About Self-Destructing.com What Self-Destructing does How to contact us Our Terms and Conditions Our Privacy Policy   Subscriptions / Plans and Free Trials Register for a Free Trial Setting up your account and password Subscription Plans offered Changing your credit card / payment details Alternative payment methods Adding other addresses to your account (for sending from) Merging different accounts together Increasing your sending limits Cancelling your subscription or free trial Sending Tracked Emails and Documents How to send tracked emails from your PC Sending tracked emails from your Macintosh Operating System "Invisible" tracking and setting up your sending defaults Other sending options and features Compatibility with other programs / email clients etc Retracting emails Tracking to multiple recipients Document and PDF tracking Emails not appearing in your Personal Tracking Page   Reports and ReadNotifications Interpreting and understanding Your ReadNotifications Proof of posting and opening certificates Your 'Personal Tracking Page' and Data Export option Setting up your reporting options Delivery Service Notifications (DSN's) and Message Disposition Notifications (MDN's) Tracking if an email has been deleted Untracked messages ActiveTracker Plugins Downloading ActiveTracker (paid subscribers only) Help Page: ActiveTracker RN5

Setting up your account and password

Passwords:   The details you entered when you registered for your free trial will remain the same unless you change them - this includes your password. Details regarding your account were sent to you in a "welcome" email. If you need us to send you a new password please write to and we'll email you one.

Setting up your account / sending defaults:   On start up, your account is already configured per our 'Recommended' tracking defaults - and we will automatically send you email ReadNotifications when your tracked emails are opened. You are welcome to change your account settings at any time - you can do all this through your "My Account" page when you log in.

Self-Destructing uses the secure services of WorldPay and PayPal for payments, so that's where you need to change your details.

  To change your "future pay" agreement details log in at: WorldPay with the login details emailed to you by WorldPay when you subscribed and click the 'Agreement ID' number link.

  To change your credit card or bank details with PayPal, simply log in to your own PayPal account and go to your 'Wallet' page

You can link as many addresses to your account (for sending from) as you like. Keep in mind that whichever address you list as your 'primary' one is where all your email ReadNotifications and receipts will be sent.

To link other addresses to your account, simply log in with your current registered email address at the Self-Destructing home page then go to: My Account --> Email Address Settings.   If the address you wish to add to your account is already registered, please refer to instructions regarding merging accounts.

If you send emails from more than one email address, Self-Destructing offers you the option of linking these to the same account. If you presently have more than one account with us (whether on a free trial, paid subscription or expired) you can merge them together under the same subscription plan.

All subscription plans offered include limits on how many emails you can send in a year or month. Details regarding this are available on our subscribe page, and will be sent to you with your payment receipt. You can also view your current account status from the top of your Personal Tracking Page (when you log in). Additional email credits may be purchased at any time from the 'limit increase' section on the bottom of our subscription page. Remember that all our plans are on a 'roll-over' basis - so any unused credits from one year / month are still available to you as long as your subscription is current.

Cancelling free trials:   Free trials simply expire - you do not need to cancel them. You can still log in to expired accounts, and we shall continue tracking the emails you sent with us during your free trial for as long as they remain listed in your Personal Tracking Page. Note that we do periodically clear out old data from expired dormant free trials.

Cancelling / suspending subscriptions:   If you choose to suspend or cancel your subscription, any tracked emails still listed in your Personal Tracking Page will continue to be tracked for at least one year.

Yearly Plan (non roll-over)   If you are on a yearly plan (either basic or premium) and did not choose the option to have this automatically renew each year, we'll send you a reminder notice when your account is due for renewal. If you decide not to renew - then it just expires

Yearly Plan (automatic roll-over)   Please see 'Monthly Plans' below for details on how to cancel these.

Monthly Plans   If you signed up for our monthly plan (or automatic renewable yearly plan), you'll need to cancel this agreement through WorldPay or PayPal (whichever one you signed up with):

  Log in to the account you wish to cancel, then go to: My Account -> Subscriptions -> Cancel Subscription (near end of page).

  You can cancel your PayPal agreement directly from your PayPal account.

How to send tracked emails

There are two ways you can send tracked emails:

1. Manually by simply adding:   .self-destructing.com   to the end of your recipients email address (they won't see this).   For example, a tracked email to: drakecn@yahoo.com   would look like:   drakecn@yahoo.com.self-destructing.com

   See also: Other sending options and features.

   OR

2. (Recommended)   Install one of our ActiveTracker plugins to add the tracking for you.

Testing? If you send tracked emails to yourself, your anti-spam filters may block them (people don't usually write to themselves) - so we recommend you test by sending to other people.

