Counting the number of characters

In order to make sure that your application is submitted for scientific assessment (active consideration), you must comply with the requirements that are listed in the call for proposals including requirements for the number of pages and characters.

E-grant’s counting tool

DFF will reject applications that exceed the permitted number of pages or characters in the appendices project description (B10) and appendix (10a), and where the applicant’s CV (B20) applicant’s list of publications (B20) exceed the maximum permitted number of pages.  Hence, you will not be able to upload a revised document to DFF if the document exceeds the permitted requirements when the deadline expires.

As various text-editor programs use different methods for counting the number of characters, DFF urges the use of the e-grant system to verify that the number of characters in your application is within the permitted number. 

DFF will always use e-grant’s character count as a basis for the decision of whether a document fulfils the requirements or not. In this regard, DFF recommends that you, as the applicant, continuously generate a PDF-file of your project description and appendix and upload these documents to the application. 

If the document exceeds the permitted length, or if the document’s number of characters cannot be counted by the system, you will, as a rule, receive a warning that the document does not meet the requirements and have the opportunity to upload a new document. This warning is solely intended as a service message and it does not exempt you from the need to ensure that your application complies with all the requirements in the call for proposals. 

You can make use of e-grant’s counting tool without needing to create and navigate through an application. The counting tool will inform you how many characters e-grant has detected in the uploaded PDF file. Please note that you will not be notified if you exceed the set requirements.

Access the counting tool