Introduction to the Notary Central e-Journal

Hi, I’m Alex, founder of NotaryCentral, and today I’m so exciting to be introducing you to the NotaryCentral e-Journal I’ll be going through the most commonly asked questions we’ve received and will demonstrate using the app.

Question 1: What is an e-journal and why should I use it instead of a bound notary journal?

An e-Journal is a modern, digital version of the traditional bound notary journal. It provides a secure and tamper-evident way to record notarizations, with the added benefits of quicker data entry, easy searchability, state-specific safeguards, automatic backups, and no ink smudges when collecting thumbprints.

Is an e-Journal legally allowed in my state?

We’ve created a page dedicated to answering that specific question below:

https://www.notarycentral.org/post/are-electronic-journals-allowed-in-my-state

Let’s now see a quick demo of the app

Completing a journal entry is a guided four step process

Step one: Enter info such as the time, location, and fee.

Notice how the form automatically changes depending on whether it’s a remote or in-person notarization.

For faster data entry, click “Detect Current Location” to automatically fill in the address based on your location.

Step two is about signer identification

For faster data entry, click “Extract from I.D.” to take a picture of the I.D.. The app will automatically extract the relevant info

Capture additional relevant info such as signatures or thumbprints as needed

The third step is to describe the document types and notarial acts performed.

Use "Packages" for faster data entry by auto-filling details for the types of packages you commonly notarize.

The fourth and final step is to review the entry before finalizing it.

By finalizing, a tamper-evident seal is automatically added to the entry to prove it has not been modified.

Once the entry is saved, you can take actions such as sharing the entry or voiding it.

How do I learn the ins and outs of the NotaryCentral e-Journal?

Visit https://notarycentral.org/training. We continually add resources to help you succeed.

Thanks for watching!