Frequently asked questions

Answers to general questions

• Whom can I contact if my particular question is not answered here or not answered satisfactorily, i.e. in sufficient detail?
• What does it cost if I subscribe to email news?
• What is done with my personal data that I give when I register? Is my privacy respected, i.e. guaranteed, as regards data protection?
• Does the idw distribute press releases and event announcements/news as RSS feed as well?
• What must I do in order to publish press releases and/or event announcements via the idw Website?

Answers to questions about the website

• I have forgotten my access data. What can I do?
• After entering my access data, my personal menu does not appear; instead, I am again requested to log in. What is going wrong?
• The Ticker seems to show only press releases and news from the last few days. How can I get to less recent releases and news?
• Other than the Calendar, are there other possibilities to find event news and announcements?
• Can I search the archives of the idw website for key words or terms having more than one single word? For example, something like Elli Example? When I enter something like this, I get results in which Elli and Example appear separately?
• Can I search for documents using fields of knowledge or other categories?
• How can I forward a press release or an event announcement to a friend or colleague?
• My personal details (email address, telephone number, etc.) have changed. Where can I change the settings for this data?
• How can I enter a press release or an event announcement for publication on the idw website?
• When I click on Back in my browser because I have made errors in the information I wish to enter, all the data I had just put in disappears. What is to be done here?
• After clicking on a link contained in a press release or an event announcement, I am told that there has been an error: the website cannot be found. Whom do I contact?
• I am told that there has been an "Internal Error" when trying to get a website or to send off a form. What is to be done?

Answers to questions regarding email correspondence and subscriptions

• In the subject line of idw emails, there are strange signs and symbols, such as: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?[idw]_=DCberblick_vom_02.11.2004?=. Where do these come from and/or why are they there?
• In the emails I receive, there are no German umlauts shown, only such signs and symbols like =DC. Why?
• I have signed up for an email subscription. Why don't I receive any emails?
• I will be away on vacation soon or I would like to interrupt my email news subscription for other reasons. How can I do this?
• In the press releases which I receive by email from idw there are also website addresses. When I click on them, they are not opened in my web browser; nothing at all happens.
• Instead of a press release or an overview, I find only an email attachment. What is the reason for this?
• I would like to stop my idw news subscription. How can I cancel?

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Answers to general questions

Whom can I contact if my particular question is not answered here or not answered satisfactorily, i.e. in sufficient detail?

Please get in touch with the idw-team. You can do this by utilizing our contact-form or you can write us an email.

What does it cost if I subscribe to email news?

Reading our news on the internet as well as a subscription to our news in the form of emails are both free of charge.

What is done with my personal data that I give when I register? Is my privacy respected, i.e. guaranteed, as regards data protection?

In our idw-Adress Book, registration data as well as data of departments and persons of our associated member institutions are published. The showing of individual details of departments and persons belonging to these institutions can also be blocked by the institutions if they so desire, by means of the web interface. Journalists who have expressly agreed to the inclusion of their personal data in our list of journalists are added to this list, which is, however, only available to press and public information officers. No other individual data is passed on and/or published by us. In statistics that we may publish, only cumulative - meaning summarized - data are to be seen, no data of individuals.

Does the idw distribute press releases and event announcements/news as RSS feed as well?

Yes, we do. Please click on "Configure RSS feed", to be found on our start page, and fill out the form. If you are logged in, the form will automatically be filled out in accordance with your subscription. Then, following your click on "Create links", you will receive two links which are then to be copied into your RSS Reader.

What must I do in order to publish press releases and/or event announcements via the idw Website?

For this, detailed information is available.

Answers to questions about the website

I have forgotten my access data. What can I do?

Please fill out this form. You will then receive the access data of your account with us, sent directly to the email address you gave when you registered. If your email address has changed in the meantime, please get in touch with us as described above in the section for general questions.

After entering my access data, my personal menu does not appear; instead, I am again requested to log in. What is going wrong?

You have entered incorrect data (please see the question immediately above) or you must enable your browser, i.e. change its settings, to accept cookies from the idw-website.

The Ticker seems to show only press releases and news from the last few days. How can I get to less recent releases and news?

Press releases and news from the previous day or earlier can be found by using the search function. If you are interested in the information from a particular institution, look for it in the Address Book and then click on the link Press Releases of the institution's page.

Other than the Calendar, are there other possibilities to find event news and announcements?

Such announcements which were entered on the previous day or earlier can be found by using the search function. If you are especially interested in the event announcements of a particular institution, look for it in the Address Book and then click on the link Events of the institution's page.

