Notary API 101

The Docusign Notary API enables you to have your documents notarized remotely online for all parties involved by having a notary public act as an in-person (online) witness to the electronic signing. To do this, you invite notaries to your organization’s notary pool (which lists them for easy inclusion in witnessing and journaling tasks later), then create an envelope with the notary as a recipient of type notaries.

Documents whose signing has been witnessed by a notary public are notarized, and are confirmed to be authentic, true and voluntarily drafted.

The Docusign Notary API is available in more than a dozen U.S. states, including Washington, Texas, and Florida. Notaries commissioned in available states should use Docusign eNotary while following state-specific requirements for notarial acts.

Note: The Notary API encompasses a set of services that complement existing Docusign eSignature functionality. To use the full range of the Notary API’s capabilities, you will need to make requests to both the eSignature REST API and the Notary API.

Note: You can use Docusign Admin to manage your organization’s notary pool and notary group activity, but Docusign Admin is not required to use the Notary API.

Features

The Notary API offers several features to support notary functionality and to help notaries with their work, including:

• Notary pools: Each organization that uses the Notary API has a list of notaries that can be easily included to witness signing, called a notary pool.
• Journaling: Notaries are typically required to maintain a record of their official actions. The Notary API enables notaries to create journal entries for recording the actions of a notary session. These journal entries are saved and archived for your organization.
• Jurisdictions: The Notary API tracks the jurisdiction (such as a state) in which each notary session is completed. The API also supports (but does not enforce) jurisdictional requirements for these states, such as using digital signatures or notarial seals.

Enabling the Notary API for your account

Developers interested in adding Notary API functionality to your account, contact your Docusign representative. Once Notary has been activated for your account, the Notary sections will be visible and available for your organization in Docusign Admin and the web app.

Walkthrough video

The following video gives a detailed overview of the Notary API, its features, and some patterns for implementing Notary functionality.