Question 1

Can you format my document without proofreading it?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! We’re fantastic at formatting and would love to make your document look as great as it reads. Simply add our formatting service at checkout and provide details of your formatting needs when prompted after payment.
You can see more information on our formatting services page.

Question 2

I plan on submitting a large document for proofreading. Do you have a payment plan option?

Accepted Answer

We understand it can be difficult to pay for a large document in one go.
To make life easier, we can arrange a payment plan. If you let us know the word count of your document, we&#8217;ll set up a schedule of payments that will help you.

Question 3

How can I disconnect Google Drive from my account?

Accepted Answer

If you have previously connected your Google Drive to your account and would like to undo this, you have two options:

Log into your account, go to the &#8216;My Info&#8217; page, and deselect the option for connecting your Google Drive to your account in the &#8216;Google Account&#8217; section.
Stop the Proofed app from accessing your Google Drive via your Google Drive account. Google has a helpful article here (you will find the relevant instructions under &#8216;Remove site or app access&#8217;) explaining exactly how to do this.

Question 4

How can I change my password on my account?

Accepted Answer

You have two options to change your account password. If you remember your existing password, sign in to your account and go to the &#8216;My Info&#8217; section. In the &#8216;Personal Information&#8217; section here, click &#8216;Change Password&#8217;, enter your old and new passwords, then click &#8216;Save&#8217; at the bottom of the page.
If you are unsure of your existing password, please use the reset password tool. Here, you simply need to enter your email address and we will send you an email with a link to create a new password for your account.

Question 5

How can I stop receiving marketing emails?

Accepted Answer

There are two ways to unsubscribe from marketing emails. The first is to sign in to your account, go to the &#8216;My Info&#8217; section, and deselect the marketing emails option before clicking &#8216;Save&#8217; at the bottom of the page.
Alternatively, every marketing email will have an unsubscribe link. Click this and follow the instructions to unsubscribe from future marketing emails.

Question 6

How can I change the email address on my account?

Accepted Answer

To change your email address, sign in to your account and find the &#8216;My Info&#8217; section. You can change your email address in the &#8216;Personal Information&#8217; section here and then click &#8216;Save&#8217; at the bottom of the page.
Once your details have been added or updated, the address will change automatically on all receipts for any documents we have proofread or edited for you. All you need to do is re-download the receipt for the relevant document.

Question 7

How can I add or change my address on my profile and will this be updated on my receipt?

Accepted Answer

To add or change your address, sign into your account and find the &#8216;My Info&#8217; section. You can edit your address details here in the &#8216;Address Information&#8217; section and then click &#8216;Save&#8217; at the bottom of the page.
Once your details have been added or updated, the address will change automatically on all receipts for any documents we have proofread or edited for you. All you need to do is re-download the receipt for the relevant document.

Question 8

How can I change or remove my card details?

Accepted Answer

Stripe secures your card details and provides a token to enable speedy payment at checkout. To change or remove these details, sign in to your account, go to &#8216;My Info&#8217;, and make any changes required in the &#8216;Payment Information&#8217; section.

If you would like to remove your card details from the Stripe system and the token from the Proofed system, simply untick the &#8216;Save my card details&#8217; option and then click &#8216;Save&#8217; at the bottom of the page.

Question 9

Can you remove my details from your records?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We are fully GDPR and CPPA compliant, so if you would like your account closed and your personal details removed from our database, just let us know.

Question 10

Can I delete my document from your system once the editing or proofreading process is complete?

Accepted Answer

Yes. But please remember to download your proofread copy first. Once you have, simply click the delete button.

But please be aware that once deleted from our system, all versions of your document will be permanently removed.

Question 11

How do you protect my privacy and confidentiality? Will you sign an NDA?

Accepted Answer

We operate a strict privacy policy and have confidentiality procedures in place. This includes all our editors and proofreaders signing NDAs. You can find our privacy policy here. Additionally, if you require Proofed to sign a separate NDA, just let us know and we will be happy to do so.