Upon start-up, your sending defaults are for the "recommended" set of tracking features. Although recommended tracking is not obvious to your recipients, it is not considered "invisible". If you installed one of our ActiveTracker plugins, you can choose your sending options directly from your ActiveTracker menu.

If you are using our service manually, you can change your sending defaults from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Default Settings. See also: Other sending options and features regarding this.

Self-Destructing offers a range of comprehensive tracking options. The majority of these are available on our ActiveTracker plugins - but they can all be accessed manually too. The following is an overview of these features with the manual extensions listed for quick reference. You'll find more detailed information regarding these from:   Member Utilities --> My Account --> Manual Tracking Options.

• With current defaults:     your recipients email address +    .self-destructing.com
  This will activate the settings you've chosen as your defaults (which will be 'Recommended' tracking unless you have changed this since initial registration). You can change your defaults from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Default Settings.

• Invisible:     your recipients email address +    .silent.self-destructing.com
  Your recipient will not be aware from your email that you are tracking it. Sending emails this way may decrease reliability.  
  Note:   Invisible tracking should not be used in conjunction with any other tracking feature.

• Certified + Notarized:     your recipients email address +    .certified.self-destructing.com
  This option will digitally sign your email and insert a timestamp certificate. This certificate irrevocably links the body and headers of an email to the date and time they were despatched - and may be offered as court admissible evidence if required. See also: Self-Destructing Digital Certificate Signature Display & Verification

• Ensured / Retractable:     your recipients email address +    .ensured.self-destructing.com
  Ensured emails are stored on our server until accessed by your recipient - so they cannot be opened without guaranteeing a ReadNotification. This is useful if your regular tracked emails are not returning a ReadNotification. The body of emails sent using our Ensured feature may also be retracted prior to them being opened by your recipient. This 'retract' option will be available to you in your 'Personal Tracking Page'.
  Note:   Only the body of your email can be ensured, any attachments will be transmitted as usual and can not be retracted.

• Self-Destructing / Retractable:     your recipients email address +    .selfdestruct.self-destructing.com
  Emails sent with this feature must be accessed via a link and will automatically destruct in the time selected by the sender. Your message will also self-destruct immediately if the recipient tries to copy, print or forward it. Sending emails using our Self-Destruct feature allows you to retract the body of your email prior to it being opened by your recipient. This 'retract' option will be available from your "Personal Tracking Page".
  Note:   Only the body of your email is destructible, any attachments will be transmitted as usual and can not be retracted.

• Block print & copy:     your recipients email address +    .noprint.self-destructing.com
  You are able to block your recipients from printing or copying your emails. Keep in mind that this does not guarantee that your recipients won't be able to retain a copy using another format.

• Language Translation:
  Self-Destructing offers a range of language translation options. For a list of these codes, please log in and go to: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Manual Tracking Options   - or refer to these choices from your ActiveTracker plugin console.

• Document and PDF Tracking:
  You will find our Document Tracking feature (for MS Word / MS Excel / PowerPoint) available under Member Utilities.
  You will find our PDF Tracking feature available from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Default Settings.

Self-Destructing works manually with all email programs and operating systems. Our ActiveTracker plugins also work with the majority of programs (on Windows Operating Systems), but there are so many becoming available all the time that we don't test them all. The best thing for you to do is install ActiveTracker and see if it works with your current set up. If you encounter any problems, please uninstall from your program files (Start Menu --> All Programs --> ActiveTracker --> Uninstall) and write to us for assistance. Note: you must write to us from the address / client etc you experienced the problems with and ensure that you tell us exactly what trouble you encountered (ie; include the error messages etc).

If you send your emails using either our Ensured Receipts or Self-Destructing options, you are offered the chance to retract them. You will find this retract option listed in your Personal Tracking Page.

If you have installed one of our plugins, all recipients of a group email will automatically be tracked. If you are sending your tracked emails manually, then remember that you must add the appropriate tracking extension to the end of all your recipients' addresses. If you do not, then any recipients receiving the untracked email may see Self-Destructing in their headers and could have trouble "replying" to them.

Self-Destructing offers an easy to use document tracking service for your MS Word / Excel / PowerPoint documents as well as our new PDF attachment tracking

Document tracking: To track MS Word / MS Excel or OLE Documents:
Log in --> Member Utilities --> MS Word/XL Tracker

PDF tracking: PDF tracking is automatic, provided you track the email which contains your attached PDF. You can turn this option on or off from your account options (Log in --> Member Utilities --> My Account --> Default settings).

Click Here for an overview and additional instructions.

