provider.
When an email from ProZ.com arrives in your Spam/Junk folder, you should see an option to mark it as safe, not spam, etc.
Alternatively, you can whitelist a domain, or mark it as safe. Most email providers have their settings on the top right corner of the screen. There, you should find a menu with a name such as Filters and Blocked Addresses, Rules and filters, Mail and Spam Controls, Safe and Blocked Senders, etc.
Enter the domain name you want to whitelist in the corresponding email. Add an @ sign before the domain name to make the filter specific. For example, to whitelist all mail from the proz.com domain, type @proz.com into the field.
You can also whitelist specific ProZ.com email addresses. Profile messages and most notifications are sent from:
2.5 - My email notifications are delayed. What can I do?
All times shown on the site are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Therefore, depending on your geographical location, it is possible that the time on your job notification compared to the job posting time will appear to be different; however, if you take into consideration the difference between the time displayed by the site and your email client, you will see that the email notification was actually sent out minutes after the job was vetted and made public.
To help us track down the cause of email notification delays, submit a support request including the complete headers of a late message. See this FAQ for information about viewing the complete headers of an email message.
2.6 - How can I get more, fewer, or different email notifications?
To edit your email notification preferences, go to Settings > Email Preferences in your profile page. Select the Profile mail tab to control the type of messages you receive through your profile page. Select the Job notifications tab to select more or fewer job notifications. From the KudoZ tab you can define your KudoZ notification preferences in detail.
2.7 - How can I unsubscribe from all ProZ.com email notifications?
To remove all email notifications associated with your account, visit the unusubscribe page. Select the second option, "Stop all email notifications to my address".
2.8 - Why does the link in my KudoZ/job/forum email notification go to a page saying the ID does not exist?
Sometimes a moderator will remove a KudoZ question, forum posting, or job from the site after email notifications have been sent out. Anyone clicking the link in such an email notification will not see the expected job, KudoZ question, or forum posting, because it is no longer visible on the site.
2.9 - What is a daily digest?
It's a message that contains a brief summary of the questions that have been asked in the day, as well as a short listing of any answers to those questions so far.
3.1 - What are profile messages and how are they sent?
Profile messages are one of several ways by which ProZ.com members can be reached by outsourcers and colleagues. They were designed to allow site members to receive messages while maintaining the privacy of their email addresses. There are two kinds of messages that can be received through your profile:
Profile email
In the case of profile email, the email you will receive will have a subject line like this: [ProZ.com mail] (Subject line entered by sender)
The text entered by the sender will be in the email itself, and there is no need to visit the site to see it. If you respond to that email, the sender will have access to your email address.
Instant messages
In the case of an instant message, the subject line in the email will be the following: [ProZ.com] You have received an instant message from a ProZ.com member
The message body will ask you to log in to your ProZ.com profile and provide the link to visit your instant message inbox.
To send a profile message you should visit the profile of your intended message recipient and click on the Send email button at the top-center of the profile. When you click on that icon, a window will open for a subject line and the body of the message. A drop-down menu will allow you to indicate the type of message. There is an option to send a copy of the message to yourself.
3.2 - What are the rules for sending profile messages?
These messages have a few clear rules. Basically, they cannot be used for:
Advertising of any product or service, including one's own translation services
Sending offensive or personal remarks
Scams or fraudulent business proposals
Failure to observe these rules may result in the suspension or removal of the sender's right to use profile messaging.
3.3 - Is there a limit in the number of profile messages I can send to other ProZ.com users?
Yes. ProZ.com paying members are allowed to send unlimited profile email messages to other ProZ.com members. Site users can only send 25 profile email messages per day. If you are a site user and you would like to have the ability to send an unlimited number of emails, consider joining ProZ.com as a member.
3.4 - How can I decide who can send me a message through my profile?
In the top drop-down menu select Profile mail settings from My communication settings. You can also click on the Settings tab in your profile, and select the Email preferences option.
You can select one of four possible levels of restriction for the profile messages sent to you:
Allow anyone to send me messages via my profile page.
