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FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions About ProofreadNOW

We're keeping track of frequently asked questions and posting them here. If you can't find an answer on this page, please call us at 855-687-3348 or send an email to info@ProofreadNOW.com.

Choose your topic from the list below:

About ProofreadNOW

Completion Time and Delivery

Document Types and File Compatibility

Languages and Translation Services

Ordering

Privacy, Confidentiality, and NDAs

ProofreadNOW Guarantee

Specialty Editing Services

Style Guides and Editing References

 

About ProofreadNOW

We're a USA-based proofreading service founded in 1999 that employs experienced people (yes, real people, not AI or software) to proofread B2B documents.

ProofreadNOW is headquartered in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, USA, approximately 60 miles north of Boston.

ProofreadNOW has proofread legal, B2B, medical, financial, and technical documents since 1999. That’s 25+ years. 

Technology is best at supporting editors, not replacing them. Every file you send us goes through our signature double-read review. We call this our Power-of-Two.

First Pass: A highly experienced editor reviews the text for spelling, grammar, punctuation, brand consistency, clarity, and adherence to your company style guide (if you've given us one). 

Second Pass: A second (more senior) editor does a complete independent review of your document, from beginning to end, to catch anything the first editor may have missed. 

Our Power-of-Two process gives you consistency and peace of mind that automated tools and single-pass services can’t match. This is just one reason we’ve remained as a trusted partner for demanding clients in high-stakes industries for over 25 years.

Sometimes. If we do, it’s because an experienced proofreader in another time zone was available to do the job. Ninety-five percent of our English editors are in the U.S. Some are in Canada and England. Our Spanish editors are in their native countries. If you require that your documents not be sent out of the U.S., please let us know. We will ensure that your documents are not sent offshore.  

No! ProofreadNOW does not use AI or software for proofreading. All documents are reviewed by two experienced human experts who apply real intelligence and judgment to ensure high-quality results. 

 

 

Completion Time and Delivery

FAQs explaining completion times, delivery, and document storage.

Yes! ProofreadNOW.com offers turnaround times from 30 minutes (for up to 1,000 words) to one or two weeks (for very large documents). The faster the turnaround time, the higher the price. To see our proofreading and copyediting prices, please visit our Clarity Proofreading page or our Style Copyediting page. For English-to-Spanish translation prices, click here. 

The ProofreadNOW server sends you an email message when your document has been proofread. At your option, that email can have the proofed document attached. Alternatively, you can click on a link that leads to our secure server, where you can download your proofed file. 

 Yes! You’ll receive a confirmation email from ProofreadNOW that shows you the details of the job you submitted. Please review this message to confirm your job information is correct. 

If you need to make changes to your order, please log in to your account, find your job, and go to the "Messages for this job" section of the form. Click "Create the first message for this job" and type in your instructions for the editors.  

You can retrieve your proofed document at any time up to 59 days after completion. Simply log on to the ProofreadNOW server and click the ’View My Submissions’ link to find your job. Download it by clicking on the live link over the job number. 

ProofreadNOW keeps your document on our secure server for 59 days. On day 60, your document is completely removed. It is not stored in a backup system.

Document Types and File Compatibility

Description of file and document types.

Here are some of the types of work ProofreadNOW handles for our customers: legal, medical, financial, engineering, and technology documents, marketing brochures, web pages, reports, contracts, proposals, briefs, bios, resumes, business plans, press releases, email messages, data sheets, white papers, presentations, and many more.

 ProofreadNOW accepts MS Word, PDF, Google Docs, PowerPoint, HTML, URL, MSG (Microsoft Outlook), and plain text files. 

Languages and Translation Services

FAQs about translation services and languages supported.

ProofreadNOW offers English (American, Canadian, and British English) and Spanish proofreading and copyediting services. We also offer English-to-Spanish translation services. 

Yes!  Use this link for Spanish Clarity Pricing or this link for Spanish Style Pricing. See our English-to-Spanish translation for translation pricing.

Our Spanish language translators and proofreaders are native Spanish-speaking individuals who have been thoroughly vetted and are highly credentialed.

Ordering

FAQs about ordering, pricing, and page count.

ProofreadNOW prices are based on the requested level of service, turnaround time, language, specialty editing (if needed), and number of 500-word pages. 

Yes. Click here to tell ProofreadNOW about your document (page count, specialty area, if any, and completion time) to receive a quote.

 ProofreadNOW requires the following information: level of service desired, completion time, language, estimated number of 500-word pages, and specialty editing (if needed). 

ProofreadNOW counts 500 words as one page. Using this as our measurement, you get consistent pricing regardless of font size, white space, or layout. We count the words, divide by 500, and round up to find the page count.

To get the page count of your document, find the total word count, divide that by 500, and round up to get the number of pages. For example, if your document contains 1,700 words, it will equal 4 pages.

If you’re not yet a client, please click here to create your account. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to send us your document by clicking on "Submit a Job."

If you are already a client, please go to our home page and click on the "Log In" blue button at the top of the home page.

ProofreadNOW charges by the page. A 500-word block of text counts as one page. We offer completion times from one half-hour to whenever you need it. We are available 24/7, so you can send us your files when it’s convenient for you. 

Here are some examples of completion times based on the page count of your document:

# Pages # Words Fastest Completion Time
1-2 up to 1,000 30 minutes
5 up to 2,500 1 hour
30 up to 15,000 6 hours
45 up to 22,500 23 hours
60 up to 30,000 48 hours

 

Your MS Word file will have "track changes" turned on. This way, you can see our edits and make the final decision on those you want to keep.

Your PDF will have annotations showing our notes. We generally use sticky notes and text highlighting, though we can use the full range of Acrobat editing tools if you wish.