Can I search the archives of the idw website for key words or terms having more than one single word? For example, something like Elli Example? When I enter something like this, I get results in which Elli and Example appear separately?

No, a search using such combined words/terms is not possible at present.

Can I search for documents using fields of knowledge or other categories?

Yes, with the extended search function, you can look for documents relating to such fields or countries, federal states/provinces, etc.

How can I forward a press release or an event announcement to a friend or colleague?

In order to do this, you must be logged in. Go to - via the News Ticker, the search function or the Calendar the press release, announcement, etc. that you wish to send. To the right below the title, you will find the link Forward.

My personal details (email address, telephone number, etc.) have changed. Where can I change the settings for this data?

First log in. Then, when you have your personal menu, click on the link Personal Data to be found under Access Administration.

How can I enter a press release or an event announcement for publication on the idw website?

In order to place information in the idw system, you must be a staff member of the press office of one of our associated member institutions. If you are, you will find the links for this in your personal menu after you have logged in.

When I click on Back in my browser because I have made errors in the information I wish to enter, all the data I had just put in disappears. What is to be done here?

This problem is normally due to an error in the Internet Explorer. In order to avoid this error, we use some JavaScript code on our web pages. If, however, there is an active firewall between you and idw, it can happen that this code is deactivated. In such a case, please contact the administrator of the firewall. Alternatively, you can use another web browser. For example, you can download the Firefox browser free of charge from our idw website (ca. 6 MB).

After clicking on a link contained in a press release or an event announcement, I am told that there has been an error: the website cannot be found. Whom do I contact?

If the web address in your browser begins with http://idw-online.de, please inform us (see above for how to contact our team). If it does not begin with this (http://idw-online.de), contact the owner/operator/administrator of the website in question.

I am told that there has been an "Internal Error" when trying to get a website or to send off a form. What is to be done?

If you see this after sending off a form, please go back to the form and check the data you have entered. If you cannot identify any mistake, then wait about an hour and try it again; we are often able to correct some such errors on the basis of the email that we automatically receive in such a case. If the error has not been corrected after an hour, then please get in touch with us (see above for how to contact our team)

Answers to questions regarding email correspondence and subscriptions

In the subject line of idw emails, there are strange signs and symbols, such as: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?[idw]_=DCberblick_vom_02.11.2004?=. Where do these come from and/or why are they there?

The program with which you read your emails cannot decipher subject lines shown in so-called "Quoted Printable Coding". As a rule, more up-to-date programs have no difficulty with this standard. Therefore, we recommend that in such cases you install a new version and/or another email program. You can download Thunderbird for Windows (ca. 6 MB) or Mac OS X (ca. 10 MB) free of charge from our website.

In the emails I receive, there are no German umlauts shown, only such signs and symbols like =DC. Why?

Your email program cannot read, i.e. process the "Quoted Printable Coding" referred to in the previous question. Please see above for possible solutions to this problem.

I have signed up for an email subscription. Why don't I receive any emails?

In general, this problem lies in the personal settings for your subscription or in a spam filter which is not set properly. In such a case, log in and check the email address you entered (to be found under Personal Data), your vacation settings (under Vacation Function) and/or your subscription settings (under Change/Enter Subscription). In order for you to receive news, you must have an entry in at least one of the fields provided for countries, federal states/provinces, etc. of a country, or post code regions. If your entries in the idw-system seem all right, then check to make sure that your settings allow emails to pass through your spam filter and/or the spam filter of your internet provider.

I will be away on vacation soon or I would like to interrupt my email news subscription for other reasons. How can I do this?

As soon as you are logged in, you can enter the time period of desired interruption under Access Administration in your personal menu. Should you wish to start up again earlier than anticipated, you can also do this here.

In the press releases which I receive by email from idw there are also website addresses. When I click on them, they are not opened in my web browser; nothing at all happens.

Whether or not web addresses are shown as links that can be clicked on depends only on the program with which you read your emails. You may have to activate the link function in your program. Or it may be necessary for you to install another email program - you can find some recommendations here.

Instead of a press release or an overview, I find only an email attachment. What is the reason for this?

You must set your mail program to display attachments "inline". If this is not possible, you could switch to another mail program. (See above) for recommendations.

I would like to stop my idw news subscription. How can I cancel?

Log in and go to End Subscription in your Personal Menu to be found under Access Administration, if you wish to cancel only your subscription but not your idw- access. Should you wish to cancel your access as well, then go to Cancel Complete idw-access.