Question 12

I am not happy with the formatting. Can you redo it?

Accepted Answer

With our formatting service, we aim to work to your exact instructions. In the absence of specific instructions, we work to an in-house formatting guide and focus on making sure your document is clear, consistent, and readable.
If you feel that the formatting applied does not match the instructions or style guide you provided, let us know and we will investigate the problem.

Question 13

I have made some changes to my document. Can you look at my work again?

Accepted Answer

Of course! You have a couple of options here:

Submit the whole document again and we will edit it at a 30% discounted rate.
Highlight the sections you have changed and submit your edited document.

We can then calculate how many words need proofreading or editing again and charge you only for that much of the document. In both cases, email us the document and we will upload it to your account.

Question 14

How do I leave a rating or review for my document?

Accepted Answer

To leave a rating for your document, simply log into your user area and click the number of stars you want to give it (with five stars being the best).

Once you have rated your document, we may contact you to ask for more information. If you aren&#8217;t 100% happy with any part of our service, then please contact us. We are always here to help!

Question 15

Is it possible for my editor to create a reference list?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, we do not create reference lists as part of our services. We do, however, ensure your references are formatted in line with your specified referencing style and highlight issues that may require further attention.

Question 16

How do I access my receipt?

Accepted Answer

You can access your receipt from your order details within your user area.
Simply log in, navigate to &#8216;My Docs&#8217;, and click on the document you require the receipt for to display your order information. At the bottom left of the box, click the &#8216;Receipt&#8217; button to download your receipt.

Question 17

I don&#8217;t think my references are correct. What can I do?

Accepted Answer

Different referencing styles have different rules. Some, like APA, have a well-defined set of rules. Others, like Harvard, are generic referencing styles that may vary in detail between publishers and organisations. Our service includes ensuring consistency with a given referencing style, but we are not able to change your referencing from an existing style to a new one.
If our changes are not in line with your referencing requirements, it could be that you didn&#8217;t specify the exact version of the system you are using when you uploaded your document. If you are using an in-house referencing style (e.g. one specified in a university style guide), then, let us know so your future documents will follow your requirements.
If you think that we&#8217;ve missed specific issues in your referencing, though, contact us and we&#8217;ll do our best to correct them.

Question 18

I added the wrong service. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

If you have added a service by accident, contact our customer support team immediately. We will address the problem as soon as we are made aware of it.
When we are able to remove the service we will, and we will always try our best to credit you for any work that hasn&#8217;t been completed yet, but we will be unable to do so for any work that has already been carried out.

Question 19

I think the editor missed some of my instructions. Can you fix this?

Accepted Answer

Please check your instructions are covered by the service you selected (you can see a breakdown of each service on the Services tab at the top of this page).
If we&#8217;ve missed something you think we should have done, get in touch – we&#8217;ll remedy the situation straight away!

Question 20

Will you send me my document when it is ready?

Accepted Answer

Once your work has been checked, we will send an email with a link to your user area so that you can log in and download your document.
If you haven&#8217;t received your notification of your document being completed and it is past the return time, please let us know.

Question 21

I liked the proofreading on my free sample better than on my paid document. Why were they different?

Accepted Answer

It is important to note that proofreading styles can vary slightly. We try and use the same proofreader or editor who completed your sample on the full document, but they aren&#8217;t always available.
If you prefer how your free sample was edited, we can try to assign your work to that proofreader in the future. If you&#8217;d like to try this, let us know.

Question 22

I preferred the editing or proofreading on a previous document. Can I request my previous proofreader or editor in the future?

Accepted Answer

We can usually allocate your documents to a preferred proofreader or editor. Simply email us to let us know which document you liked the best (include the order ID for the document) and we will do our best to make sure your future documents are assigned to the same editor.
Please note that this may cause a delay in returning your work, as your preferred proofreader may not always be available when you submit, but we&#8217;ll let you know if it will take longer than the return time shown on upload.