Your Google doc will show our edits as suggestions, and you can accept or reject them as you wish.

If you send a PowerPoint doc or an MSG doc, we will convert to PDF and annotate it. You'll get the PDF back and make the changes in your original PPT doc or MSG doc.

Privacy, Confidentiality, and NDAs

How we keep your documents secure and confidential.

 Our proofreaders are screened, trustworthy, sworn to secrecy, and bound by our very strict privacy policy. 

Yes! The ProofreadNOW nondisclosure agreement is fully contained in the click-through agreement that you approve when you create your account. However, we realize that some companies require us to sign their own NDA. We will do that. 

Yes, we can assign a fixed team to you. And if you need these proofreaders to sign your NDA, we can arrange that. We will allow only editors who have signed your NDA to see and edit your documents. 

Yes, sometimes. But if you’re required to keep your documents in the U.S., we can accommodate you. Send your request by email to support@proofreadnow.com.

Ninety-five percent of our English editors reside in the U.S. and are native English speakers. We also have a few excellent editors located in the UK and Canada and elsewhere. Our Spanish proofreaders and translators are native Spanish speakers residing in their native countries. 

Yes! Law firms often send legal documents, such as wills, trust documents, and the like to ProofreadNOW for proofreading. They also send highly confidential briefs and proposals. To ensure client identities remain private, you can replace proper names with XXXXXXX in the document before sending it to us. It’s easy to do. When you get the document back, just find all the XXXXXXX strings and replace them with the client’s name.

ProofreadNOW Guarantee

FAQs regarding our quality assurance and guarantee.

Most definitely! ProofreadNOW offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. We stand behind our work. We’ll unquestionably refund the cost of a page if we left (or made) a mistake on that page. But we also guarantee your complete satisfaction. 

You must notify us of your dissatisfaction within five days of the completion date.

ProofreadNOW will refund the cost of a page if we left (or made) a mistake on that page. If you don’t like the work we did, just say so and we’ll waive the entire charge.

You must notify us about your dissatisfaction within five days of the completion date.

Specialty Editing Services

FAQs about specialty editing services.

ProofreadNOW provides specialty editing for legal, medical, financial, and technology documents. We have experienced proofreaders on staff who handle these types of documents. When you select specialty editing, only editors who are knowledgeable in that specialty will work on your document. 

Yes! Law firms often send legal documents, such as wills, trust documents, and the like to ProofreadNOW for proofreading. They also send highly confidential briefs and proposals.

To ensure client identities remain private, you can replace proper names with XXXXXXX in the document before sending it to us. It’s easy to do.

When you get the document back, just find all the XXXXXXX strings and replace them with the client’s name. 

Yes! ProofreadNOW employs experienced medical proofreaders. We proofread regularly for some of the most famous medical clinics in the world. When you submit your medical document, simply select the “Medical” specialty button, and we’ll be sure that the proofreaders who work on your document are trained and experienced in medical proofreading. We generally use the AMA Manual of Style 10th Edition for medical documents. 

Style Guides and Editing References

FAQs about style guides and editing references.

Yes, you can.

We know you want your messages written in a style that matches your audience. No matter what type of document you send us, our editors can edit your document to match your tone and style.

If you have an in-house style guide, we can edit your documents to follow your particular style.

If you do not have a style guide, we default to the Chicago Manual of Style 18th Edition. We can also use the Associated Press or AMA style if you wish.

Please keep in mind that we cannot enforce sweeping corporate style to your documents. That’s really up to the original writers. We will look for general editing concepts such as serial commas, bullet list preferences, date specifications, titles, and the like. We can also ensure correct spelling and capitalization of trademarked names if you provide us with a list to check against.

If your corporate style guide exceeds four or five pages, we ask that you extract the pertinent rules into a smaller document and register that as your ProofreadNOW style guide.

Your style guide must be in a digital format, preferably in MS Word. The proofreaders will use your style guide as they do their work. At any time, you can replace a style guide or delete it altogether. 

Log in to your account. From the customer menu, click on “My Style Guides” and simply follow the easy instructions to upload and register your guide. Then, when you submit a document, click the “Style guide” button to link one of your registered style guides. 

ProofreadNOW refers to several standard style guides and references. 

For American English we refer to:

  • The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition, our default style guide.
  • The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 58th Edition for press releases and upon request for other documents.
  • The AMA Manual of Style 10th Edition for medical documents.
  • The APA Style Guide.
  • Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary, published by Merriam-Webster, our default dictionary.
  • The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style by Bryan A. Garner for legal forms and documents.

For British English, we refer to:

  • The Oxford Guide to Style which includes Hart's Rules.
  • dictionary.cambridge.org

For Canadian English, we refer to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, published by the Oxford Press. The COD has an extensive style guide for Canadian form, which we follow.

En idioma español, nuestra principal referencia es la Real Academia de la Lengua Española, máxima autoridad en el tema, que acoge a las respectivas academias de todos los países de habla hispana del orbe.

Nuestros profesionales, altamente educados y nativos del idioma, se refieren minuciosamente al léxico y las precisiones lingüísticas avaladas por dicha institución. Algunas otras referencias incluyen: diccionarios de sinónimos y antónimos de Porrúa y el Diccionario Velázquez de Español e Inglés.

Por supuesto, los temas especializados (argot) demandan, a su vez, fuentes especializadas. Por mencionar algunas: Diccionario de Términos Contables del Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos A. C.; Diccionario para Ingenieros, de Louis A. Robb CECSA; Vocabulario Breve de Medicina La Prensa Médica Mexicana, etcétera.

Nuestro modelo laboral está a la altura de las exigencias de la lengua de Cervantes y garantiza la eficacia global de sus documentos.

Split infinitives are not necessarily in need of correction. Today, all the major grammar books agree.