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List of email commands

The following is a list of commands that can be sent to the automated robot@changewatching.co.uk service, and a guide to their use.

All command phrases can be included anywhere in the email, including the subject header.
However, they can't be placed inside or below one of the standard footers that Changewatching adds to some emails. This is because the footer contains examples of command usage, so Changewatching has to ignore that section.

Inventory

Sending this word will cause Changewatching to return a list of current subscriptions, including inactive subscriptions that have recently expired or were recently created but not activated.

However, if you have no active subscriptions at all, it will ignore this command.

Activate (followed by one or more 'Activation IDs')

This command is used to activate subscriptions set up via the website.

When new subscriptions are created through the web page, an email address is entered as the place to send alerts to. At this point, Changewatching has no way of knowing that the person who owns that email address is the person that created the subscription, so the Changewatching robot sends a request to that email address to check.

Each new subscription is given a unique activation number, for example 1234. In this case, the command would look like this: activate 1234.

Settings changes (e.g. changing the expiry time) made through the website also generate an activation request, and this must also be confirmed with an activate command before the change of settings will take effect.

The activation ID is checked against the email address it is sent from and the email address on record as having set up the subscription. If it all matches up, the subscription is activated or changed and a confirmation email is sent out.

Unsubscribe (followed by one or more URL IDs, or URLs)

Once subscribed and activated, a subscription can be cancelled at any time by email.

This can be done by emailing robot@changewatching.co.uk the word unsubscribe, followed by either the web address to cancel, or its URL ID. The URL ID is supplied in all alerts, so it's easy to find.

For example, if there is an active subscription for keeping track of http://www.examplewebsite.com/latest, and its URL ID is 567, then it can be cancelled by any of the following commands:

It is probably easier to use the URL ID, as small typos in the URL may cause the command to be ignored.

The Changewatching robot will send an email confirmation if a subscription has been successfully cancelled.

The unsubscribe command can also be used with lists of URLs and/or URL IDs, or the word all. For example:

Blockme

This command is offered as a spam prevention tool and it can be used even if you don't have any subscriptions with Changewatching.

Email the word blockme (all one word) to robot@changewatching.co.uk and once you've replied to the confirmation email your email address will be added to a strict "do not email" list for 3 months.

You are guaranteed to receive no further emails from Changewatching in that period, even if someone else enters your email address into the web form.

The only way to unblock an email address is either to wait for the 3 months to pass, or email contact@changewatching.co.uk and request the block be removed.

As an additional privacy and security feature, email addresses blocked in this way are not recorded in plain text, instead they are stored in the database in the form of a salted hash.

Copyto (followed by an email address)

This command allows you to copy or transfer your subscriptions from one email address to another.

For example, if you had a number of subscriptions registered to example@mailprovider.com and you wanted to copy them to newemailaddress@myname.com, then you would send an email from example@mailprovider.com containing the command copyto newemailaddress@myname.com

As a privacy and security measure, there is a two-stage confirmation process before the change takes effect. First, the email address you are copying from is sent a confirmation request which must be replied to before the next stage proceeds. Then, the destination email address is emailed to ask the owner to confirm that this address wishes to receive a copy of all subscriptions from the source email address. Once that email is replied to, the process is complete.

Subscriptions can be transferred by using the copyto command, followed by the unsubscribe all command (from the source address). You are advised to ensure the copyto process is fully complete before using the unsubscribe all command.

Antispam (followed by a number)

Changewatching only allows a few activation requests to go unanswered before it locks that email address and prevents any further activation requests going out (at least until another activation reply is received).

This command allows you to set the limit to anything you like, between 1 and 25 emails.

If you supply a number lower than 1, it will be ignored. If you supply a number higher than 25, it will be set to 25.

Hints and tips on using the commands

If you send many commands in a short space of time, you may get confusing results - especially if those commands interfere with each other. For example, if you send an Inventory request along with lots of activations and cancellations, then it may not be clear how many, if any, of the activations and cancellations had been applied at the point that the inventory report was created.

Lists of URLs and URL IDs can be separated by commas, spaces, or both.

If you send a command that Changewatching does not recognise, you will not receive any response or error message, so make sure you type the commands correctly.