Question 23

My word count has been reduced. Can you get it back to the original length?

Accepted Answer

We do not change text to preserve a word count when proofreading. If the word count has been reduced slightly, it will be because we&#8217;ve removed repeated or unnecessary words to ensure clarity. We can&#8217;t add anything new to your work while proofreading to boost the word count.
With our editing service, if you included a target word count when uploading and feel we have removed too many words, let us know.

Question 24

Why did you not make more changes during proofreading?

Accepted Answer

First, please ensure you are viewing the Track Changes version of your document. Occasionally, customers will accidentally view the clean version of their completed document rather than the version that shows the edits we&#8217;ve made. Alternatively, if your document was well written, we may not have needed to make a large number of changes. It could be that your writing only needed a polish.
If you believe your document hasn&#8217;t been proofread or edited to the standard you were expecting or that we missed specific errors, please let us know.

Question 25

I think there are mistakes in my completed document. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

If there are still errors in your document, it will usually be because we could not fix them without further information or substantially rewriting content. In these cases, we would have noted the issues in comments instead. For student work, it is very important that we don&#8217;t rewrite any content due to plagiarism rules.
If you believe that there are mistakes that we should have fixed, please let us know. If you can provide examples of where you think we&#8217;ve missed something, it will really help us in establishing the best solution.

Question 26

You missed my guaranteed return time! What will you do?

Accepted Answer

We pride ourselves on proofreading and editing documents to a high standard within the deadlines promised. If you feel we&#8217;ve not done this in your case, let us know and we&#8217;ll be sure to put it right!

Question 27

I can&#8217;t see any changes to the proofread document you&#8217;ve just returned to me! How do I view the edits?

Accepted Answer

This is a common problem, so don&#8217;t worry! We use Track Changes in Word documents, so to view the edits we make:

Open the Track Changes copy of your document
Select Review on the ribbon at the top of the page
Change the tracking to All Markup (this may have said No Markup, Original, or Simple Markup before)

We have also created a detailed description of how to use MS Word&#8217;s Track Changes tool. If you are still having problems, don&#8217;t hesitate to contact us.

Question 28

Where do I find my completed document?

Accepted Answer

When your work has been completed, you will receive an email notification. This will contain a link to the document in your user area.

If you don&#8217;t think you&#8217;ve received this email, it&#8217;s worth checking your junk mail.
If you definitely have not received the email and the document is not in your user area, get in touch with our support team to let us know the order number for your document and we&#8217;ll send it to you.

Question 29

I can&#8217;t open my document! What should I do?

Accepted Answer

We&#8217;re sorry you&#8217;re experiencing difficulties.
If you take a screenshot of the error message you&#8217;re receiving and email it to our support team, we will investigate the problem and help you get it sorted.

Question 30

My university, research institution, or company will be paying for my proofreading or editing. Can you provide an invoice?

Accepted Answer

Of course! Just email us your document and let us know who we should make out the invoice to. We will then upload your work and provide an invoice to pass on to the party completing the payment. As soon as the invoice is paid, we&#8217;ll begin working on your document.

Question 31

I have extra information for my proofreader, but I&#8217;ve already uploaded my document. Can I contact them somehow?

Accepted Answer

Of course. Simply email us your comments and we can pass them on.

Question 32

I have uploaded the wrong document. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

If you have uploaded the wrong document, contact our customer support team immediately.
We will stop editing the document as soon as we are made aware of the situation. We always try our best to credit you for any work that hasn&#8217;t been completed yet, but we will be unable to do so for any work that has already been carried out.

Question 33

I am having trouble uploading my document. Can you help?

Accepted Answer

We&#8217;re really sorry you are having problems. If you cannot upload your work, please email it to us and let us know what technical issues you are experiencing (with a screenshot of any error if possible).
We will then upload your document and have our team look into the problem.

Question 34

What should I put for &#8216;Subject&#8217; during upload?

