FAQ: elan

General Questions to elan

The elan login page (elan.dfg.de) contains a link below the Login button that will lead you to a Reset password page. There, please enter your account’s e-mail address and a new password will be sent to you.

On a Mac computer the curly bracket character “{” is entered by the key command <Alt><8>. You can also copy and paste the password given in the DFG message into the corresponding field. Please make sure that you do not copy any spaces with the characters (tip: select the password by highlighting it backwards from its last character to its first).

When you visit a website for the first time, your browser saves certain information in a browser cache, or temporary internet file folder. If you revisit the web page, instead of being retrieved from the original site, the files are retrieved from the browser cache on your computer, thereby enabling quicker loading.

A browser cache does not recognise when new content has been added and instead retrieves the outdated files, in this case a maintenance message from a previous visit to the site. You therefore need to delete the browser cache.

You are already logged in to the portal and have to close at least one session to proceed. To close a session, select one from the checkbox and close it.

Information for applicants

You may only track the processing status if

  • you are registered as the proposal’s applicant and
  • access to your data has been cleared by the DFG Head Office. If you have not yet been granted access, please consult the relevant DFG programme staff.

Please note that other persons involved with the proposal, such as cooperation partners, may not track the processing status.

Only projects in which you are the applicant and those which have not been declined, withdrawn or concluded are displayed.

For joint proposals please note that reference numbers are generated for each applicant; joint proposals will therefore have more than one reference number. The first alphabetical entry will be displayed in the overview.

A newly submitted proposal will not appear in the overview until the DFG has verified that the formal proposal requirements have been met.

If you have any further questions, please contact our programme staff.

This message informs you that you currently have drafts of online forms saved under Proposal Submission – Drafts. These drafts are automatically deleted after 100 days unless an extension has been requested. If you no longer need the draft, you can ignore this message. The draft will automatically be deleted. However, if you would like to extend the deadline by another 100 days, please go to Proposal Submission – Drafts to extend the deadline.

A revised version of a previously rejected proposal should be entered as a new project.

Yes. Upon proper submission, you will automatically receive a short e-mail message from us confirming that your proposal has been received. Your project and project reference number will also be displayed in an overview of your current projects, which you can access under Proposal Submission – Proposal Overview/Renewal Proposal. This page may also be accessed to view the status of your proposal, submit correspondence, etc.

If your institution is not included in the drop-down menu, save your entries by clicking Save and enter the institution via the My Profile tab under New Address. Please allow one working day before continuing your proposal.

  • As soon as your proposal appears in the overview, you can use the Correspondence link to add additional documents.
  • In all other cases, please forward the document(s) by e-mail, using the transaction number provided in your confirmation, to the relevant DFG programme contact or, if unknown, to the following e-mail address: .

Entries that were not saved will be lost. To avoid losing data you should regularly save your entries by clicking the Save/ button. Data will be saved locally on your computer. Entries that have not been saved cannot be retrieved.

In this case, the browser pop-up blocker is active. Please see the following list of various browsers for instructions on how to deactivate your pop-up blocker.

We offer the templates as RTF (Rich Text Format) files so that they can be used by various word processing programs from various operating systems. Many operating systems, such as Windows and MAC OS, use RTF.

If this does not apply to your operating system, please proceed as follows:

  • Right click to save your file to your PC.
  • Right click on the saved file and select “Open”, selecting from the word processing programs available to you.

In order for your entries to be displayed correctly in other programs (such as GEPRIS, the DFG’s project database), the data are interpreted according to ISO 8859-1.

When copying text from a word processing program, sometimes an invalid code may be included. The following characters are examples in Microsoft Word:

“ ‘ _ ·

These characters must be deleted in the form and entered again.

Information for reviewers and decision-making bodies

When extracting the files, the option “Use directory names” must be checked in the relevant dialog box.

The zip file must first be unzipped using the “Extract” function in the respective zip program.

Using Windows

  • To save the eDocuments to your hard drive, click on the link "Complete package for downloading".
  • From the “File download” pop-up window, select the "Save" button (not "Open").
  • Select the target folder and save the download package. To unzip the folder "Gesamtdokument_eBer....zip", right-click the file to open the context menu.
  • From here, select
    • under Windows "Extract all", then the target folder and confirm this using the "Extract" button
    • - if you are using the WinZip program - "WinZip" and "Extract to here".
    • This option automatically creates a separate folder with the same name as the document key. For an overview of all documents, please open the file _index.htm. From there you can navigate, as in the online view, to the individual proposals and open the associated documents. Please note that an additional window will appear asking you if you are certain you wish to open this document. Please respond with “Open” to access the document.

Using Mac-OS

  • To save the eDocuments to your hard drive, click on the link "Complete package for downloading"
    • The file "getContent.zip" is saved in the folder “Downloads” and automatically unzipped into a folder whose name is the same as the document key.
    • Once the download is complete, the files can be opened in the “Finder” (Downloads) or moved from there to a new location.
  • For an overview of all documents, please open the file _index.htm. From there you can navigate, as in the online view, to the individual proposals and open the associated documents. Please note that an additional window will appear asking you if you are certain you wish to open this document. Please respond with “Open” to access the document.

For convenience, certain types of documents are offered both in “Complete view” and “My view”. “My view” contains only the proposal documents for which you are responsible.

Online:

By default, in the online overview “My View” is displayed. You can switch to the complete view via the “View All” tab

Offline:

For navigation, two directory listings (index files) are provided if present. The “_index.htm” file contains the complete view; the “_indexMyView.htm” contains the proposals for which you are responsible. From an opened index file you can then use the appropriate link to switch between these two views.

As a rule, documents are sent as PDF files. There is a known problem with Mac OS and the Safari browser, which does not recognise the file format and stores all files as “getContent”. Until there is a technical solution to this problem, please use alternative access options:

  • You can rename the downloaded files, e.g. to “Document1.pdf”, in which case they will be correctly recognised.
  • Use a browser that does not have this problem, e.g. Camino.
  • Download the document to your computer as a complete package (zip file); the files will then be correctly recognised once they are unzipped.

For certain types of documents the tab “My View” is available in addition to “View All”. “My View” displays only the documents for which you are responsible.

The option “My View” must be available in order to access, via the icon, all proposal documents as one PDF file and subsequently display, print or view them.

Your account must be activated by the DFG’s Head Office to allow access to the highly confidential information necessary to prepare your review. The information is located in a protected area. Please get in touch with the DFG programme contact who requested the review for more information.

All proposals included in the list have been marked by the DFG accordingly. The relevant proposal may not have been marked. Please get in touch with the DFG programme contact who requested the review for more information.

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If you encounter any problems, please contact our hotline