If you are a Sketch Engine user, you may wish to refer to the User guide.
You can also check our Knowledge base (KB) with further answers to frequently asked questions about Sketch Engine.
Trial access
Is the free trial really free?
Yes, no credit card or payment information is required to register for the free trial of Sketch Engine.
What functionality does the free trial include?
You will have access to the complete functionality (concordance, word sketch, thesaurus, keyword lists, corpus building, word list, n-grams, etc.) of Sketch Engine and also access to 500 ready-made corpora in more than 90 languages.
Can I create my own corpus during the trial?
Yes, you will have access to the Corpus building tool (also called Corpus Architect) and you will be able to create user corpora by having WebBootCaT tool download relevant texts from the internet for you or by uploading your own documents.
If I decide to get a paid subscription after the trial, will my own user corpora be lost?
No, they will be carried over to your paid subscription access.
Can I try Sketch engine without registration?
Yes, we have an open version of Sketch Engine. However, it only contains a few corpora. To access the open version, go to https://app.sketchengine.eu/#open and click on a corpus of your choice.
Languages and corpora
How big are the corpora?
The size of the preloaded corpora varies, the biggest corpora have up to 60 billion words. See the up-to-date list with details.
Which languages do you support?
The user can upload texts in any language in the world and Sketch Engine will be able to process them into a corpus. Not all languages, however, will be annotated for parts of speech (tagging) and morphology (lemmatization). This table shows the languages with tagging and/or lemmatization.
Sketch Engine also contains preloaded corpora in more than 100 languages. For a complete list, click here.
Can I upload my own files to create a new corpus?
Yes, you can. Here is how.
Do you plan on expanding the list of languages?
Yes, we are constantly looking for ways of bringing more corpora and more languages in. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter or sign up for our newsletter to get notified about new features, languages or corpora.
Can I upload files in a language that Sketch Engine does not currently support?
Yes, you will be able to search the corpus and, generate wordlists or collocations but some more advanced features will not be available. Please refer to the User Manual.
Data privacy and security
Will data I upload stay private?
The data upload and storage in Sketch Engine works similarly to Google Drive or other online services. You can only upload data to your own password-protected personal space. Only you can access the data. You can, however, grant access to individually selected users. An explicit action has to be taken on your part for this to happen. There is no way to share the data with all users or to make them openly available on the internet.
We at Sketch Engine do not use your data for any purposes.
We possess the ISO27001 certificate of electronic security. Your data are stored on our own hardware, we do not use third-party could services. Our servers are located in the Czech Republic (Europe, European Union).
Our service is trusted by EU institutions such as the European Parliament or the European Commission, and also by ministries and governmental institutions of countries outside the EU.
How secure are my data?
Your data will be stored on hardware owned by Lexical Computing s.r.o., the company behind Sketch Engine. The hardware is located in the Czech Republic in a secure data centre with the highest degree of security. Only authorised employees have access to the hardware.
We acted in compliance with Information security management system (ISO/IEC 27001).
Do you collect any data about myself?
Please refer to our this document or contact us with any questions you might have about this topic.
Types of subscription
Academic and non-academic subscription - what is the difference?
Please refer to this description of what Sketch Engine considers academic and no-academic use. But please do get in touch with us if you are not sure.
Can I switch my individual subscription renewal cycle?
Yes, you can switch between monthly, 3-monthly and yearly subscription. The cycle will change after your current subscription expires. Please contact us.
What is Teacher + Students subscription?
The Teacher + Students subscription allows teachers to request access to Sketch Engine for their students at a discounted price. Terms and conditions apply. Please see our pricelist.
Ordering and payment
How can I pay for Sketch Engine subscription?
All payments can be made by card online or by bank transfer. Please refer to the price list for the types of subscription available.
Can you send an invoice?
For subscriptions purchased online and paid by card, the invoice is ready within 24 hours in My account.
Invoices for any other payment are issued upon the receipt of the payment and sent by email to the client’s address. Please check your spam folder and contact us at inquiries@sketchengine.eu if your invoice has not arrived.
When will my subscription become active?
Immediately when paying by credit card online or after we receive your payment when paying by bank transfer.
Technical
Do I have to install something?
No, Sketch Engine is an online service delivered via standard browsers.
What are the minimal technical requirements?
There are none. As long as you can access the internet via an internet browser, you should be fine.
Can I have my own installation of Sketch Engine?
We only offer this option to large institutions or publishing houses in case hosting their corpora on our servers is not possible for legal reasons. Bear in mind that the installation involves terabytes of data.