Accepted Answer

When you upload a document for proofreading or editing, it is important to include a subject. This helps us pair your work with an editor who has experience or a qualification in that subject area.

We have a smart auto-complete function on the subject box to help standardise the subjects you can enter (e.g. finance and accounting, marketing, education). However, you can also enter a custom subject if required.

Question 35

Can I add a purchase order on upload?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Simply let us know you want to do this when adding a document to our system and we will change your account so a purchase order field displays during upload.

You can retroactively add a purchase order to documents from your user area, too. Once a purchase order has been added, your receipt will be instantly updated to include it.

Question 36

Can I upgrade the delivery speed once I&#8217;ve paid for my document?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! You can upgrade the delivery speed of your document after upload within your user area.
Simply find your document and click &#8216;Upgrade Now&#8217; next to the aeroplane (Express) or rocket (Rapid) icons.

Question 37

How do I select a referencing style?

Accepted Answer

Selecting a referencing style is easy. When you upload a document, we will ask you to &#8216;Brief your editor&#8217;, which involves selecting a referencing style from a dropdown menu.

We provide a list of the most common referencing styles during upload. However, if your chosen referencing style is not listed, select &#8216;Other&#8217; and use the comment box to let us know which system you&#8217;re using. You can also use the comment box to leave extra instructions for your editor, such as which version of a referencing style to use.

Question 38

I have just paid via Alipay or WeChat Pay, but I have received no email confirming the payment. What happened?

Accepted Answer

We occasionally find there&#8217;s a delay when using Alipay payments. If nothing comes through after a few hours, you might need to cancel your payment and try again.
Don&#8217;t worry! You won&#8217;t be charged twice. Even if the payment is showing on Alipay, no payment will have been taken if you haven&#8217;t received a document order number through our confirmation email.

Question 39

I think I have been overcharged for my document. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

Our system calculates the word count of your document to a high degree of accuracy. It is therefore possible the word count was higher than expected. You can check this for MS Word documents using the following method:
On a PC

Open your document
Select Review from the ribbon at the top of the page
Select Word Count from the left side of the ribbon and a pop up will appear showing the word count

On a Mac

Open your document
Select Review from the ribbon at the top of the page
Select Word Count from the left side of the ribbon and a pop up will appear showing the word count

If this is significantly different from our estimate, or you still think you have been overcharged, contact us and we&#8217;ll be sure to address it.

Question 40

The payments page shows an error when I try to pay. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

We&#8217;re sorry you&#8217;re experiencing difficulties with this. Please take a screenshot of the error message you&#8217;re receiving and email it to our support team. We will investigate the problem and respond as quickly as we can.

Question 41

The price shown during upload is more than I was quoted via email. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

There are a few things we advise you do before contacting us:

Check our price calculator to see the price rounded up to the nearest GBP.
Double check the document matches the word count you sent us when requesting a quote.
Ensure you have not added any extra services since our original quote.

If you are still having problems, contact us.

Question 42

Does Stripe store my payment details?

Accepted Answer

Stripe stores your card details securely via a token so you can check out more easily when you next use the site. You can remove this via the settings in your user area or by contacting us so we can do it for you.

Question 43

Who do you use to process your payments?

Accepted Answer

We use Stripe. They&#8217;re a great payment processor used globally by millions of businesses.

Question 44

What forms of payment do you accept?

Accepted Answer

We accept all major debit and credit cards, as well as Alipay and WeChat Pay via our website (through our payment processor Stripe).
We also accept bank transfer for larger transactions. If you need to pay via bank transfer, please contact us.

Question 45

How much do proofreading and editing cost?

Accepted Answer

We charge a flat rate per word and a minimum price per document (equivalent to 1,000 words for most document types or 1 slide for presentations).
Check out our pricing page to see what proofreading or editing your document will cost, or upload your document now for a tailored quote.

Question 46

What dialects do you proofread in?