When you select this option, all users will be able to send profile messages to you.
Allow only ProZ.com users who are logged in to send me messages via my profile.
When you select this option, non-logged-in visitors attempting to send a profile message to you will get the following error message: You must be logged in to send mail to this user.
Allow only logged-in ProZ.com members to send me email via my profile page.
When you select this option, any non-member attempting to send you a profile message will get the following error message: You must be a ProZ.com member to send mail to this user.
Allow no one to send me messages via my profile page.
When you select this option, any user attempting to send you a profile message will get the following error message: This user does not wish to receive mail through his or her profile.
3.5 - How can I enter a note that will be shown to those attempting to contact me via my profile?
You can leave a message of up to 255 characters in the Email preferences page of your profile.
When someone decides to send you a message through your profile, your note will show at the top of the profile message form:
3.6 - Are profile messages reviewed or vetted?
In order to provide flexibility, an open format was adopted, where almost anyone can send a message to any site user who has not opted for not receiving messages. A complication of this approach is increased risk of spam or other unwanted email.
There is no way to keep all the required flexibility and control the entry point of the system. To prevent the feature's usefulness from being hampered by a flood of spam and fraud emails, the following solution was found: An automatic filter whose algorithm identifies “secure” messages and allows them to go through, while a small minority of “potentially unsafe” messages are held for human control by staff members. This "vetting" by staff is periodically activated and deactivated.
This is complemented by a feature that requires the manual input of a numeric code by message senders who are not logged in the site.
You can set your profile messages vetting preferences in the top drop-down menu select Profile mail settings from My communication settings. You can also click on the Settings tab in your profile, and select the Email preferences option.
There are two optional, mutually exclusive possibilities:
Do not vet messages sent to me via my profile, for site users who may feel that this kind of control conflicts with their privacy.
I want staff to vet messages sent to me via my profile, available to site members only, for those who want to ensure a spam-free channel.
3.7 - How do I report abuse or spam of the ProZ.com mail system?
To report any abuse or email spam/scams/phishing through your ProZ.com mail service, submit a support request via the support system. Just remember to add a copy of the message received, including headers, to help support staff handle the problem more efficiently.
You can also do this in a quicker and more efficient way as follows:
If you are receiving spam in the form of a profile message you simply have to click on the link next to Unsolicited advertising? Spam? click here: line at the bottom of the email you received in your email inbox. If you are receiving spam as an instant message you simply have to click on the Report as spam button at the bottom of the message.
In both cases a support request will be automatically generated containing all the necessary information ProZ.com support staff needs to take appropriate action.
3.8 - How can I block a particular site user from sending me messages through my profile?
You can access your block list in the top drop-down menu select Profile mail settings from My communication settings. You can also click on the Settings tab in your profile, and select the Email preferences option.
You should enter the username or user ID of the user you want to block and press Update.
ProZ.com users or IP addresses specified in your block lists will not be allowed to send messages to you through your profile page. Your block lists override the general profile message preferences above. Note that because a great many Internet users have dynamic IP addresses, IP addresses will expire from your block list after a few days.
You can achieve the same results by clicking on the link after the line Block profile messages from this sender: in any profile message received from that user.
Any user in your block list who tries to send you a profile message will get the following error notification: You are on this user's block list—he or she does not wish to receive mail from you.
3.9 - What is priority messaging?
Priority messaging is a feature that lets Plus subscribers give clients the ability to reach them quickly for urgent job-related communications.
When sending a profile email, eligible users can choose to mark it as a priority message. When a priority message is sent, an attempt will be made to contact the recipient instantly over a variety of channels (depending on the recipient's preferences) —for example, mobile notifications and/or browser push notifications.
3.10 - Who can send and receive priority messages?
In general, priority messaging is only available if the sender is a business member or the recipient is a Plus subscriber. Additionally, the recipient must not have disabled priority messages or blocked messages from the sender in their Profile mail preferences.
Senders with a poor Blue Board LWA (lower than 2.5), open non-payment reports, or administrative blocks are not allowed to send priority messages.
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