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.eml and forwarded mail

Bring in emails from any account as .eml files, or forward them as attachments to your connected Gmail, and Area O1 checks who really sent them.

This is how evidence from a mailbox Area O1 isn't connected to (a work account, an old university address) gets into your case: an invitation to judge, a thank-you for reviewing, an award notice.

Check your employer's email policy first

Many employers don't allow forwarding work mail to a personal account. Bring in only emails about your own work and recognition, never confidential business mail.

Two ways in

Drop .eml files

Save the email as an .eml file and drop it (or several at once) on any of these:

Where What happens
Evidence page Uploaded like any file; emails get the sender check and a suggested criterion
Inbox The same, from the Inbox's drop area
Contacts > Mail The Mail view's drop area; accepts only .eml files

How to get an .eml file:

  • Gmail: open the message, then More (⋮) > Download message.
  • Outlook on the web: save or download the message as .eml.
  • Apple Mail: File > Save As, format Raw Message Source.
  • Outlook for Windows saves .msg files, which Area O1 can't read. Use forward as attachment instead.

Files can be up to 25 MB each.

Forward as attachment

If Gmail is connected, forward the message as an attachment to that Gmail address. In Gmail: More (⋮) > Forward as attachment. Outlook and Apple Mail call it Forward as Attachment too.

Then press Refresh mail in Contacts > Mail. The forward is shown as the original message: its sender, its subject and its sender check (the forward's own headers only prove who forwarded it). Press Import original to send it to your Inbox with the original file.

A plain Forward isn't enough

A normal Forward copies the text but drops the original headers, so the sender can't be verified. Use one of the two ways above.

The sender check

Area O1 reads the receiving mail server's verdict from the original headers (the topmost Authentication-Results, or ARC-Authentication-Results when that's all there is). It doesn't contact anyone to do this.

Result When What you see
Verified DMARC passed, or DKIM passed for the sender's own domain Verified sender (DMARC passed, checked by mx.example.com)
Failed DMARC, DKIM or SPF explicitly failed, or DMARC said quarantine or reject Sender authentication failed (DMARC fail)
Unverified The headers carry no authentication results Sender not verified (no authentication results in the original headers)

"The sender's own domain" means the organizational domain: a DKIM signature from mail.example.edu counts for a sender at example.edu.

Unverified isn't the same as fake: older messages and some mail systems don't record results. A failed check is a reason to be careful; the daily opportunity check marks such a find suspicious and drafts nothing.

What the Inbox candidate says

Each email becomes one Inbox candidate with:

  • A summary: who sent it and when, the sender check, the most telling sentence from the message, and why it was sorted where it was.

  • A suggested criterion, from the same rules as the Mail view:

    Sorted as Suggested criterion
    Judging & hackathons Judging
    Reviewer requests Judging
    Awards & memberships Awards (or Membership when the subject mentions membership)
    Press & media Press
    Anything else None: you choose

  • A stage, described below.

  • The facts: sender address, date, the sender-check result, which server checked it, the file name and size.

A verified sender gives the candidate higher confidence. Accepting the candidate files the original .eml as the exhibit, so the headers travel with your evidence.

Invited vs completed

An invitation is not a completion. Area O1 reads the text and marks an email:

  • Completed only when it says so explicitly: "thank you for judging", "your review has been submitted", a certificate of appreciation, "you have been selected as", "congratulations on winning", "we are pleased to confirm that you".
  • Invited otherwise.

For judging, reviewing and invitations, that's the stage you see. For awards and memberships, only an explicit confirmation sets the stage to granted; otherwise it's left for you to set.

Only completed, published or granted evidence counts toward a criterion. An invitation to judge is worth keeping (it may lead to the real thing), but it doesn't count by itself. Ask the organizer for a confirmation or thank-you once you've done it. See Invited vs completed.