Accepted Answer

We proofread and edit documents in standard British, American, Australian, and Canadian English. Simply select your dialect preference during upload.

Question 47

I have dyslexia. Can I receive proofreading for free?

Accepted Answer

We work with a lot of people with dyslexia, some of whom receive free proofreading through university proofreading funds. You&#8217;ll have to check with your institution whether you are eligible for this.
However, once you know you are eligible, you can simply:

Submit your work through our website, complete payment yourself, and send the invoice to your university for reimbursement.
Request a quote from us and send it to your university for payment.

Additionally, students in the UK can sometimes apply for reimbursement via Disabled Students Allowance (DSA).

Question 48

Which referencing styles do you work with?

Accepted Answer

Our expert academic proofreaders can help you ensure your referencing is always correct. You can even select from the most common referencing styles and systems when you upload your work, including:

APA
Harvard
OSCOLA
Chicago
MLA
IEEE
MHRA
Vancouver
Oxford
AGLC
AMA
Turabian

Click on a referencing style above to find out more. In addition, we can work with other referencing styles on request. Let us know which system you&#8217;re using when you upload your work, and we&#8217;ll tailor our service accordingly.

Question 49

What does &#8216;referencing style&#8217; mean?

Accepted Answer

A referencing style is a citation method, most commonly used in academic writing. As a student or a researcher, you need to show when you&#8217;ve used someone else’s words or ideas and you do that by referencing them in your work.
When proofreading or editing your work, we can ensure you have correctly applied your referencing style to your document. Simply select the referencing style you are using during document upload.

You can see a full list of the referencing styles we support here.

Question 50

Do you guarantee a certain grade?

Accepted Answer

We don&#8217;t guarantee you&#8217;ll receive a specific grade for your work after proofreading. Nor do we change the ideas or concepts presented in your document, which is what you will be graded on.
We do, however, offer a five-star rated proofreading service, which ensures your writing is error free and improves its readability. Many customers have told us that they received better grades after proofreading, but we cannot guarantee this.

Question 51

Will you rewrite my document?

Accepted Answer

For business, author, researcher, and professional customers, we can offer a substantive editing service. As part of this, we will help you to develop or even rewrite a document. Simply email us with your needs and we&#8217;ll let you know how we can help.
We cannot offer this service for students as rewriting work is always against plagiarism guidelines. However, we can offer proofreading services to help ensure your academic writing is clear, correct, and concise.

Question 52

I only want part of my document proofread. How do I submit it?

Accepted Answer

No problem! You have two options:

Copy the words you want to be checked to a new document and submit that new document.
Highlight the words you want checking and email us the document. We will then add it to our system for you.

Question 53

My document is too long. Can you reduce the word count?

Accepted Answer

Word count reduction depends upon the service you select. Proofreading may involve removing unnecessary words, but it doesn&#8217;t include specific word count reduction. If you select editing – as a business, author, researcher, or professional – we can try to reduce your document to a specific word count.
Simply let us know in the comments how long you need your document to be and we will try to edit to that word count.

For students, we will not reduce word counts as we are very strict on proofreading within university guidelines and significantly changing the length of a document would constitute plagiarism.

Question 54

Can I speak directly with my proofreader?

Accepted Answer

We do not provide a method for proofreaders or editors and customers to communicate directly. If you have something to tell the proofreader about your document, let them know via the comments box when you upload it.

You can also ask our team of experts a question at any time. Simply contact us and we&#8217;ll be happy to help.

Question 55

I would prefer to work with a proofreader or editor who has experience in my field. Can you arrange this?

Accepted Answer

We have hundreds of proofreaders and editors, so we can match your work with someone who has relevant subject experience. In fact, we always aim to do this for larger or more complex documents.
If you want to be sure your work is proofread by someone with a specific background or qualification, though, contact us and we will find the editor who is best suited to your work.