All and every email you send with Self-Destructing will be listed in your Personal Tracking Page - regardless of delivery status. If an email does not appear here, the most common reasons are that it has been delayed (due to your ISP / mailserver) or you did not actually send it with tracking. You may need to either:

• check that you added the manual extension correctly (details of which should be available from your email client 'sent folder')
  
• turn your ActiveTracker plugin back on
  
• re-install ActiveTracker (remember to uninstall the disabled version first though)

For details on what the particular terms mean in your ReadNotifications, please access the tracking record from your Personal Tracking Page (which is displayed when you log in) and hold your mouse over the fields on the left.

To see a list of many of the different things we track, take a look at our Live Sample Receipt. Remember to move your mouse around to see all the popup information about each section of the report.

Please note that Self-Destructing has no other information regarding the reading of your tracked emails than already included in your reports - which are as complete and accurate as possible. We are not responsible for, nor have any control over what you or your recipients choose to do with the emails you send. Self-Destructing staff can not offer opinions regarding your tracking data.

Self-Destructing offers an email certification feature which will digitally sign your email and insert a timestamp certificate. This certificate irrevocably links the body and headers of an email to the date and time they were despatched - and may be offered as court admissible evidence if required. The option to send Certified emails is available on your ActiveTracker plugin, or by manual extension.

You may also choose to have your ReadNotifications certified - these generate an irrevocable, verifiable record for you to keep and show the initial tracking information from when your email was first opened along with the certified dates and times. This option is available from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Notifications and Reports.

Your Personal Tracking Page lists every tracked email that you send and may only be accessed when you log in at the Self-Destructing site with your password. If you send a lot of tracked emails you may decide to delete old records from this list to enable faster load times. You can export your tracking data into a spreadsheet so you have a copy to keep; this option is available from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Data Export.

	Your email has not yet been opened, but has been confirmed as being successfully delivered by your recipients ISP / mailserver.
	Your email has been opened at least once. For more details, click the "opened date" link.
	Your email has been forwarded or opened on a different computer from that of your original recipient. For more details, click the "opened date" link.
	Your message was bounced by your or your recipients ISP / mailserver. These bounce-backs should also be sent to you and will include the reason for non-delivery.
	Your message has not (yet) been confirmed as accepted by your recipients ISP / mailserver. Note that this does not mean your message wasn't delivered, but simply that your recipients ISP / mailserver has not confirmed this status. Non-confirmed delivery should not affect tracking status once the email has been opened though.

Self-Destructing offers a number of ways to let you know when the emails you send have been opened - these are available to you from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Notifications and Reports. They include:

	Email ReadNotifications (default) & *Multiple Email ReadNotifications
	SMS alert on your cell phone or pager
	ICQ instant message
	AOL Instant Messenger
	MSN messenger instant message
	Yahoo! messenger instant message
	Jabber instant message
	IRC message

Whichever Notifications you've chosen, the status and history of your tracked emails will always be available to you in your Personal Tracking Page after log in.

* Note regarding Multiple ReadNotifications: Self-Destructing offers "smart" receipts. You cannot produce multiple ReadNotifications by simply clicking open / close a number of times at short intervals with the same connection. If we did record this, you could be potentially swamped with extraneous data. Note that anyone opening / closing your emails in this manner would most likely not be reading them.

DSN's:   Self-Destructing not only let's you know when your emails have been opened, but also tracks the delivery status of the messages you send. This status is represented by the icons listed in your Personal Tracking Page (see: Your 'Personal Tracking Page'). You can elect to receive a copy of these Delivery Service Notifications from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Notifications and Reports
Note: DSN's are produced by your recipients ISP / mailserver in conjunction with delivery confirmation requests by Self-Destructing.

MDN's:   Message Disposition Notifications work along with your email client "Return Receipts" function. They are available to nearly all email users and your recipient may choose to activate these. Self-Destructing is able to detect these settings, and sometimes uses them in assisting with tracking emails. Choosing to accept the MDN settings will result in more reliable tracking. You will find more information regarding Message Disposition Notifications and activation details from: Member Utilities --> My Account --> Default Settings

It is up to your recipient to let you know if they choose to delete your emails. Sometimes MDN's can record this data, but in most cases deleted emails can not be tracked. Note that Self-Destructing does not use any kind of spyware or install anything on your recipient's computer in order to track emails.

Although rare, there may be times you notice that an email you have sent incorrectly displays a 'not yet opened' status indefinitely. If your tracking is currently set to "invisible" - either through your ActiveTracker plugin or through your manual defaults, you will find that your tracking is less reliable than our recommended defaults. If you are already using our "recommended" set of defaults but you suspect that an email you've sent is still not reporting an 'opened' status correctly you will need to use our ensured-receipts feature instead. Note that ensured-receipts emails are stored on our servers until your recipient accesses them, so they will be aware you are using our service if you send this way.