Question 56

Can you format my document?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! We’re fantastic at formatting and would love to make your document look as great as it reads.
Simply add our formatting service at checkout and provide details of your formatting needs when prompted after payment. You can see more information on our formatting services page.

Question 57

Do universities allow proofreading?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Generally, universities allow proofreading. Some students even receive a proofreading allowance from their university.
That being said, if you are ever in doubt, speak to your university.
Proofed operates an ethical editing model where we will never knowingly edit a student&#8217;s work. This ensures we don&#8217;t facilitate plagiarism while providing great proofreading services to students that meet university rules.

Question 58

Why can&#8217;t I add the editing service?

Accepted Answer

It sounds like you&#8217;ve registered as a student. If so, we suggest sticking with the proofreading service. We&#8217;ve designed this service to follow academic plagiarism guidelines, so we never make edits that change the meaning of your writing. University rules on proofreading and editing services can vary, though, so you should always check with your institution first.
If you have registered as a student and you&#8217;re actually a researcher or academic and require editing, please contact us and let us know.

Question 59

What is the difference between proofreading and editing?

Accepted Answer

With proofreading, your editor will check the spelling, punctuation, grammar, and other basic elements of your writing to make sure it is error free and easy to read. For more details, see our proofreading page.
With editing, your editor will make more substantial changes, which may include revising sentences, restructuring paragraphs, and adapting the written tone of your document. For more details, see our editing page.

Question 60

Do you proofread and edit spreadsheets (Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets)?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can upload Microsoft Excel (XLS/XLSX) and Google Sheets (GSHEETS) spreadsheets to our system for proofreading and editing. We then extract the word count from the document and charge you on this basis.

When we are done, we will return an edited version of your spreadsheet in its original format. For detailed information on our spreadsheet proofreading and editing services, see the page below related to your chosen file type:

Microsoft Excel
Google Sheets

Question 61

Do you proofread and edit Google Drive files?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can upload Google Docs (GDOC), Google Slides (GSLIDES), and Google Sheets (GSHEETS) documents to our system for proofreading and editing.
To upload a Google document, go to the upload page, hover over the &#8216;Drag and drop your file&#8217; button, and you will see a &#8216;From Google Drive&#8217; option. Click this and follow the steps to connect your Google Drive account to the Proofed app. You can then select any documents stored on your Google Drive for upload. See below an example of Google Drive files being uploaded.

For any Google documents we work on, we provide a link to the edited file, which will be uploaded to your Google Drive folder.

Question 62

Do you proofread and edit presentations (PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote)?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can upload presentations directly to our system for proofreading and editing in most formats, including MS PowerPoint (PPT/PPTX), Google Slides (GSLIDES), and Keynote (KEY). See below an example presentation being uploaded.

We then charge you based on the number of pages in the file. When we are finished, we return an edited version of your presentation in its original format.
For detailed information on our presentation proofreading and editing services, see the page below related to your chosen format:

Microsoft PowerPoint
Google Slides
Keynote

Question 63

Do you accept LaTeX documents for proofreading and editing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can upload LaTeX documents to our system for proofreading and editing. We then extract the number of words that aren&#8217;t markup and charge you on that basis (i.e. you only pay for the content of your document, not the formatting). See below an example LaTeX document being uploaded.

We charge a 20% premium on our regular prices for LaTeX files. When we are finished, we return an edited Track Changes version of your document content as an MS Word (DOCX) file along with your edited LaTeX (TEX) files in their original format. For detailed information on our LaTeX proofreading and editing services, see our LaTeX proofreading and editing page.

Question 64

Do you accept PDFs for proofreading and editing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can upload PDF documents to our system for proofreading and editing.
We then extract the word count of the document using optical character recognition (it can take up to a minute to calculate the word count) and charge you based on the number of words. See below for an example.

We charge a 20% premium on our regular prices for PDFs. When we are finished, we will return a single copy of your PDF with comments where changes are required. For detailed information on our PDF proofreading and editing services, see our PDF proofreading and editing page.

FAQs

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